What strings do other violin teachers use? I tend to use Dogal for my less advanced students, and Helicores from around Grade 4 upwards. Both my violins are also strung with Helicores. But experimenting with strings being a rather costly hobby, does anyone have other recommendations? Or experience with Dominants?

Dominants are a good and reasonably economic option for a student who can't afford a better violin but would like to improve the tone quality.

They seem to suit a wide variety of instruments and are probably the most cost effective option for those who want a warm and round sound, but without breaking the bank. However, I don't like Dominant E strings, they are just ghastly. I recommend Hill Special E as a pleasant and inexpensive option.

I also recommend that my students change their strings at least once a year. Even synthetic strings degrade with use.

Although some people scoff at Dominants, they are real workhorses. Son Viohazard has tried some more expensive strings that he loved, but they usually don't remain in good condition for as long as the Dominants, and there is no advantage in keeping a string that only sounds good for a month on your violin for 6 months or a year, as most kids do.

Hill are not easily available in Japan, so Viohazard uses a Goldbrokat E with Dominants on his current (German) violin. He did think it was well worth getting a silver rather than an aluminium D string (Dominant).

I dunno, we don't have Helicores here, maybe it's so costly the shops don't even stock them. but I love the evah pirazzi E string. Gentle on the finger too And yes, dominants last and last for more than a year. I do change mine once a year anyway.

Dominants + either Hill E or the (I think it's Thomastic) non-whistling E if the student is having a problem here. I get my students to change strings about a month before an exam or festival if the strings have been on for more than about 6 months, otherwise I suggest a service (check setup and new strings, check if bow needs rehairing) while the student is away on holiday over summer.

For beginners/early grades who are still on Stentors or similar, I try to get them to use Piranitos at least - they are relatively inexpensive and give a much rounder sound on these violins than other 'student' strings.

The most fantastic sounding strings I've used are the Olivs - beautiful sound but unfortunately not too great at staying perfectly in tune under working conditions - pits, stage lights, constantly in and out of transport , etc so I reluctantly had to give up on those.

Violins can be quite individual as to which strings sound better - my old, unnamed German sounds great with Dominants and revolting with Evah Pirazzi but it is the opposite with my rather stronger, newer French violin.

Unfortunately, experimenting can be expensive, but ultimately rewarding.

They sure are - they bring a whole new meaning to the word 'strident'

Thanks for that Minstrel. I do have some students who are still on Stentors and / or early grades, so I will experiment with the Piranitos. You've whetted my appetite for Olivs as well - not heard of these before.

Ghastly E dominants eh? I guess I'll have to work with that for now. Am as broke as a pauper at the moment.

Dominants work for my viola! Though having said that, I have only ever used the one, a D string...

But I still think that it sounds delightful!

My viola came with Dominants, and the C string sounded terrible. I now have Helicores on C and G, and the C in particular is a great improvement. You can get Helicores quite cheap from Quinn Violins in Minneapolis. I'm not crazy about the Dominant A string but haven't got round to replacing it yet.

bobifier, I suspect you and I may be the only Go-playing violists in the country.

I use Dominants for my Violin tthey work a treat!!!!

Dstring

I'm using Vision Titanium Solo strings on mine. They sound excellent! The violin shop person told me that the Vision Solo strings were just a step below the Pirazzis and my extra set of Pirastro Tonicas would be a downgrade so I ended up buying another set of the Vision strings lol.

I only use Pirastros or Larsens now, with Goldbrokat or other gold E. I find Dominants overly powerful and quite rough edged, and my violin doesn't need any encouragement on the projection front. Pirastros are very reliable, I've never had a bad string from them, in any of their ranges. Larsen just have an amazing bottom end, their D string is unbeatable, but it's very hard to get a balanced E string because of that.