Hello,

I recently got a Paesold violin and I was wondering whether anyone knew what strings goes best with these violins? Also it has a Wittner tailpiece with built in fine tuners on it and i have been reading some bad things about these ruining the tone of a violin. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Thanks!

Looks like you have a pretty decent instrument, at least on paper!! I have found that personal trial and error, after reading a bit about string qualities, is the best way to choose. Big names are Thomastik (Dominant being big choice), Pirastro with their excellent Piranito's for beginners and practising - high quality, Dadario. Within these brands there are various sub-brands. What I did was to experiment with every type - gut core, synthetic core and steel core, with their various permutations of steel wound, aluminium wound, silver wound etc etc. It was quite confusing. BUT, the types that I tried out were all first of a cheaper variety, like Huayin, and Red Lables. You cannot spend a fortune to try out new strings, and I really do not think you can be dictated to by the "experts". U need to find your own sound, what goes on your violin, and what you feel most comfortable with. Naturally, after your trial the best is to get the highest, best quality that you can afford for your violin. Next thing I found was that my violins reacts differently to the different strings. I have a guarnerius copy and a strad copy. The guarnerius has a big and bright sound, the Strad is very mellow and dark. Perlon strings on the strad made it even deeper - almost sounded like I was playing a cello!! Steel on the Guarnerius made it super bright and LOUD! So you can enhance the quality of your violin or change it in the opposite direction. A friend of mine with a mellow dark strad copy put on DAdario Preludes (steel) and it brightened it up, but it retained its mellow, darker quality. You do not say whether you are advanced or a beginner. As a newcomer to violin playing I found the steel strings generally much more responsive and simple/focussed in sound ... easier to play. I find the synthetics, perlons, guts to require more effort. For now I am happy with Pirastro Piranitos on both my violins, but cant wait for my Guarnerius to have some Pirastro Violinos on, as these are a synthetic core type string which will probably make it less focussed than steel strings, and will probably "tame" my Guarnerius copy a little more. It is exciting to try out all the various types although one has to be patient with the settling in time. Even with the excellent top level strings I find my violins to take a good 4 to 5 days to become accustomed to their new strings. I wouldnot be surprised if it takes a week if the violin is new and the tailpiece is also still settling. One needs more patient if your strings are of a more economical type that you are experimenting with. But it is all very exciting trying all out. And it would be interesting to see what the other folks here have to say. In any event, have great fun discovering your violin and also what sounds good by way of strings!!