Dan Grotewohl - Bear in the Greengrass

It's been a good while since my last blog entry.  Sad to say, but I have so little to report, except that I've changed strings.  For years I've been using D'Addario Helicore medium gauge.  In hopes of uncovering miraculous improvement in the sound quality of my wife's fiddle (which is also the main fiddle I play) I decided to try another type of strings, so about four weeks ago I put on a set of Corelli Alliance strings.  They were double the price of the Helicore, and I have to say, they are awful for this particular violin.  Their response time is poor and the overall sound quality of the instrument -- already subpar -- is now below subpar, especially in third position.  In defense of Corelli, I have heard that many players love this particular string, and, therefore, I am choosing not to badmouth the string but rather, this string in relation to my wife's fiddle.  On another instrument, my opinion might be radically different.  So, in about six months, which will be the soonest I can justify changing strings, I will return to the Helicore.  Only this time I'll jump to the heavy gauge.

The bigger point to my whine is this: you just don't know how a string is going to respond on your instrument.  All the reviews in the world are great, but until you put the strings on and find out how they play and sound after a few weeks, it's impossible to sufficiently predict.