Re: Pirastro violin strings

Troy wrote:

> I'm really wanting to try out some gut violin strings. Perhaps
> Pirastro. But all I can find are Pirastro viola. Could I use viola
> strings on violin? If not where are some placed that I could get
> fairly cheap gut strings?

Are you looking for plain or covered gut?

Pirastro and other covered gut strings are readily available through 
the trade; both your local shop and the popular web/mailorder vendors 
(Southwest, Shar, etc.) should be able to supply them.

For plain gut, you should be able to obtain the Pirastro Chorda strings 
through the same places. (The economy-priced "Gold Lable" plain gut 
strings that were available years ago are no longer produced.)  But 
Pirastro doesn't dominate this market as they do the market for modern 
covered-gut strings.  David Van Zant (a very accomplished maker of both 
modern and period-setup instruments) maintains a list of string makers 
at http://www.vanzandtviolins.com/vn-strings.htm that can put you in 
touch with most of the the available alternatives.  Several of them 
have quite informative web sites that are worth a visit by anyone 
interested in strings.

-- 
Roland Hutchinson              Will play viola da gamba for food.

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