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HI Ulla, Thanks for the reply. I will consider those just for the fun of a experimenting with a different sound. I’ve thought about the Viola and if the Octave sound isn’t pleasant I might fool around with it. Thanks for your suggestions.
Best regards, Roland, Forum Moderator

Hi Roland, I have never personally met an octave violin player, but it seems that here in Denmark there are only 2 brands of octave violin strings for sale: Thomastik Superflex that cost 1025 Danish kroner which is about $155, and Sensicore http://www.supersensitive.com/octave.html which cost 645 Danisk kroner or about $98.

The luthier that sold…[Read more]

Hi Diane and Ulla, while we are talking string choices for Viola I have a student 3/4 which is about the same size as a 4/4 violin, but with a deeper body. I have wanted to put on Octave Violin strings but I’ve found only 2 choices either cheap and worthless or very expensive, $100+. Since this Viola isn’t very expensive I hate to spend more on…[Read more]

Hi DianeG, do you have recommendations for violas as well? I have 2 instruments: a 42 cm (16.5 inches) Gewa Ideale, a really good beginner’s instrument, fitted with Thomastik Dominant strings, and a carbonfibre Mezzoforte of the same size with D’Addario Kaplan medium tension.

Best regards, Ulla

HI DianeG and Poetmom, Thanks for the info on your string research. I try to experiment as much as I can within my budget and always like to hear what others use for stringing up their fiddles. I lean toward the Synthetic Perlon strings for my best fiddle and I do like the Tonicas for student set ups. Currently I’m using a very expensive set up…[Read more]

Welcome, Diane! Thanks for the tips! I will keep this in mind for my next string change. I’m grateful to have had a wonderful fiddle all the way from. . .SoCal. Yep, I grew up in Orange County and bought my “for life” fiddle at Morey’s music in Long Beach back in 89 or 90!

Hi….I’m new on the site. just joined today. I have a strings luthier husband and together we have a violin shop in North San Diego county. For a wonderful fiddle setup…try this E string. Lenzner (German) Goldbrokat E string. A solid E, no wrappings. Two gauges to consider, med. 0.26 and heavy 0.27. Inexpensive but awesome. Any of the…[Read more]

Hi there Sabrgar. We’ve just recorded 48 new lessons with Patti Kusturok. Hanneke is also scheduled for a session in April. We also have 8 or so additional lessons from Kevin Burke in the can ready for editing. So you can reasonably expect around 70 new full song lesson modules to be published in 2016. Hope that helps!!

Hi there SABRGAR, I know that Casey is always in some form of upgrading the site whether its recording, editing, or posting new material so you can count on new material as an ongoing process. He recently did a large amount of recording with a new artist and has been in the recording studio doing new tunes. I’m sure Casey will chime in and let you…[Read more]

How often are new tunes posted?

Excellent, sir!! You’re in it for the long haul, and if you keep that attitude, you will be great at double stops!!

Great job on the video lesson for double stops Casey. This is exactly what I was looking for. This is defiantly not something that I’m going to be able to grasp in a week or two. The fiddle tunes and waltz’s sure sound great when I do get lucky and hit the double stops spot on. Give me a year and I’ll get back to you on how I’m doing with them…[Read more]

Hey there! That’s a fun idea, sir. It’s really just four bars I came up with specifically for the intro bumper. I’ll have to see if it makes sense, once I get some other session stuff I have lined up out of the way.

Or perhaps I should write a full song and use that as the outro…

I’ll keep my mind open. Thx for the idea!!

Alright, Bond61. I’ve just posted a tutorial on double stops. Hope it is what you were looking for, sir! Thanks for your patience!

Double Stop Lesson by Casey Willis

Thanks, Carl….and I’d say the recording engineer has a hand in it as well 😉

Just goes to show you, it’s not the cost of violin that gives it its sound but the player.

Hi Carl.

Per Hanneke today:
Strings: Kaplan Vivos by D’Addario. Medium tension

Fiddle: Bob Childs, Cambridge, MA (2001)

And my fiddle is likely a mid-grade German student model from around 1910. It has a replaced top with workmanship less than the original. I use a L.R. Baggs Peizo bridge and a Joe Mills custom made c…[Read more]

I am also curious what make violin Casey and Hanneke have and everyone else who post on this discussion.

Carl

I do use Prim mediums except for a Thomastik Dominant wound E string (#129 or #130). I’ll pose the question to Hanneke and see what she uses. Stay tuned…I’ll update here once I hear back.