I had to play with the symphony orchestra the other week, and that meant that one of my violins needed to be strung up with steel and metal strings to fit in. I'm really not fond of using these strings, but they are what modern Classical musicians use.... personally, I find them a bit piercing (not louder... ) and very slippery as well. Plus, when you are plucking that thin garotte murder wire of the e-string... well, if you are doing it properly, it hurts like hell!

It also meant that I had find and put that fine tuner on the e-string as well... which was a bit of a chore to remember where I had last left it!

So, the violin that I always use for the symphony is the "high" French violin from 1886 that I usually kept strung for the higher pitches, from 430Hz and higher... and the symphony is at 440 or slightly above, and so this requires the least settling.... other than the stupid player who is constantly grumbling about the strings being slippery!

But the job was finished, and I kept them on a little bit longer to complete another job, and then this week, I had the chance to restring back to gut strings for an upcoming regional coastal tour that will be with a Mozart era fortepiano played by my wife and myself on a Classical era violin at 430Hz.

... ahhhhh... it is just a relief just looking at these strings again, I can feel the ease with which they respond, and the warmth that I find lacking in the metal strings. So, two gut core strings on the bass... wound with silver. And two naked gut strings on the top. Off comes the fine tuner, and I stashed the used strings for the next time that I need to use steel again. No point just using the strings for a single week and then throwing them away!

They are cunningly hidden in that little blue pouch in the background... hopefully, future self will remember exactly where current self is thinking to put it!

Now to get to work on the Classical programme for later next month... there are a few trickier things that I really need to take a slow ramp up at!

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