Eudoxa (Pirastro)
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Reviews
A. Chander (4/27/14)
I am using the Eudoxa-Brilliant G and D in 15.75 and 15 gauges respectively, with a steel Larsen A and a Jargar medium E. They are one of the most beautiful sounding strings I have come across for my violin. They possess a supremely textured sound which is brighter than standard Eudoxas. I find they ring better and don't have the sluggish response of standard Eudoxa strings, but still sound distinctly "gutty". The silver/aluminium alloy D string is possibly the best I have tried on my violin; it possesses the favourable attributes of aluminium and silver D strings without any of the drawbacks. The G string is also phenomenal, however this string seems to highlight a wolf note slightly more than usual - maybe I need to try a lighter gauge for the G. This is a small issue, though, and something that can be worked around through different bowing. They also stay in tune amazingly well! They slipped a tone after the first night I installed them, which was expected, but since then I've only had to touch up the tuning here and there, no more than with any other synthetic string I've played on (in fact, I'd say they are more stable than Dominants). Very happy.
C.K. Shih (4/7/14)
This review is about a set of Eudoxa with medium E, 13.25 A, 14.75 D and 15.5 G. The A, D, G strings are of the lightest gauge available. The D and G are silver wound instead of the stiff version. I had used synthetic strings for decades and have just started to try out gut strings since last year. Eudoxa has been on the market for a long time and plenty have been written about them. In this brief review, I am not going to repeat what have been well-known. Rather, I will share my experiences with the light gauge Eudoxa as compared with other gut (Passioine) and synthetic (Dominant and Evah Pirazzi in particular) strings.
For those who have never tried gut strings, your violinistic experiences would be incomplete without feeling the beauty of sound and playability of these time-honored strings under your own fingers and ear. They are simply like nothing else. Compared with synthetic strings, the longer settle-in time of the Eudoxa is not only for tuning stability, a point no one would miss to make, but for sound quality as well. The initial sound was hollow and muffled at the same time. But it gets focused and brightened up over time. On my instruments, this process took over two months.
Unlike the other model of gut strings (Passione) that I have tried, the sound of Eudoxa was cleaner from the beginning, but less powerful and complex. This may have to do, but surely not entirely, with the fact that I am comparing the lightest gauge of Eudoxa with a Passione set of medium gauge. The initial sound of Passione was more powerful and complex, but much fuzzier. For both gut models, the sound would eventually clean up and get more and more beautiful, to the extent that is far beyond comparison with any synthetic strings. Compared with Passione, though, the sound of Eudoxa is less interesting. The ease of producing tones with variable nuances makes the strings highly seductive to the player. But the sound itself is not as ecstatic as that produced by Passione.
As to playability, Eudoxa in the lightest gauge is simply a wonderful dream like nothing else. They can easily produce warm and smooth sound all the way up to the end of the fingerboard (the 15th position) without any crack or break of sound. Compared with everything else known to me, they are much more forgiving in playing double stops and harmonics. In other words, double stops and harmonics can be easily produced with less finger pressure, which is conducive to micro adjustments and intonation precision. They are also much more sensitive to nuances of vibrato. Finally, they make techniques such as left hand pizzicato and sautille or spiccato on the right hand much more manageable. All in all, these strings make me feel like a better violinist than I feel on other strings.
It may take some getting used to for those who are accustomed with synthetic strings. Eudoxa responds better to speed rather than pressure of bow in dynamic variations.
All the benefits in sound quality and playability notwithstanding, Eudoxa may not be practical for concert violinists because of its pitch instability. If you find yourself in love with it, however, you may get around its shortcomings by going to the venue long enough in advance so that the strings can get acclimatized before the event.
For those who have never tried gut strings, your violinistic experiences would be incomplete without feeling the beauty of sound and playability of these time-honored strings under your own fingers and ear. They are simply like nothing else. Compared with synthetic strings, the longer settle-in time of the Eudoxa is not only for tuning stability, a point no one would miss to make, but for sound quality as well. The initial sound was hollow and muffled at the same time. But it gets focused and brightened up over time. On my instruments, this process took over two months.
Unlike the other model of gut strings (Passione) that I have tried, the sound of Eudoxa was cleaner from the beginning, but less powerful and complex. This may have to do, but surely not entirely, with the fact that I am comparing the lightest gauge of Eudoxa with a Passione set of medium gauge. The initial sound of Passione was more powerful and complex, but much fuzzier. For both gut models, the sound would eventually clean up and get more and more beautiful, to the extent that is far beyond comparison with any synthetic strings. Compared with Passione, though, the sound of Eudoxa is less interesting. The ease of producing tones with variable nuances makes the strings highly seductive to the player. But the sound itself is not as ecstatic as that produced by Passione.
As to playability, Eudoxa in the lightest gauge is simply a wonderful dream like nothing else. They can easily produce warm and smooth sound all the way up to the end of the fingerboard (the 15th position) without any crack or break of sound. Compared with everything else known to me, they are much more forgiving in playing double stops and harmonics. In other words, double stops and harmonics can be easily produced with less finger pressure, which is conducive to micro adjustments and intonation precision. They are also much more sensitive to nuances of vibrato. Finally, they make techniques such as left hand pizzicato and sautille or spiccato on the right hand much more manageable. All in all, these strings make me feel like a better violinist than I feel on other strings.
It may take some getting used to for those who are accustomed with synthetic strings. Eudoxa responds better to speed rather than pressure of bow in dynamic variations.
All the benefits in sound quality and playability notwithstanding, Eudoxa may not be practical for concert violinists because of its pitch instability. If you find yourself in love with it, however, you may get around its shortcomings by going to the venue long enough in advance so that the strings can get acclimatized before the event.
F. Rupert (1/15/14)
Lovely strings, especially the D and G. They have been around for a long time. The "stiff" variety are very warm in sound, the "Brilliant" variety brighter but still warm. The sound of Eudoxas is sweet, beautiful in quality, and complex. You can play very softly on them, or very loud. There's a reason why synthetic string ads brag of "gut like" sound when they really don't have it. These are the real thing! Pirastro brags that Eudoxas are the "Queen of Strings" and it's really about the truth. The A string is slower in response than synthetics, which takes some getting used to if you're unaccustomed to them.
It is disconcerting that one reads so many complaints in the violin press about pitch instability in wound gut strings; I have wondered how many people writing these articles have ever actually tried Eudoxas They settle down in a day or two, and in our modern era, when air conditioning is prevalent, I find them to be quite stable.
It is disconcerting that one reads so many complaints in the violin press about pitch instability in wound gut strings; I have wondered how many people writing these articles have ever actually tried Eudoxas They settle down in a day or two, and in our modern era, when air conditioning is prevalent, I find them to be quite stable.
S. Thompson (9/22/13)
These are fantastic gut strings. They have a nice balance between the rich tones of gut, and the smoothness of synthetic. If you are new to gut strings this would be a good first step. I used to use these on my 1910 Lowendahl violin. I stopped using them because they have a tendency to unwind early on, and the string tends to feel like it is twisting under the bow instead of gripping.