My new chromcor strings arrived in the mail! Put them on, they settled in very fast... happy with them. Now Ive never seen strings come with that little tube-o-plastic for all four. Usually only comes for the E. I have a kevlar tape on my bridge for the E so I usually strip that tube off, or leave it below the bridge, so I have nice contact. BUT I decided to leave the tubes on for the A D and G, what the heck it's easier to remove them then put them back.... I *think* on the whole my fiddle sounds warm and sweet, and its still loud (always has been a "canon") only now its sweeter. So thinking hey.. I'll keep those little tubes on then.
What do you guys do with the tubes? do you strip them off? Leave them below the bridge? Do you use them.... like I have elected early on? Love the sweetened sound to my beasty violin, and the price, and they are quicker on the D and G, than most synthetics Ive tried.. so Im pleased with the product.
My E wore through the little plastic sleeve on one of my fiddles the other day. I found I couldn't slide on a replacement sleeve from an old spare because the winding at the peg end was too thick. This implies that the sleeve is put on before the end winding. I solved the problem by removing an electric wire from within an old electric power cable and used a section of the plastic covering from that wire. It was just big enough to slide over the winding on the E string.
The E is the only string on my fiddles that uses a sleeve. On my cello there is nothing between the strings and the bridge.
What we fiddlers do to do the job right. Good one Trevor. I put the plastic sleeves on at the bridge for all strings, and I use fine tuners on all too. My thinking is that that is what they are there for, hey? I've never had a single string wear through that sleeve (even when the strings have been on for far longer than expected) ... and seeing as I have to fiddle with the bridge and re-groove it to get it how I want, I recon any roughness in my bridge tinkering isn't going to affect the strings too much with the sleeve on to protect it. Still use the graphite pencil at the nut and the bridge (just to make sure it'll all work smoothly)
I never use the plastic sleeves - I found it tricky to get them positioned so they weren't hanging over the bridge, so now I just take them off. I have parchment on the bridge for the e. Anyway - just another approach...
A small overhang of the sleeve on the E won't affect the sound because, particularly with a steel string, there is a dead, non-vibrating, region of the string very close to the bridge (and also by the nut at the other end). I don't have exact figures, but the length of this dead region will be a small multiple of the thickness of the string - it will also depend on the stiffness and density of the string. The phenomenon of a dead region of string is well known to guitarists and explains why some guitar bridges are offset for the bass strings.
Incidentally, I don't know why my E (a wound Pirastro) cut through the sleeve. I've never had it happen before. It may have been a defect in that particular sleeve.
By a cosmic coincidence, this just happened to me, lazyhound. The
string is still ok, so I used your idea of the insulation from a wire.
I used a hot knife to slit the insulation and slotted it straight onto the string.
Then I rotated the sleeve slot side up of course.
Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
My new chromcor strings arrived in the mail! Put them on, they settled in very fast... happy with them. Now Ive never seen strings come with that little tube-o-plastic for all four. Usually only comes for the E. I have a kevlar tape on my bridge for the E so I usually strip that tube off, or leave it below the bridge, so I have nice contact. BUT I decided to leave the tubes on for the A D and G, what the heck it's easier to remove them then put them back.... I *think* on the whole my fiddle sounds warm and sweet, and its still loud (always has been a "canon") only now its sweeter. So thinking hey.. I'll keep those little tubes on then.
What do you guys do with the tubes? do you strip them off? Leave them below the bridge? Do you use them.... like I have elected early on? Love the sweetened sound to my beasty violin, and the price, and they are quicker on the D and G, than most synthetics Ive tried.. so Im pleased with the product.
# Posted on November 21st 2009 by SandyBottoms
Re: Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
My E wore through the little plastic sleeve on one of my fiddles the other day. I found I couldn't slide on a replacement sleeve from an old spare because the winding at the peg end was too thick. This implies that the sleeve is put on before the end winding. I solved the problem by removing an electric wire from within an old electric power cable and used a section of the plastic covering from that wire. It was just big enough to slide over the winding on the E string.
The E is the only string on my fiddles that uses a sleeve. On my cello there is nothing between the strings and the bridge.
# Posted on November 21st 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
lazyhound=resourceful
Yeah all these tubes are sort of awkward in appearance.
# Posted on November 21st 2009 by SandyBottoms
Re: Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
What we fiddlers do to do the job right. Good one Trevor. I put the plastic sleeves on at the bridge for all strings, and I use fine tuners on all too. My thinking is that that is what they are there for, hey? I've never had a single string wear through that sleeve (even when the strings have been on for far longer than expected) ... and seeing as I have to fiddle with the bridge and re-groove it to get it how I want, I recon any roughness in my bridge tinkering isn't going to affect the strings too much with the sleeve on to protect it. Still use the graphite pencil at the nut and the bridge (just to make sure it'll all work smoothly)
# Posted on November 22nd 2009 by Clear Drops
Re: Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
I never use the plastic sleeves - I found it tricky to get them positioned so they weren't hanging over the bridge, so now I just take them off. I have parchment on the bridge for the e. Anyway - just another approach...
# Posted on November 22nd 2009 by airport
Re: Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
A small overhang of the sleeve on the E won't affect the sound because, particularly with a steel string, there is a dead, non-vibrating, region of the string very close to the bridge (and also by the nut at the other end). I don't have exact figures, but the length of this dead region will be a small multiple of the thickness of the string - it will also depend on the stiffness and density of the string. The phenomenon of a dead region of string is well known to guitarists and explains why some guitar bridges are offset for the bass strings.
Incidentally, I don't know why my E (a wound Pirastro) cut through the sleeve. I've never had it happen before. It may have been a defect in that particular sleeve.
# Posted on November 22nd 2009 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Chromcor fans I have a simple Q
By a cosmic coincidence, this just happened to me, lazyhound. The
string is still ok, so I used your idea of the insulation from a wire.
I used a hot knife to slit the insulation and slotted it straight onto the string.
Then I rotated the sleeve slot side up of course.
# Posted on November 23rd 2009 by Hup