You often see the term plain steel violin E string or wound violin E string but what does it mean and what is the difference?

A wound string has a core, usually of one of three options: steel core, gut core, or a synthetic core. It then has another length of material wound around that core eg aluminium or chrome.

A plain string consists of a single strand of metal. Steel is most common but recent developments include Tin, Goldsteel and Platinum.

Generally speaking wound strings are warmer and darker than plain strings but don’t last as long. See our separate post on violin E strings.