Should a beginner upgrade the strings on a student Violin or Cello?
Just been asked the question, and the answer is yes, the better the strings the easier it will become to make a good sound, even before you have begun!
This especially applies to adult beginners! You have bought the best instrument you can afford and happily avoided any of the cut-price VSO’s made of plywood. If you have spent up to £175, chances are that the instrument is strung with poor quality factory strings. Upgrading then is definitely recommended. If cost is a factor there are now some very good and inexpensive wound strings for example Alphayue or Ascente which greatly improve beginner instruments. The old favourites Piranito or Dominant are always recommended and will always make a marked difference to student instruments. It also makes sense to learn from the start how to restring an instrument and how to tune it.
If, on the other hand you have bought a better instrument then it will undoubtedly be strung with upgrade strings in any case but not necessarily – it is always good to ask the question.
For young children starting out on their first instrument the guidelines are perhaps not so rigid. Again, if you have purchase a small low-cost instrument it would certainly improve playability to upgrade the strings, but many parents opt to give the child a few months trial first. Once they have got past ‘Twinkle twinkle…’ and are putting in some reasonably serious practice – the time has come to upgrade. The strings named above do offer small sizes, and it is very important to stick to the correct sizing. The marked improvement in sound often gives a renewed impetuous to carry on.
Teach them from the beginning how to tune because over tuning can result in broken strings, which is a pity when you’ve just spent £45 on a new set. One recommendation is to invest in a clip-on tuner which helps tuning correctly an easy job. I note that some teachers even leave the tuner on the instrument to help with intonation rather than use dots on the fingerboard, but that could be cumbersome on the tiny instrument.
Whatever the route taken just be sure to get well set-up instruments which have had the bridge properly set, the pegs moving smoothly and decent strings fitted.
