Full Description
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The range
Thomastik Dominants come in both full sets (CGDA) and as individual strings. Most of which are available to purchase from Gear4music. You can also choose between light, medium and heavy tensions to match your playing preferences best.
Lighter string tensions are often favoured due to their responsiveness as they require less effort to bow. They also are easier to stop so your fingers will get tired less quickly, this makes them good for beginners. They also have a brighter tone which can work well if your instrument sounds darker.
Heavier string tensions require more effort with the bow in order to get the string to speak properly. They also are more difficult to stop and require more stamina in your fingers. They have a darker tone which many players prefer to brighter sounding strings. Like with lighter tensions they can be used to complement the sound which your instrument produces.
You have the option to purchase individual 4/4 size D strings which are wound with silver, rather than aluminium. These can be beneficial if your instrument has a brighter sound as the strings tend to sound darker. Their bow response is also slightly slower than their aluminium counterparts.
Sizing
Thomastik measures their strings according to the vibrating string length of the instrument. Rather than the back length that many viola strings are measured according to. The vibrating string length is measured from the nut (at the top of the fingerboard) to the bridge of your viola.
Measuring strings in this way actually makes a lot of sense with the viola as there is no standardised relationship between the size of the instrument and the vibrating string length. So a large instrument could have a small vibrating string length and a small instrument could have a large vibrating string length.
The Dominant strings are measured in fractional sizes from 1/2 size to 4/4 size, then above full size, they're measured directly according to their vibrating string length. The lengths of the fractional sized strings are listed below:
- 1/2 size - 32.5 cm (12.8")
- 3/4 size - 34.5 cm (13.6")
- 4/4 size - 37.0 cm (14.6")
The longer length strings are listed below:
- 38.0 cm (15.0")
- 39.5 cm (15.6")
- 42.0 cm (16.5")
Specifications
- Vibrating string length: 39.5 cm (15.6") usable from 39.5 cm (15.6") to 41.0 cm (16.1")
- Core: Synthetic
- Winding: Silver Wound
- End type: Ball end, aluminium
- Tailpiece end colour: Butterscotch
- Weight: 4.7 kg (10.4 lbs)
- Peg end colour: Violet