Description
Pirastro Passione viola strings offers greater tuning stability than other gut strings on the market. Passione viola strings have complex overtones as well as brilliance and projection. Hand wound on a polished core of sheep gut.
Tone: Warm complex overtones while maintaining brilliance and clarity
Playability: Easy response on all dynamic levels
Stability: Quicker break in time and greater tuning stability than other gut strings on the market
Pirastro Passione viola string Medium Gauge Set:
A string- Aluminum over gut 14 1/4 ga.
D string- Silver over gut 14 ga.
G string- Silver over gut 17 ga.
C string- Silver-Tungsten over gut 20 ga.
See Pirastro full product description here.
Recommended rosin is Pirastro Oliv/Evah rosin.
Ryan (verified owner) –
I usually use Larsen Virtuoso strings (which I’m happy with), I got these just because I was curious and wanted to try something different. Not sure how much of what I’m experiencing is from the strings themselves and how much is just my setup, but here are a few things I’ve noticed:
The C string is gorgeous, but doesn’t project as well as the other strings, and I haven’t noticed a that with other string sets I’ve tried.
The A string requires a lighter touch than the other strings, enough that I’ve had to really recalibrate how I play double stops on D & A because putting equal weight on both strings produces ugly noises from the A string. This is doable, but even at its best I’m not in love with this A string’s sound.
Overall I found these a bit less responsive than my old strings.
They took longer to break in. The package says to give them 2 days, but for me it was more like a week (regularly practicing) before they didn’t still sound “new”. So if you’re trying these, don’t give up on them after just two days, keep going. My very first reaction to these was strongly negative, but the sound evolved a lot more than I expected, and I don’t hate them now.
They seem less pitch stable – no surprise for a gut string I guess. I don’t mind tuning, but these have made me realize how much I took for granted other strings that (mostly) just stay at pitch. Also, and this might just be in my head, it seems like the strings themselves “warm up”, so I’ll tune once when I get the instrument out, but inevitably have to tune again after 5-10 minutes of playing, again something I haven’t noticed in other strings.
I probably won’t order this set again, but I don’t regret giving them a shot. I can imagine maybe using the D & G from this set in combination with a different C & A, but more likely I’ll stick with synthetic core strings. If you’re curious and you can afford it, definitely give these a try. It’s not hard to imagine that on a different instrument the positives might outweigh the negatives, and the sound from the lower strings especially is really beautiful.
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Rebecca (verified owner) –
I have an IESTA Baroque viola that is strung with Pirastro Passione and I love the rich, golden sound they produce.
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Danny (verified owner) –
I’ve been using Passione strings for several years now and strongly recommend them for beauty of sound and evenness of response. For gut-cored strings they are remarkably stable in pitch.
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Sarah (verified owner) –
These strings work very well for my 15″ viola. They help to deepen the c string and bring out greater resonance.
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Gregory (verified owner) –
These are the best gut strings I’ve ever played on. Such beautiful sounds come out of my instrument, despite that it’s me playing! And so responsive….you forget that they’re gut. A little pricey though for an amateur, but those who are pro/independently wealthy should definitely consider! Make string tone warm again!
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