Premium Red Label Violin G String 1/2 Size Medium - High-Quality Replacement String for Student & Professional Violins - Perfect for Practice, Performances & Music Lessons

These are steel cored strings and I've found they give the classic postwar (post WWII) sound that you'll hear in most of the fiddle recordings of the 50s though 80s. Steel actually started back in the early 1900s, so you'll also hear it on recordings from the time.Steel sounds clearer, less complex and a violinist might ague that it sounds thin. Maybe they're right in an orchestra, but playing with guitars, banjos, mandolins, a fiddler needs to ring through to be heard.Some of the popular fiddle strings like Black Diamonds sound harsher, with a scratchy sound which to my ear reduces the fiddle to sounding like it is made from a cigar box. Not these. Even my newest fiddle, a 1920's German one, sounds good with them. One of my older ones is in restoration now and I can't wait to try them on it.Other considerations: Putting these strings on it pays to be gentle. I've broken them as often as other brands. Also, remember that there are nickel windings on the wound strings. If the user has a "metal allergy" that can prove to be a nickel allergy so it might be a good idea to go with a different formulation. Some fiddlers tend to play with more rosin. I'm one of them and use a lot of it. I find that these flat wound strings don't retain as much rosin as wire wrapped, but don't tear up the bow hair as much so I think that to be a fair trade off.Edited a year later to add that I still think these are good strings for that classic old recording style fiddle sound of my old $2 fiddles but are clearly inadequate for my luthier-made fiddle. For that one I’ve switched to synthetic strings with a plated E string. Edited again to add that surprisingly that particular fiddle does better with a steel cored A string than a synthetic one so I am playing it with a Red Label A string, which really brings out the tone! (Tonica G and D, Oliv E and the Red Label A!)