Thomastik-Infeld Bass Strings
Doctor Franz Thomastik, a philosopher and Otto Infeld, an engineer, partnered in 1921. They established a company in Vienna that manufactured a new steel string for musical instruments. They passed away and in 1951, Margaretha Infeld took over managing the company. Under her shrewd judgement the world's most popular viola strings, Thomastik Dominant, were produced. Other note-worthy strings are: Belcanto and Belcanto Gold for cello; Vision and Vision Solo for violin and viola;, Vision Titanium for violin, Spirocore for violin, viola, cello and bass; Infeld Red and Blue for violin; Precision and Superflexible for violin, viola, cello and bass.
Pirastro Bass Strings
For over 200 years, the Pirazzi family has been making strings for stringed instruments such as: violin, viola, cello and bass. They are known world wide for their quality gut-core strings. As modern technology progressed, they developed synthetic and various steel and non-steel materials such as gold, tungsten, silver and titanium for making more advanced strings. Some of their popular brands are: Gold Label and Wondertone Solo for violin; Evah Gold, Oliv, Eudoxa and Tonica for violin and viola; Pirastro Passione, Chromcor, Piranito for violin, viola and cello; Evah Pirazzi and Obligato for violin, viola, cello and bass.
Super-Sensitive Bass Strings
Ed Wackerle, out of frustration with the quality of gut strings being offered to his musician friends in the 20's, developed a new stainless steel string. They were well received for their stability and in 1930, the manufacturing of these steel strings, called Red Label, began. Vincent Cavanaugh and his son John bought the Chicago based company in 1967 and in 1972 they moved the company to Sarasota, Florida. Experiments with a multi-stranded core gave them the Sensicore for violin, viola and cello, Octava for violin and viola and just recently, their new Red Label Pearl for violin. However, most note worthy are their Red Label strings for violin, viola, cello and bass.
D'Addario Bass Strings
Salle Church records of 1680 state: "Donato D'Addario, occupation, "cordaro" string maker". As it appears, for centuries the D'addario family has been making strings for musical instruments. Then, in 1905 an earthquake caused great distruction to their small town of Salle, Italy. As a result, Rocco and Charles (or Carmine) D'Addario packed up their belongings and immigrated to Astoria, Queens, New York. Soon, Rocco grew home sick and returned to Salle; Charles, however stayed. Then, in 1918, he began manufacturing strings. D'Addario is a name associated with quality strings for Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo, Ukulele and Orchestral Stringed Instruments. Of note are the new Zyex strings for Violin and Viola; ProArte for violin, viola and cello; Helicore and Prelude strings for violin, viola, cello and bass.