Optima Goldbrokat Premium 24K Gold Violin E String

Gold is Gold: best E string I have ever used.

I got help selecting and took the advice from the crew at FiddlerShop. No regrets. When I needed a decent fiddle years ago they fixed me right up with a nice sounding return that they had. I have no clue why it was returned but I saved a few bucks and got a wonderful piece of equipment. I have all gut strings on it except the gold E string. The gut E string was breaking every week and a half. Now I am secure.

Excellent gold string—.27 gauge doesn’t seem to squeak

Overall experience excellent. On my violin the .27 gauge Optima gold E-string has enough thick/forte quality to open up the violin sound on all strings, but plays with more ease than Jargar forte and Hill thick. It’s warmer under the ear than Goldbrokat steel .27 and Optima premium steel .27, and yet it rarely squeaks in solo Bach. It pairs nicely with Evah Gold GDA on my violin, and equally well with Evah Green GDA. While it might not be as open sounding as a steel E-string without gold plating, it isn’t dull, thin, or closed sounding. Interestingly, I had three Pirastro Oliv gold E’s break on the peg(!) while tuning up for the first time. It has never happened on any other string ever, so I’m guessing that is a more supple string. I appreciate the combination of supple and powerful that Optima has achieved with the .27 gold e-string. On my violin the .26 is thin, small sounding, and unattractive to hear and play. From a player’s perspective, the .27 gold is stronger than other gold E’s, but not rigid. It feels a bit more supple than Goldbrokat steel .27 and yet stronger than Goldbrokat steel .26. It has a wider tone than the steel .26 and yet has more warmth in the sound than steel .27. I could see wanting steel for something but the gold .27 has plenty of projection for concertmaster solos, while easily blending with the rest of the violin section.

My favorite E for Fiddle

Always excellent service.