I bought a set of Tonica's a few years back just to try out and I wasn't really that impressed. I kinda felt like they were slightly similar to Dominants but not as powerful or responsive. However, even with that being said they do have a brighter sound than Dominant strings which does compliment certain violins.

My biggest problem with them was that after four weeks of gigging with them I had managed to break both my A and D string. At first I thought it might be a tuner issue but I realized that both had broken about 2 inches from the bridge itself. I guess if I were a rough player I wouldn't think much of it but before that I had never broken a string even once...well besides the E...everyone breaks those dang things every now and then.

You're right about them not outlasting Helicores but they are definitely a step up sound-wise.

John

Not that I play a LOT, but I've had a set of Helicores on my main fiddle for a few years now. I think they finally just died or something.

but they sure didn't break.

Years?? I wish I got that out of my strings. The longest I've been able to hold off putting new strings on a fiddle was around 10 months. I have some classical friends that change their strings like clockwork every 4-6 months.

John

I don't play a whole lot, and expectations for my sound are low.

Sad but true.

So the expensive fiddles are the ones that are quiet?

No wonder mine is so loud........... piece of crud haha.

No, the expensive ones tend to be less strident or edgy. I guess it depends on the fiddle though.

I had a hell of a time finally finding a fiddle I could tolerate. For whatever reason, my ears would take any edginess and multiply it. Took me a few years to find something.

I noticed something was wrong when I was practicing with a rental fiddle, and wanted to smash it against the wall. It wasn't a bad fiddle, but my ear was not liking it, but I didn't know why. I just wanted to smash the thing. Luckily I figured out what was going on.