Larsen Releases an Il Cannone Silver String Set

By Megan Westberg | From the November/December 2025 issue of Strings

When seeking a favorable association for a new set of strings, one probably couldn’t do much better in the violin world than to name the product family in honor of Niccolò Paganini’s 1743 “Il Cannone” Guarneri del Gesù. In 2017, Larsen Strings did just that. The company has, over time, added to its Il Cannone offerings, devising strings in varying degrees of warmth while maintaining a presence at the focused end of the sound spectrum (rather than broad). In July, Larsen released its newest set of the family, Il Cannone Silver.

Described as having been “designed for violinists seeking a silvery brilliance with an increased overtone resonance and superior projection” with tonal clarity and a quick response, the set comes with two different E strings: the Silver E and the higher-tension Caprice E, meant for soloists looking for a particularly brilliant string. The A, D, and G strings have synthetic cores, the A wound in aluminum and the D and G wound in 99.85 percent silver wire. Both E strings are made of carbon steel. Of all of Larsen’s strings, the firm describes the Il Cannone Silver set as its most brilliant and focused in terms of sound quality.