La Bella Has Over 400 Years of String Making Experience The tradition of string making dates back to the 1640s in Salle, Italy, where the Mari family supplied gut strings to the famous violin builders of Cremona. In 1913, brothers Olinto & Emilio Mari arrived in New York bringing their family craft to the States. Over the years, the brothers shaped the landscape of the string industry with their innovative designs. Every set is manufactured using a perfect combination of traditional methods and latest technologies to produce a superior string. 2001 Classical - Extra Hard Tension An innovation, 2001 Extra Hard Tension strings are the first set designed with these heavier gauges. Perfectly balanced on all six strings, this set works well on shorter scale instruments. The silver-plated basses retain a lustrous timbre for a long playing time and do not have a thuddy or dull sonority. Both the nylon trebles and wound basses produce a greater volume from most instruments. These newly designed strings are the first choice of many professional guitarists. Nylon 202 trebles produced greater aural transparency and sound projection Silver-Plated wound basses produce exceptional memory for pitch and consistent sound production Extra Hard Tension String Gauges: Clear Nylon Trebles: .030 .0335 .04; Silver-Plated Wound Basses: .0295 .037 .045 Made in the USA with American Wire