Breaking Helicore Pizz A

HotPoop621 · #1 10-02-2005, 08:03 PM

Fellow Bass Players,
I'm a young bass player. I've been playing double bass since about 2002. Before I owned my own bass I used my high school's carved bass with Spiros. When I got my own bass, they came with Helicore Pizz. I enjoyed the really bright tone when i was playing mostly jazz but obviously hated the scratchy bow tone. I've owned the bass for almost a year now and in college, i play just as much bow as i do pizz.

But there is one weird problem that I saw with the Helicore pizzicatos. In the one year I had them, i've gone through many A strings. Other strings have broken sometimes but the A breaks way too often. I had been playing with pretty high action but now have lowered it once I realized the strings were breaking too much.

I've even bought a new bridge with a thicker cut because i thought that maybe the cut was too sharp. It has cost me a lot of money and I ran this problem by the guy who sold me my bass and he said that his Helicore Pizz As have been breaking as well. I have switched to Obligatos now because the seem like a good Hybrid string

Has anybody else had this problem or noticed what is happening?

**Adrian Cho** · #2 10-02-2005, 09:33 PM

Are you sure the string is not getting caught either in the bridge or in the nut? Breaking strings definitely shouldn't happen that often.

HotPoop621 · #3 10-02-2005, 10:18 PM

I put graphite in the nut when they broke in the nut and that fixed it, also had the bridge filed when i couldn't afford a new bridge. now i have a new bridge but no helicores. Alex Friedman (http://www.acousticbassshop.com), the luthier who installed my new bridge and totally did a new setup on my bass, said that the bridge was cut too thin and sharp, but that's all. And Steve Swan (http://www.steveswanguitars.com), the guy who sold me my bass also noticed his Helicore As breaking so I think something may be wrong with the string itself. Maybe defects that need to be recalled?

**Francois Blais** · #4 10-03-2005, 06:05 AM

I remember that several years ago D'Addario had a problem with the cable they use for the core of some Helicores.
Maybe they're running into the same problem again?
You should definitely contact them about this.

nicklloyd · #5 10-03-2005, 06:58 AM

just to clarify... where was/is the string breaking? does it always break in the same spot?

HotPoop621 · #6 10-03-2005, 07:52 AM

the first time the string broke, it was in the nut. A little bit of graphite there fixed the problem. The next time and all the other times, it was at the bridge. After it broke, I filed the bridge so that it wouldn't get caught. Maybe i didn't file it enough? I don't know if anyone else experiences this with strings, but my helicores always looked like they were going to break with the flat wound surface of the string always crimping at the nut and bridge and then while stretching out, exposed some of the metal on the inside of the string. I never saw this with the Spiros or the Obligatos I have on now. I can also take a pic of my old bridge later and upload it so all you guys can take a look at it. It could after all be the bridge, the core, or a mixture of both.

littlekatie · #7 10-14-2005, 10:51 AM

ive never had any problems with my helicore orchestrals... got them probably 2002.
helicore are good, my strings are life guaranteed. surely if you have been taking replacement A strings a lot they will have noticed, especially if youre not the only one!
drop them an email if i were you!
katie x