D'Addario pizzicato and hybrid series - Page 2

T-Bal · #21 08-16-2003, 12:01 AM

What does this mean, exactly? (Anyone)

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #22 08-16-2003, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BEACH BALL
What does this mean, exactly? (Anyone)

I think it means that Bob watches too much Fox network.

T-Bal · #23 08-16-2003, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by HER GRITS CALD FIZ

I think it means that Bob watches too much Fox network.

No, really.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #24 08-16-2003, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LUCILLE BALL

No, really.

Actually, I think he means that the strings lose their tone and center of pitch, making trying to play in tune a nightmare. However, I bet if we wait long enough, Bob will chime in with some Einsteinian luthier rant supported by math that only 7.3% of Talkbassers will understand. I'm not in that 7.3%, but I almost always agree with the gist of the small part I DO understand.

toman · #25 08-16-2003, 02:58 AM

what does make strings go false? Nobody's been able to really explain it to me, and the best thing I can come up with is that the core of the string stretches unevenly as it wears, making wierd pitch intervals along the length of the string. Sound right?

Bob Branstetter · #26 08-16-2003, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald Actually, I think he means that the strings lose their tone and center of pitch, making trying to play in tune a nightmare. However, I bet if we wait long enough, Bob will chime in with some Einsteinian luthier rant supported by math that only 7.3% of Talkbassers will understand. I'm not in that 7.3%, but I almost always agree with the gist of the small part I DO understand.

Nothin' Einsteinian about me! I just like to know why things happen. In the case of strings, it's really pretty simple. If you can imagine a new string as a very long perfectly round cylinder, you can also imagine a false string as one that is no longer a perfect cylinder. Over time, all strings develope flat spots on the underside where they contact the fingerboard as a result of finger pressure. Also, as Chris mentioned earlier, the acid in certain folks skin has a tendency to disolve a minute amount of metal on the wrapping of the string, which also makes for a non-perfect cylinder.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #27 08-16-2003, 10:37 AM

ALBERT,

Aww, I'm just funnin'....I get the same kinds of jokes when I go off on a theory rant sometimes. What I'm wondering is this: On plank strings, I think that the "secreters" exude a lot of SKIN OIL FUNK which collects on the windings and makes the string vibrate funny (how's THAT for a technical explanation?

). But is there any way for SKIN OIL FUNK to get inside a steel DB string like a Spirocore, or is it all about flat spots?

Bob Branstetter · #28 08-16-2003, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald
But is there any way for SKIN OIL FUNK to get inside a steel DB string like a Spirocore, or is it all about flat spots?

I suppose it is possible, but I'm more inclined to go for the acid theory. When I was using Spiros, I wiped them down after the job and then cleaned them with denatured alcohol about once a week. I still had the falseness problem. Since I've not had that problem with Helicores, I would assume that D'Addario uses a wrapping with a different alloy. It could also be that the Helicores are more resistant to flattening. I'll have to ask Norman Pickering (the guy who designed the Helicore strings for D'Addario) the next time I see him. Now there is a guy that is Einsteinian!

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #29 08-16-2003, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob Branstetter
I suppose it is possible, but I'm more inclined to go for the acid theory. When I was using Spiros, I wiped them down after the job and then cleaned them with denatured alcohol about once a week. I still had the falseness problem. Since I've not had that problem with Helicores, I would assume that D'Addario uses a wrapping with a different alloy. It could also be that the Helicores are more resistant to flattening. I'll have to ask Norman Pickering (the guy who designed the Helicore strings for D'Addario) the next time I see him. Now there is a guy that is Einsteinian!

There's also the issue of which type of Spiro you're using. When I was using Weichs, they didn't last as long. When I moved to the Orchestra gauge, they lasted a lot longer. Now that I'm using Starks, they just seem to get better over time. I wonder if there's a difference in composition, or only of thickness and tension?

Bob Branstetter · #30 08-16-2003, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald
I wonder if there's a difference in composition, or only of thickness and tension?

Probably all of the above. The modern bass string is an exceeding complex thing. Norman Pickering wrote an entire book ("The Bowed String") on the subject. It's good reading if you're interested in finding out just how complex they are.

tww001 · #31 08-17-2003, 09:56 AM

i checked your website just for the heck of it, and recognized your photo...from the Carroll County High School Jazz fest thingy back in the spring of '02...you're the one who told me to lower my endpin...ALOT...thanks for that, it has helped.

kwd · #32 08-18-2003, 09:04 PM

Quote:

Everyone I know who has tried the hybrid curses their arco response, and puts them as not as good as Spirocores in either pizz or arco (and Spiros aren't exactly known for being great arco

-Monte

I have Helicore hybrids and I regularly curse the arco sound. It sounds as if I'm in the majority. Going after some of the Spirocore market share by offering a bright sounding pizz string that also excels in arco response is an adroit move, but the product has not met my expectations. (I regularly swap E-A strings with Helicore Orch just to get a tolerable arco sound). As has been posted in several threads, Spiros have a better arco response.

I seems like there are so many viable hybrids out there Obligato, Corelli 760TX, Varicore Excel, Pirastro Flat Chromasteel to name a few. As far as I know Helicores are the only ones that sport the 'Hybrid' claim in their title.

Let the diatribes continue!

T-Bal · #33 08-28-2003, 11:27 AM

OK. So I ditched my Helicore Pizzes in favor of the old reliable Spirocore Orchs, and I noticed one thing. The Helicore E&A sounded HUGE, while the D&G were wimpy. The Spiro D&G are HUGE, while the E&A not so much. So I'm wondering two things. 1. Is this a result of tension, composition, or something else? 2. If it is a result of tension, might I get the same result with Spiro wiech E&A, or some other lighter guage, because while I loved the amount of sound I got with the Helicore E&A, I didn't care for the tone, which somehow was both twangy and unfocused.

Aren · #34 10-02-2003, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by T-Bal
Hello fellow bassmen and women. This is my first post.

What is the latest in the saga of these strings regarding breakage? I heard that they had resolved the problem, so I decided to try a set of pizzicatos (I normally use Thomastics). Then I heard from another reliable source that they are still breaking. If this is the case, I'm going to send the D'Addarios back.

I know this thread is getting on in its age, but, I just broke one last night. I picked up my bass, at home, and lightly plucked my E and it snapped right at the bridge. I was disgusted. I have been playing this set for a while but I'm not a real aggressive player. Oh well...

Bob Branstetter · #35 10-02-2003, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Aren

I know this thread is getting on in its age, but, I just broke one last night. I picked up my bass, at home, and lightly plucked my E and it snapped right at the bridge. I was disgusted. I have been playing this set for a while but I'm not a real aggressive player. Oh well...

If it broke right at the bridge, you need to be sure the string slot in the brige is rounded over and lubricated with pencil lead or coated with super glue. Some string makers provide metal riders to go under the string to protect them, Helicores (and many others) do not. Any brand of string will break at the bridge if there are any sharp points where the strings cross over the bridge.

Aren · #36 10-02-2003, 12:22 PM

I'll check it out when I get home. Thanks.

Mike Crumpton · #37 10-07-2003, 12:36 PM

tonman reckons that spiros are crap for arco, a comment I've come accross eslewhere. My experience is the oposite but I'm using Wiens not the Weichs. Previous strings were mainly jazzers (ok arco) superfexibles (superb piz tone but not percussive enough to be driving, crap arco and too much string excursion to allow a low action but they did reward with extra tone and shape with extra hard playing - hard palying of spiros just strangle my bass)

Bass playing pals do not have many nice thisgs to say about Heli Hybrids or their piz only strings. i suspect that this has something to do with their very high price raising expectations. And one of the nastiest things to say that has been reported to me about these strings is that they don't last. However, it may well not be the strings fault as pointed out.

We all need to waste ooldes of dosh to find the string to suit us and the bass. What a bummer!

jazzbo · #38 10-17-2003, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JonB
Pretty much what Don said.
I used to use the hybrid G and D, and the pizz A and E, both medium. I had probably 5 or 6 sets over 4 years and never had any break.

Could you explain to me the advantages of this method? Do the G and D strings, being obviously thinner and smaller, wear quicker?

Thanks.