Easiest?

[Maaaven]

My left hand is not very strong, or more precisely suffers
from hypermobility of the joints, making it a challenge to
play without getting sore, due to the extra work involved
in stabilizing the joints. The Horvath book, "Playing Less Hurt"
talks about this problem in some detail.

I am experimenting with my two basses to obtain easy
playing set-ups. I have been reworking bridges and swapping
strings to make the playability adjustments.

The 5/8 bass is strung with Spiro Mittels and set to a lowish
4mm-7mm on a bevelled board that has a shallow scoop, and
slopes downhill steeply on the G string side. That approach is
my current champ in the easy to play department, but is
pretty worthless for arco practice.

The other bass is a 3/4 with a more arco friendly board, with a
bit more scoop and a more classically rounded board and
bridge. My goal is to equal the above bass in ease of play, so
I thought low tension, and bowable would point toward a
metal-wrapped gut string, so I installed Eudoxa D and G
strings, and threw on some older Obligatos in the E and A
positions. Some unwrapping going on there and I get a bad
viration under the fingers arco, so I need to go to something
else for E and A . I am currently set up at 5-8mm string
height, with the Eudoxa/Ob mix.

Here are my open questions.

A.) What E and A string would mix well with the Eudoxa?
(providing good hybrid performance with low tension.)

B.) How low can I consider going with the Eudoxa / xxx mix?

C.) Is there another path that makes more sense in playing off
tension, height, and hybrid playability?

My only "next" idea is Eudoxa / Belcanto mix, but no one
ever commented on that, with the possible exception of
Uncle Toad, who swaps strings out faster than I can read
about it! ;-)

[Chasarms]

While the Belcanto is no more difficult to stop than many orchestra strings, I would not consider it an easy string on the left hand. It is far stiffer than Obligato, for example.

If you don't like Obigato, which is very easy to stop, IMO, but does require some room above the fb to move, you might consider Corellis. While they are a little thin, they are very soft and easy under the left hand. They have bright, singing tone, pizz fairly well and bow pretty well.

Rabbath plays them, so they must have a little something going for them. They are an all steel string, so you should get decent life out of them. Plus, they are not that expensive to begin with, so it would not be too terrible of an experiment.

[Francois Blais]

I second the Corelli suggestion.
Get a set of 380M's. (nickels)
The 370 (tungsten) is brighter and pricier.

(back to 380M)
Very affordable, unmatched quality/price ratio, low tension, and good results with either the bow or pizz. (although I'm a pizz player too, but there seems to be a consensus the Corellis are among the best arco strings)

[Maaaven]

Thanks for the input guys, I do appreciate it...

I did go through a set of 360M's fairly recently.
I took them off when I found out they were the
cause of intonation problems. I believe it is called
"falsing". They play different tones pizz and arco
on open strings. It really messed with my muscle
memory of where notes were.

Does the winding issues near thh bridge and nut
adversely effect how difficult it is to stop when
playing arco? It buzzes a lot right now on the E.
If a new ob would not do that I might buy more,
or perhaps the sister string the Permanent?

The additional constraint is matching the Eudoxas,
and corellis extreme brightness and small size make
that a rahter odd combo....based on my 360M experience.

[DaveAceofBass]

Originally Posted by Maaaven

Thanks for the input guys, I do appreciate it...

I did go through a set of 360M's fairly recently.
I took them off when I found out they were the
cause of intonation problems. I believe it is called
"falsing". They play different tones pizz and arco
on open strings. It really messed with my muscle
memory of where notes were.

Does the winding issues near thh bridge and nut
adversely effect how difficult it is to stop when
playing arco? It buzzes a lot right now on the E.
If a new ob would not do that I might buy more,
or perhaps the sister string the Permanent?

The additional constraint is matching the Eudoxas,
and corellis extreme brightness and small size make
that a rahter odd combo....based on my 360M experience.

If you've used the 360 Corellis, you've been using their solo guage, which is extremely thin. You might not have enough tension in order to get a stable pitch. I would recommend trying the 370 Forte guage. The 380s are more like your Thomastik strings, but they bow better--I've not used them as much as the 370s. Another string that's not getting mentioned is the Kolstein Heritage strings. These strings bow better than the Obligatos (IMO) and they don't "roll" under your fingers. They are fairly supple, but of course not as easy as the Corellis to play. Personally, I think I still prefer the Corellis, but these come in second over the Superflexibles (3rd place in my book). I still miss my old Spirocore Weichs for jazz, but they don't bow at all, so I'm giving up on them for now.

[Maaaven]

Dave, thanks for the x'plain'n out the pitch problem.
It may well have been there from the start. They
were amazingly bright from the start, and I had never
thought to tune up twice, once after rosining up.

I am leaning more toward the Kolstein solution rather
than the Corelli solution, because I want to better match
the silver wound gut Eudoxa D and G. But I will hold the
(not very expensive) Corelli solution in reserve for the
next experiment.

[Michael Case]

If you like Eudoxa G&D you might like the Eudoxa E&A. Many people mix them with Oliv G&D for pizz/arco playing and really like them. Of course, they are on the pricey side.

[DaveAceofBass]

If you don't like the bright sound of the Corellis, which are very bright at first (personally, I like the clarity and the growl), then the Kolsteins may fit the bill for you. They are warm and robust, closer to the Obligatos, maybe not quite as warm as Obligatos. However, they bow better than the Obligatos and make an excellent jazz string as well. I'd leave them on my new bass if I didn't think the Corellis would suit me better.

[damonsmith]

I would fourth or fifth trying Corelli's, they are my second favorite after Spirios anyway.

[Francois Blais]

I suggested the 380Ms but I use the 370F on the G, 370TX on the D & A, and a solo Spiro on the E.
You seem to want low tension, thus the M gauge suggested.
As previously said, the 360 set is solo-tuning, so at solo pitch it must have been very floppy. No wonder why the pitch was weird.

[jsbarber]

Not sure if this is of any help, or maybe you've already got it covered, but: you might want to look into excercises to help strengthen your left hand. [e.g. Part of my practice routine includes trills, played arco. They are a pain in the neck (hand actually) but they seem to really help develop LH strength.]
Something like this might help to mitigate the difficulties associated with your hypermobility, maybe.

Jim

[rdwhit]

I have an injured left arm & need a low tension string. My playing is pizz & arco about 50/50. I'm currently using flatchrome steel. The tension is low, they have enough sustain for jazz arn't scratchy w/ the bow. They sort of seem like a low tension combination of obligatos & weiches. I think the tension is similar to some corellis, but maybe a little louder.

[PB+J]

I've been liking spiro weichs--they are very different sounding, on my bass, than the mittels, less nasal and twangy and they are very easy on the left hand. I find them pretty easy to bow as well. They sound better as they get older

[Maaaven]

Thanks guys. I am tuning in from Seattle (business) tonight.
It occurred to me that putting the brighter Corellis on the
smaller pizz bass would make it even easier, and yield maybe
even more growl and sustain - a nice match.

I was checking out the domestic gut string manufacturer,
Gamut, web site and was pretty blown away. They are
real artisans up there in the frigid north.

http://www.gamutstrings.com/2005_2.htm#bass_viol

I love that these guys will rewrap the metal winding on
your strings for less than a new string. I might splurge
for the gamut silver wound gut below the Eudoxa,
which is a similar construction. The bigger arco bass is
the current project to make easier. Higher string height
and lower tension was the proposed plan.

The Eudoxa G and D are pretty nice. I now understand
why it is hard to describe the difference in attack between
gut and metal. I cannot put it into words...

It is an expensive experiement, but I only live once...