Help on Obligatos

[bdengler]

I believe Don Higdon is right, the Obligatos are quite versatile. I kept a set on my German bass for some time and use it primarily in our community orchestra. But when I put a set on my older Italian bass, I found the E a big mushy and the G has quite a nasal sound to it. I believe there's another posting about using a Dominant E, but has anyone mixed strings on the G side?

Also, does anyone use Obligatos professionally?

Brian

[Don Higdon]

My guess is that the nasality on G is just the way your bass is responding. My negative on the Obligato is that with its softness, more energy is needed to get the E string moving. Spicato on the E doesn't come easily. Is that what you mean by 'mushy'? I've heard that Eugene Levinson, principal of the NY Philharmonic talks them up, but I have not seen them on the three basses of his that were in my luthier's shop. Michael Moore uses them for jazz.

[reedo35]

Ah, This is one of those YMMV situations. It is surprising and interesting (to me, anyway) how different strings sound on different basses.
I have been using Obligatos that, BTW, I bought on Don's recommendation, for the past few months, in a professional situation, with great results. I never tried mixing strings, though. Maybe Francois can tell you more, if he's still around.

[Francois Blais]

I've only tried the G and D and found them too nasal. The tone was loud but I didn't like it.

In the past I've also tried Dominants, which were bright but very stiff. (and prown to break)

I recently tried braided Innovation and they had a nice warm tone, but very little sustain.

[bdengler]

Don, yes, you accurately described my problem with the "mushy" E-string. I found that if I played the E string closer to the bridge, I got a better sound. But the Obligatos just don't work as well on my old Italian bass as Helicores or Jagars. Yet on my 5/8's bass it's very robust and brings out the bottom. I don't get it.

Per some of the salesmen at David Gage's shop in NY, they've only witnessed Levinson's basses with either original Flexocores or Chromcores.

Regards, Brian

[Don Higdon]

I tend to go back and forth between Original Flexocores and Obligatos. This fall, for Beethoven's 9th, the rapid bowing required Flexocores. A month after that I had a concert with alot of Vivaldi in a chamber orchestra. The Obligatos were much more appropriate. I'm recording Thursday night - pseudo jazz, don't ask - and I've decided to use the orchestra bass, with Obligatos, unamped. With less sustain than my jazz bass, it gets closer to that gutty sound of Paul Chambers.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by Don Higdon
With less sustain than my jazz bass, it gets closer to that gutty sound of Paul Chambers.

....and there was peace in the valley....

[David Kaczorowski]

Originally posted by DenglerABD
I believe Don Higdon is right, the Obligatos are quite versatile. I kept a set on my German bass for some time and use it primarily in our community orchestra. But when I put a set on my older Italian bass, I found the E a big mushy and the G has quite a nasal sound to it. I believe there's another posting about using a Dominant E, but has anyone mixed strings on the G side?

Brian, a change in brand or type of strings often requires a soundpost adjustment. Try
moving the soundpost around before blowing more cash on strings.