jazz gut player ready to go with steel (uh, long)

[Francois Blais]

Originally Posted by bassist1962

Francois, I submitted a thread about this, but have no replies, what is the difference between FCS and Original FCS? Also, which one is in the guage sticky, the strings look like a light guage which would suit me very well.

The Original Flatchromes were named Eudoxa steel a few decades ago.
In fact, they are very similar to Original Flexocors.
Technically speaking, they are Original Flexocors, but the outer wrap is a bit narrower (or is it wider) than the OF, and they're selected with a closer tolerance range.
These are orchestral strings.
The E and A are quite thick and have a deep dark tone.

The (new) Flatchrome is a completely different string.
It's a thin string, designed for hybrid work, with a clear tone and good sustain. The E still leaves to be desired though. (as with many Pirastro E's I'm afraid)

Hope this helps!

[Marcus Johnson]

You know, Robo, I don't doubt that there are probably better string choices than Spiros for some people. I love trying different strings, and can usually find something that I really like about any of them. But lately I've come to the conclusion that I need to have something to come home to, and for me that's the Spiros. My bass just seems to love them, because they didn't sound as good on some of the other basses that I've played them on. When they are on my current bass, I know that I can play pretty much anything that pops into my head. For instance, if I'm playing up in thumb position, and I want to grab a quick note on the E string, I know it will respond. And I know that they will be in tune, and they won't fall apart, and that they will give me a wide palette of sounds to choose from, and that they will last a long time before they need replacement ( I actually have no idea how old my current set is; they've been on there a lo-o-o-ong time).

I know that others feel the same way about their own string choices. For my style of playing, I've yet to find a string that "disappears" better than Spiros. When they're on there, I'm not thinking about having to compromise any aspect of the music because of my string choice.

[Jake deVilliers]

1962, the Flat Chrome Steel in the Sticky is the modern thinner string.

Its a good, clear-sounding string with some air in the tone. The G string really sings but Francois is right, the E string is a little weak.

Seeya, Jake

[bassist1962]

Thanks JaKe, and Francois. It helps tremendously.

[Aaron Cohn]

So, I've had the Weichs on for about a week. The sound isn't bad, but I'm not sure about them. I went with the Weichs over the Mittels figuring I'd rather go for higher action with a lower tension string. I'm finding, though, that steel strings don't seem to work quite the same way in this regard as gut--it's been a long long time since I've had anything steel on. I brought my action down to about 8mm on the G side today. It's nice and playable at this height, but the strings have a bit more punch a bit higher up. The thing is, they seem like a bit of a bear to play higher up. I'll evaluate further as I play them a bit more--just thought I'd post my impressions so far. Oh, and it seems so far like I've lost some acoustic projection vs the nylguts. Playing a house session tonight and I'll see how it goes there.

[Uncletoad]

Sprios work better lower for me. Significantly lower than Gut strings.

It takes months for Spiros to really sound good.

Keep going.

[PB+J]

I tried raising my weichs not long ago--I kind of liked the tone, but I found them harder to play than I thought they'd be. At the start of a grueling gig recently I lowered them back down

Give them a little time--eat some fried chicken while practicing, sweat some--they get better when some of the liveness goes out

[Aaron Cohn]

Yeah, I'm definitely giving them some time. As far as the action goes, I really cranked it down vs where it was with the Nylguts when I first put the strings on, but then I played with moving it up and down a little when I really needed to just crank it down a bunch more, which I did yesterday. My bass was nice and easy to play last night. Loud enough, too, but not in the most demanding situation as far as that goes.

[Uncletoad]

What you are describing is part of why I haven't enjoyed playing on weichs.

If you get disgusted with those after some more time, sell them and try Dominants.

[martinc]

Robobass wrote: "If you want steel, use Helicore orchestra. It is not quite as loud, but at least you have a chance to produce actual musical tone."

Not always. I have tried pizz, hybrid and Orchestra Helicores in all gauges on two different plywood basses. For me, most of the sound they produce comes from the string and not the bass. I am not alone in this conclusion.
Our experiences are another example of how each bass reacts differently to strings...and why blanket statements like yours need this caveat.

[Aaron Cohn]

Seems odd to post about what are possibly the most commonly-used strings in the universe, but thought I'd post an update anyway. And this is, believe it or not, my first time ever with Spirocores on my bass.

I've had a set of Weichs on for probably close to a month now. I'm liking them. I may have lost a little acoustic projection vs the Aquila Nylguts, but my bass is still plenty loud. I'm getting, for the most part, the kind of full tone I was after, which helps the bass cut through. The strings work well under the bow as well. They sound ugly when I mess up, but as long as I don't mess up there's no problem.

My pickup tone (Underwood) is much improved with the spirocores. With Eudoxas or Nylguts the pickup-bass combination just didn't work well, though the Underwood worked ok with Eudoxas on my old bass. It was bad to the point where, with the Eudoxas on my current bass, a drummer once asked me between songs on the gig if I had ever considered trying the Realist. Now, it's run of the mill pickup-y tone. Doesn't sound good to me, but it's better than acceptable.

I still feel at home on gut--I had a lot of fun playing on a bass with Oliv D & G strings for a minute yesterday. But I got what I was looking for with the Spirocores--they weren't horribly expensive, they can produce a full sound, they're bowable, and from their reputation they stand to be very reliable. Also, I think that it'll be a good exercise for me to play on steel strings for a year or more. To the extent that I have a voice, it's been developed on gut-core strings, so I think it'll be good for me to play on steel day after day for a while and see how it affects my playing.

Thanks to everyone who posted advice a month ago. Even though I wound up going with my initial hunch as to what I wanted, reading all of your opinions was helpful. I'm looking forward to not worrying about strings for a long time. Now I just need to get my fingerboard planed (insert sound of wallet emptying).

Aaron

[Marcus Johnson]

Phil Maneri said something once in these forums that stuck in my head.... his time spent playing guts set a sensibility into his style that remained even when he wasn't playing gut strings. Sometimes, steel strings allow you to do things that aren't necessarily the best musical choice.