Mystery Strings.......help!

Ashley Long · #1 08-16-2005, 09:59 AM

Hey guys,

I was recently given a set of strings the other from a friend whos bass was a write off. Ive put them on my Hangzergayar bass out of idle curiosity after having Pirastro Felxocors for years and guess what? They sound and feel amazing, but, true to form, neither myself or my friend have a clue what they are! I can describe them to you: the are steel wound strings with quite a soft tension but work really well for bowing and pizz, the string wrapping is quite coarse and of a light turquoise-green color colour, and the ball ends are a very small barrel shape. Also the strings seem to be copper and steel wound but im not sure if its synthetic core or not. The strings were the stock strings of a Michael Poller ply bass made in 1999 if this helps. Hope you guys can help as these are the strings of my dreams for my old bass!

Mudfuzz · #2 08-16-2005, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashley Long

I can describe them to you: the are steel wound strings with quite a soft tension but work really well for bowing and pizz, the string wrapping is quite coarse and of a light turquoise-green color colour, and the ball ends are a very small barrel shape.

what color are the ball ends?

Have a look on the pictures on this page and see if you see it.

uptonbass · #3 08-16-2005, 03:53 PM

The barrel ends are typical of LaBella and Innovation today but they could be old strings from Super Sensitive. Maybe the Supreme?

Post a pic of the ends.

Ashley Long · #4 08-17-2005, 02:05 AM

The color matches those of the Thomastik Superflexible strings as does the ball end. The ball end is the same shape as a set of spirocore I have but they are a lot smaller. Perhaps Thomastik used smaller ball-ends previously??

Ashley Long · #5 09-10-2005, 08:12 AM

Strange question. As these strings are fine, I wont be changing them for a while, but, are Superflexibles really that flexible?

**Francois Blais** · #6 09-10-2005, 10:00 AM

Not really.
They were amongst the first rope-core steel string designs.
The rope-core uses stranded steel instead of bare wire, as in full-core designs, so the greater flexibility.

Ashley Long · #7 09-10-2005, 10:07 AM

Are they soft tension??? because the wrapping of these strings I have now matches the supers in the photo, but they are quite soft. Im a little confused.

**Francois Blais** · #8 09-10-2005, 03:56 PM

The Superflexibles are about the same tension as Spirocore Weichs.

On all the plywoods I bought in the '80s, the stock strings were cheap, full-core designs.
That doesn't mean they're not good, but more often than not it's the case...
It may be a good idea to forget about them and get a good set of known strings which will still be available in a few years.

Ashley Long · #9 09-12-2005, 03:11 AM

Out of curiosity does weich mean soft or medium??

**Francois Blais** · #10 09-12-2005, 04:12 AM

Soft.
And Stark means heavy.

Ashley Long · #11 09-12-2005, 04:48 AM

Cheers, thanks for your help on this one man.