obligatos maybe?

bassicsax · #1 05-30-2010, 03:05 PM

I bought my first upright about a year ago, it came with what i was told were some type of orchestral strings... well im getting to a point in my playing where my tone and technique are improving and i feel like there are strings better suited to the styles of music i play than the current ones on my bass. Ive been doing research on this site as well as others into the different types of strings and im thinking that pirastro obligatos might be a good string for me, but i wanted a second oppinion.

I play mostly singer songwriter alt-country and rock, very folky sounding music for the most part, but sometimes but sometimes it has more of a dramatic edge. i play about 70% pizz. and about 30% arco. my bass is a h. luger carved bass, its a cheaper brand but has a good build quality on the highest end of their basses which is what mine is. I dont know what the strings are, like i said earlier i was told that they were more orchestral type strings but i dont really know, they have a reddish orange wrap at both ends, i just know that im not crazy about them. i use kk bass max pickup and fishman pro platinum eq, i dont know if it makes any difference on the strings but i thought i would put it out there just in case. the tone i am looking for is a very round, warm, organic tone with decent sustain.

I would really appreciate any advice as to if im looking in the right direction or not, thanks for the help...

JtheJazzMan · #2 05-30-2010, 05:09 PM

It sounds like you have thomastik belcantos on the bass at the moment. Theyre very nice arco strings but the pizz is dark/dull. Does that sound like your strings?

bassicsax · #3 05-30-2010, 08:59 PM

that sounds very much like my strings...

fdeck · #4 05-30-2010, 09:17 PM

My new bass came with Obligato's, and they seem to be a good compromise for pizz and arco. They sounded good enough to make me want to take the bass home with me.

Because I was really pleased with Spirocores on my old bass, I am trying them on the new one as well, but the jury is out. Spiro's are thought by many to be difficult to bow, but I have to evaluate that for myself with my bass and bow. However, if the Spiro's don't prove to be satisfactory for bowing, the Obli's will go back on there.