Orchestral Strings for a Heavy Snakewood bow

anonymous12251111 · #1 10-27-2007, 04:28 PM

I have a quite a heavy Snakewood French bow (141g.) I play with a very relaxed right arm and don't apply pressure but I'm finding my Belcanto's slightly too low in tension to keep up with the weight of the bow. Can anyone recommend a different string setup for soley an orchestral non solo player?

thx!

sibass89 · #2 10-27-2007, 05:25 PM

Try the Original Flexocors or Flexocor heavys. Before I used Bel Cantos I used Original Flexocore G, D, and A and a Helicore medium E (sometime a Dominant). I would say the hardest string for you to find is going to be the E and it is just going to take time to find what suits you best.

Also, do all the strings give out on you or just the G? My experience with Bel Cantos is that they low strings are great but the G gives out which is why I mixed it with a Flexocore heavy G.

anonymous12251111 · #3 10-27-2007, 06:19 PM

The weirdest thing is that I LOVE the Belcanto G. I just find the entire set to be a bit too low in tension, but the beautiful thing is that you can raise them really high off the fingerboard to get a great sound and they're so easy to press down. I'm just wondering if there is slightly heavier gauged similar string.

**Francois Blais** · #4 10-28-2007, 09:49 AM

I also suggest Flexocor medium or heavies.

JoeyNaeger · #5 10-28-2007, 12:54 PM

You might also try the heavy gauge helicores. If it weren't for the belcantos, I would be using these on my bass right now.

**Francois Blais** · #6 10-28-2007, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeyNaeger

You might also try the heavy gauge helicores.

Orchestrals?

reedo35 · #7 10-28-2007, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeyNaeger

You might also try the heavy gauge helicores.

I disagree. Go with the Flexes.

JoeyNaeger · #8 10-28-2007, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francois

Orchestrals?

Yes, the orchestras.

Jeff Moote · #9 10-28-2007, 04:56 PM

Original Flexocor, Flex 92 stark gauge... Dominants if you like the brightness. Currently I'm playing Doms and while they have that nice sizzle in solo settings, it translates to a powerful orchestral tone that blends well (my section partner is on Flex 92s and we seem to sound good together).

JoeyNaeger · #10 10-28-2007, 05:23 PM

At least on my bass, the flex 92's aren't very loud compared to the belcantos. Even though they are tighter than the belcantos, I can dig in a get a much bigger sound with the belcantos. They're nice to play, but I wouldn't recommend the flexicore 92's for your situation. While I've never tried the flexicore originals on my bass, on other basses, they seem to be considerably more ballsy than their counterpart. The heavy gage helicores are by far the beefiest sounding string I've tried. Unfortunately, on many basses the helicores sound terrible so I understand the negative sentiments surrounding them.

reedo35 · #11 10-28-2007, 05:55 PM

Well, the OP asked for an alternative to the bel cantos since he was looking for something different. The Flexocores, in my opinion, is the next best choice. They are one of the traditional orchestral strings for good reason. They blend well with a section, and have a decent amount of tension. Granted, the Helicores are louder (in fact, they were about the loudest strings I ever had on my bass) but IMO, the Flexes bow better, and feel more comfortable to my hand than the rigid stiffness of the Helicores.

greitzer · #12 10-28-2007, 11:45 PM

Calvin -- I also use a pretty heavy French bow, and my current string setup seems to do fine with it. I use Thomastik Superflexibles for E, A and D, and a Flexocor medium-gauge G string. I use the Flex G because I didn't like the thin, nasal sound of the Superflex G on my bass. Both string types do well under the heavy bow, although the Flexocor is more easily bowed than the Superflexibles (smoother and less scratchy, in my experience).

Machina · #13 11-03-2007, 11:02 AM

I use a 156gr Wilfer Snakewood bow with Obligatos (hybrid string) and find that this combination works extremely well on my carved bass for both excellent orchestral pizz and arco response. The arco response is especially strong. They also seem to work well in regards to resisting temperature change, but that may have more to do with the bass also.

anonymous12251111 · #14 06-22-2008, 12:41 PM

Been using the Snakewood bow with Eudoxa's, now these strings work perfectly with this bow!!! I am still considering Flex 92's because they're so much cheaper.

robobass · #15 06-22-2008, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

I have a quite a heavy Snakewood French bow (141g.) I play with a very relaxed right arm and don't apply pressure but I'm finding my Belcanto's slightly too low in tension to keep up with the weight of the bow. Can anyone recommend a different string setup for soley an orchestral non solo player?

thx!

I wouldn't call 141g heavy for a French snakewood. I have a custom (made to my dimensions) Chinese 146g Snakewood that I mainly use on a very stiff 5-string with red Flexocors and which is only used in orchestra. The bow plays nicely on my 4-stringers with Obligatos, but for some reason doesn't produce much volume compared to good pernambuco on these softer basses. On the 5_string however, the sound is HUGE. I do apply a lot of pressure though, and also tighten the hair much more than I would or could with pernambuco.
I wouldn't normally recommend Flexocor to anyone for anything, finding them stiff, tight, and cold overall, but for orchestral work with a French style snakewood bow, it works really well; for me at least!
Robobass