Pirastro Flat Chromesteels

[Cosmos]

Hey does anyone have any experience with these strings?

My teacher just asked me to order a set (I have ordered them).

How are these strings?

[KSB - Ken Smith]

First off, they have the prettiest silk at the Tailpiece..lol

I first tried them on an only English Bass and thought they were nice. Then I got a set for a 5-string Bass and they were fine. Not as bright as Spirocore and not as dark as Flexocor. A good combo string for both Arco and Pizz. I sold the 5-string Bass with different strings so I then put the FCs on an old French Bass and they sounded nice on that bass as well.

With strings, it all depends on the Bass you put them on, what you want to do with them and what you want to hear. They are a top quality string. I would use them again if I thought they were the right strings for a particular Bass.

[greitzer]

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

...Not as bright as Spirocore and not as dark as Flexocor. A good combo string for both Arco and Pizz...

+1 on that description. They are indeed a good combo string based on my experience with them. I would recommend them if you do both types of playing.

[bribass]

Originally Posted by Cosmos

Hey does anyone have any experience with these strings?

My teacher just asked me to order a set (I have ordered them).

How are these strings?

I've been experimenting w/ them on my c.1920's carved German bass. They are brightish, but in a different way than Spiros. Out of the box they have too much banjo effect, but settle in nicely after awhile. Tried them at first on my dark sounding Prescott and did not like them on that bass. Maybe they just needed to break in because surprisingly on the more midrangey German they sound sound better after a few gigs. Punchy, but not too bright w/ enough growl on the bottom and they bow better than Spiros. They have a thinner gage and more flexibility than some strings which makes them easy to play Jazz solos on.
They seem to amplify quite well too, but they are not as arco friendly or acoustically loud as Evah Pirazzi's, but sound better though and amp than EP's.

Hope that helps. Good luck in your string choice odessy, BG

[Francois Blais]

Like several other Pirastro bass strings sets, the E is somewhat week though...
But the other strings are very nice indeed.

[TroyK]

Was rather fond of the G string for a number of years, been thinking about trying it again lately, then again, I'm a nutjob, as otherwise documented. Not an indictment of the string.

[Phil Rowan]

I've had good experience them with my hybrid B. Lang, which is just a tad on the dark side of things. Right now I actually have Original FC as the D and G, with Spiro Mitt E and A. I just ordered FC E and A (I know, I'm taking a risk here), and I hope the E will not be too bad for me. I've found them to be brighter than Spiros on my bass, which is just what it needs to brighten up the sound a bit. I find them much more arco friendly than the Spiros.

[Jake deVilliers]

My wife's 1950 Kay has FCS D & G with Spiro Mittel E & A and sounds very good. Jim's '39 Kay is wearing FCS G, D, and A with Spiro Mittel E and sounds great.

The FCS have a little more air in the tone than the Spiros but the E is really too floppy. They're also very bow-friendly, even for me!

[Jeremy Allen]

I went through a period where I thought they were the Holy Grail of strings for me. This was post-Superflexible, pre-Dominant in my history of string crushes. I paired FCS A and D with Spirocore mittel (or weich, either worked fine) E and G, and it was a pretty great combination for mainly-pizz-but-plenty-of-arco playing. I ended up giving those strings to a jazz student who was using Helicores, and he was in heaven.

[Sean Ormiston]

Hullo,

I don't speak up often enough round here but I got some 2 cents on this string.

My bass, an Eberle plywood (that has aged nicely...was made in the 70's I believe) came with a set of PCFs. Now I don't know how long they were on there as the bass sat in the shop, or how much play hours were on them, but the E string was definitely weak to me.

I've since bought Thomastik Superflexibles and for a time had Superflexible on E and A with PCF on D and G, I guess this was my novice attempt at making a "dark-bright spectrum." The PCF D string was overpowering however (on my bass the D seems most resonant.) I now keep only the G PCF.

They are bright, very metal sounding strings. But this makes possible their great sustain, which really sings. So it's a real great G string. But it's real far from "classic" pizz tone.

[Phil Rowan]

I put the E and A on today, and so far, so good. The E is fine on my bass, and with the bow these strings are just great as compared to the Spiro Mittels that were on before.