Solo strings detuned to regular tuning-any good for jazz?

[Tha Ridla]

I met a bass player the other day who had a set of velvet solo strings detuned to regular tuning (1 step down). The sound was surprisingly good-remenicent of Miroslav with that low growl and almost floppy sound. I read on other forums on this site that he detunes a 4th down but maybe it's only a 2nd?

Before I shell out on a set myself, has anyone tried this before and to what effect?

Cheers,

Matt

[TroyK]

I've not tried it with Velvets and I'm surprised that someone has because they are so low tension to begin with, but a lot of people do it with other strings. I did it for a summer with Spirocores and really liked it. When the season changed, they got a little floppy, but it was nice for a while. Liked the sound, liked the feel, they bowed pretty well...

Search the archeives. You'll find several threads on the subject.

[Paul Warburton]

Alota guys do this...As Troy says the Thomastic solo strings in particular, work nice. The arco is much better. Personally, I like a bit more tension on my strings....at least for jazz.

[CB3000]

dominant solos at orchestra pitch are nice IMHO. they are a bit fatter than your average solo string (not much) so the diameter is like orch pitch strings.

[Fred W]

When I took lessons from Jay Leonhart many millenia ago, his string setup was spirocore solo tuned to regular pitch. He presented it as the hip setup. I don't know what he plays now.

[rprowse]

Originally Posted by CB3000

dominant solos at orchestra pitch are nice IMHO. they are a bit fatter than your average solo string (not much) so the diameter is like orch pitch strings.

I found these too floppy... I put my Weichs back on.

[Chasarms]

There are enough contributing factors to the overall tension to make this practice as much of a crap shoot as anything else.

Bridge height, afterlength, string length, etc.

For example, a set of "solo" strings tuned to standard orch. on a 42"ish bass might play at roughly the same tension as they would tuned F#, B, E, A on a 40"ish bass.

My first set of spirocores were de-tuned solos. The second was weichs. I can't say as I could really even tell a significant difference in tension.

[Steve Boisen]

Originally Posted by Fred W

When I took lessons from Jay Leonhart many millenia ago, his string setup was spirocore solo tuned to regular pitch. He presented it as the hip setup. I don't know what he plays now.

I saw Jay when I was in NY last June to record. I sat in on his bass and he had a Sprirocore orchestra for the E and weichs for the A,D and G. He sounded great and took lots of arco solos too.

- Steve

[Jake]

Would Spiro Solos do well with frequent tuning and detuning, going back and forth from orch to solo tuning?

[vitoliuzzi]

Originally Posted by Jake

Would Spiro Solos do well with frequent tuning and detuning, going back and forth from orch to solo tuning?

Hi Jake,
I've do it for one year and sincerly I've no had some problem.
Generally, Spiros Solo and Thomastick Strings with the exception of Dominants (great strings in Perlon, a special fiber used to give a simil-gut sound ... and it's true but breaking unfortunally is very common, expecially the 1st and 4th string, in diapason over cm.108 also the 2nd string) use a lot of metallic materials, alloys which provide a very powerful sound, with a lot of scratch, but very dynamic if you tuning Solos up-down. Pay only attention to windings on the bridge. The bridge should be worked enough thin in string boxes, and naturally at least every two weeks I suggest to use graphite (using an HB pencil), also for nut. Also Superflexible Solo Strings have the same charatheristics, but from my experience they last less time in this working of tuning and detuning a solo set by Thomastick.

Regards

Vito Liuzzi