Spirocore Differences

[VicDamone]

Can someone explain the differences between Stark and Mittle Spirocores? The Thomastic site is somewhat confusing to this moron.

I checked Lemur and they don't list the Mittle but they do have a medium (length).

Ultimately, I'm looking for more growl and richness from my Lang laminate. I've never really experimented with strings and the Weichs have been OK but the E seems to go long befor the others.

This may not be a string issue but I thought I'd give it a try first.

Vic

[MilesC]

Essentially, Spirocores are made in three gauges (plus solo):

Weich: Lightest Tension, thinnest
Red bottoms/purple tops

Mittel: The medium gauge
Red bottoms/red tops

Stark: The heaviest, thickest gauge, also probably the loudest
Red bottoms/green tops

Here is a thread about strings for laminate basses, in case you are interested:
Best Strings for Plywood Basses

[Roger Mouton]

Reading your post about Spiros it appears that you're a pizz player. I can't help but recommend Pirastro Jazzers. I was a Spriocore Weich user, tried some D'Addario pizz strings a few times (the relative equivalent to Weichs). They were better and seemed to last a tad longer and they seemed to go bad a little more uniformly than Spiros though for the first 2 weeks the E and A were a lot brighter. With Spiros it seemd that one string went bad before the others followed suit. Can't remember which one but it may very well have been the E. When the D'Addario strings went bad they all seemed to go bad together.

With Jazzers my instrument seemed to take on another personality altogether. A little hard to get used to at first. They required a little more energy but the instrument spoke so much better, was louder and they settled in uniformly. They aged equally well. I've switched to Obligatos solely for the better arco performance. They don't perform like Jazzers but they are a great compromise. They seem to age uniformly and I've had the same set on my bass for over a year. I definitely will use them again.

[lowEndRick]

Originally Posted by MilesC

Essentially, Spirocores are made in three gauges (plus solo):

Weich: Lightest Tension, thinnest
Red bottoms/purple tops

Mittel: The medium gauge
Red bottoms/red tops

Stark: The heaviest, thickest gauge, also probably the loudest
Red bottoms/green tops

Here is a thread about strings for laminate basses, in case you are interested:
Best Strings for Plywood Basses

Can someone please tell me how Superflexibles (Both Orch. and Solos) compare to the above info?

Thanks

[Bobby King]

I'd say that Superflexible Orchestra (haven't tried solo) falls in between Spiro weich and mittel in terms of tension. They have a slightly darker pizz sound and they produce a nicer arco tone. A very good all around string.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Bobby King

I'd say that Superflexible Orchestra (haven't tried solo) falls in between Spiro weich and mittel in terms of tension. They have a slightly darker pizz sound and they produce a nicer arco tone. A very good all around string.

I remember from over 30 years ago when we just called the Superflexible's 'Rope Core' which is still printed on the package. I don't recall if they said 'Superflexible' back then.

They were not as 'zingy' as the Spiros were and were not as popular unless you needed to save a few dollars as that was the difference in price then. Now that I have used a more recent set on one of my Basses and have used an Ext. E/C as well on another Bass I can see how they are a better 'hybrid' string which was not a term we knew of back then. Then it was either a Jazz string or an Orchestra string.

I would say that the Solo set will relieve some tension on your Top and play somewhat easier if tension is a problem. Also, they might catch better with the Bow. I always preferred 'older' broken in Spiros for Bowing and think the same with the Superflexible's as well.

[bribass]

A Spiro Mittel E is a better match w/the Weich A,D, and G I find. Arnold Schnitzer hipped me to that years ago and he is right.

I've also enjoyed a Superflex G w/ the above combo. Less pingy than a Weich G.

Lately since I play alot of arco even on Jazz gigs, I've been really enjoying a whole set of Superlexibles on my 1920's carved German shop bass. Warmer than Spiros for piz and nice and grabby w/ the bow.
Funny how at home while practicing they are brightish and punchy, but on a gig the sound that fills the room from a few feet is much warmer and full, but still focused.

They amplify very well too and their cheaper price doesn't hurt these days either.

BG

[dchan]

I just slapped on a new set of Spiro Mittels (red tailpiece and red pegbox; S42, which I believe is the 4/4 version) on my school's Juzek. I was never that happy with the D'addarion Helicore Orchestrals that were on it; they were also getting really old. Personally, I think the Juzek's top is pretty thick, so a high tension string was needed to make it boom. I think I've found my answer.

I'm only keeping the Spiros on to break them in until I go home in a couple of months; then I'm slapping the Helicores back on and taking home the broken in Spiros. It seems like there are a lot of complaints about the arco. It's pretty zingy right now, especially in the D string. But from my initial impressions, it's actually not a bad arco string at all.

- The G string is bright without being nasal, powerful, and plays pretty immediately with the bow.
- The D string is about the same, except it has some nasal zinginess right now. Hopefully it will go away in the next few weeks; I was hoping the same for the Kolstein Varicore G a couple of years ago, and that got me nowhere. I'll cross my fingers on this one.
- The A string is the first string in which you realize you're no longer bowing Helicores or any other 'true' orchestral string. It definitely does not start as well under the bow as the top strings.
- The E string is probably the biggest disappointment for me thus far. I was hoping for a powerful and somewhat articulate sound; it plays and sounds about the same as the Helicore E, which was a pretty good E. It's not bad at all, but it's just not what I expected after reading about it for so long. It's actually somewhat louder than the Helicore E.

Normally, I would have just slapped on Flexicore 92's on this bass. I tried a Flexicore G, and it was just too light. So the Spirocores are here to stay until I move back home.

[Jake deVilliers]

Sounds as though you might like the Flex '92 Stark.

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Sounds as though you might like the Flex '92 Stark.

Probably, but I got these Spiro Mittels brand new for free.

My pizzicato chops aren't up to my arco chops right now, mostly because I stopped practicing pizzicato a long time ago. I just finished practicing playing pizz. I was too harsh on review of the E string before: it has a ton of sustain. Actually, I've never played strings with this much sustain before, which I was expecting since I usually played orchestral strings only. Of course, my review before was arco only.

So far, I'm really happy with these strings.