string dilema ???

[funkythumb]

I'm slowly starting to replace each of my Spyro Mittels with Evah Weichs on my Upton Plywood. I'm doing this at a slow pace to "live" with each string a while to notice differences.
When I first switched out the G string, the results were wonderful. The Evah G was definitely a keeper on my Upton Plywood. The Mittel was a little too bright. The Evah is punchy as hell and retained enough highs but is fat and warm.
Today I put on the D string and was somewhat disappointed in the Evahs. I was expecting a loss in the highs but was not expecting a loss in punch. The string is very punchy from around the G note (on the D string) on up. But, both the open string and first three notes (positions) are flat with no punch or volume.
The one good thing about the Evah D string is that the bowing tone is much better.
I'm struggling whether to put the Spyro Mittel D string back on or try a different hybrid string all together for the D string.
Please help!! :-)
thanks

[Marcus Johnson]

Not sure of the situation with your bass.... but I found the Evahs to work best as an entire set.

[funkythumb]

Hey Marcus,
When you say "working as a whole set", are you referring to string tension of all the strings working together, or are you referring to the tone of one string versus another?

[Eric Hochberg]

Go ahead and try the whole set, they are made to work together. I think they are great strings. If you don't like one or more, then try replacing. You can always sell them here.

[TroyK]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Not sure of the situation with your bass.... but I found the Evahs to work best as an entire set.

interestingly enough, i found the opposite. My first go around with EPs (regular) I was strung with jazzers and went one string at a time starting with the G. I stopped with Jazzer E and A and EP D and G for a long time and was really happy. I eventually got the whole set on there and left it for 7 or 8 months, but the magic was kind of gone and I moved away.

Years later it was EP weichs and I had a similar experience.

[William Hoffman]

Originally Posted by funkythumb

...Today I put on the D string and was somewhat disappointed in the Evahs. I was expecting a loss in the highs but was not expecting a loss in punch. The string is very punchy from around the G note (on the D string) on up. But, both the open string and first three notes (positions) are flat with no punch or volume.
The one good thing about the Evah D string is that the bowing tone is much better.

funny, i had the opposite experience. on the Gruenert '93 the Evah D (regs) was the one string out of that set i liked best for volume, punch, tone. all the other Evahs came off and i ended up experimenting until i had very unique mix: Spiro Mittel E, Weich A, Evah D, and Oliv G.

i can't imagine the Evah D not having lots of punch at say F#. mine sure did on my bass. it sounds to me like it's your bass and not the Evah D.

if your bass needs a bit more tension to get the sound you want on the D string, then maybe going back to the Spiro D would be better. that Spiro brightness will fade after a year or so. 'bout the time the Evahs die, the Spiros just start getting good. Or try a different set with the right balance of tension for that bass. Evahs are easier to bow, but Spiros when broken in can be bowed nicely. cheers, Bill

[funkythumb]

Thanks all.
Well, today I spent way too much time going back and forth. I put the Spiro D back on the Upton ply bass and I had the same problem.
Here's the problem described once again with perhaps more clarity.
The open D and next 3-4 notes lack punch. Once I hit the G note on the D string, the string comes back to life and it's firing low-mid torpedoes once again and sounding great.
Based on todays work, I'm thinking it's the bass. Since the Spiro did the exact same thing, it's probably not the string. When I put the Spiro back on the Wilfer hybrid, the D string sounded fine.
As far as tone, though I like the growl of the Spiros, I think I prefer the overall tone of the Evah weich because it's not so bright, warmer (duh) in low mids and richer sounding for bowing.
I do mostly jazz gigs with a few paid bowing gigs.
So any ideas out there on how to get those first few notes to pop? Like I said, from the G note on up, things sound great with both the Evah and Spiro.
It just seems that when I took the Spiro off for the first time, something changed; I just don't what happened. I should also add that I've had both sets of string for almost a year for both of my uprights.
thanks

[TroyK]

Get thee to a luthier.