Superflexible Thomastik fan club

[Raka]

cheap? "plastic-esque pizz? Sure! But I like them a lot. anyone else?

[bribass]

Yes, I've settled on SF's for my Prescott bass for years now, although I match the SF A,D and G with a Mittel Spiro E.

Warmer sounding, more bowable and almost as pizz friendly as Spiros. Some players say they are too stiff on some basses, but on my bass they don't feel that way at all.

Raka, can you elaborate on what you mean by "plastic-esque pizz"?

[Steve Boisen]

Originally Posted by Raka

cheap?

Sure, they're cheaper than Spirocores and Dominants, but not all that cheap. They're currently $15-$40 more than a set of Helicores, Innovation, Zyex and Eurosonics.

- Steve

[Raka]

Originally Posted by bribass

Yes, I've settled on SF's for my Prescott bass for years now, although I match the SF A,D and G with a Mittel Spiro E.
Warmer sounding, more bowable and almost as pizz friendly as Spiros. Some players say they are too stiff on some basses, but on my bass they don't feel that way at all.
Raka, can you elaborate on what you mean by "plastic-esque pizz"?

They were not stiff at all on mine either. The d string was particulary great fot pizz. Now I'm trying belcanto g and d, and spiros for a and e. The spiros are great also, and more powerful. Belcanto g is great, especially in the medium and high range. Sf and belcanto for arco main difference is not exactly the string start, but in my case the direction change. With Bc is great and easy.

Plastic sound is difficult to explain, is not a bad thing, just the opposite. I like to say that are like chewing gum, but can not explain better, sorry.

And for the price, yes, are not exactly the cheapest, but affordable.

[Eddue]

Raka

Do you notice a big difference the Spiros and Bel Cantos, especially between the A and D strings? I am thinking a Superflexible A might be a smoother transition, with either a SF or Spiro E.

[AMJBASS]

They are decent strings that are consistant and can work very well on some basses. I like the G, the E not so much. I sill want to try a set of superflexible solos.

[Les Fret]

I use them for one year now. Before that I used Spiros Weich. I was not happy with the arco sound of the Spiros. The arco sound of the Superflexibles is better. The only drawback of the Superflexibles is that the tension of the D string is too high compared to the other strings. Which makes cross string pizz a bit more difficult in the beginning. For now it is the best steel string compromise between a good arco and pizz sound for me.

[Steve Boisen]

I like these string for pizz but I find the arco sound a bit shallow and metallic, although not as scratchy as the Spirocores.

- Steve

[Raka]

Originally Posted by Eddue

Raka

Do you notice a big difference the Spiros and Bel Cantos, especially between the A and D strings? I am thinking a Superflexible A might be a smoother transition, with either a SF or Spiro E.

While is there, for me the difference is not a problem, but please note that I've been playing bass for two years (but have a decent background with another bowed instrument (violin). Not amped I like the pizzed belcanto in a piano duo a lot. Amped I've played only in guitar-drum-bass trio, and frankly speaking, I don't like any amped sound (yet).

[Les Fret]

Originally Posted by Eddue

Raka

Do you notice a big difference the Spiros and Bel Cantos, especially between the A and D strings? I am thinking a Superflexible A might be a smoother transition, with either a SF or Spiro E.

well the problem is not the A string but the D string of the Superflexibles. Like I said in my other post. The Superflexibles D string has too much tension compared to the other strings. I immediately noticed that in my playing. Compare the Spiricore tension charts to the Superflexibles charts and you will see.

String Gauges:

Superflexibles Orchestra
G D A E
.052 .074 .079 .107

Spiricore Weich
G D A E
.046 .063 .079 .107

[AMJBASS]

A better comparison would be with the Spirocore Orch(Mittel) since the gauge/tension would be a lot more similar.

[Les Fret]

But as you can see the E and E are exactly the same tension as the Spiricore weich. The D and A of the Superflexibles are only 5 different. Whereas the D and A of the Weichs are 16 different. You will feel that big difference when you play (jazz) pizz. For me that D tension is much too high compared to the other strings.
But I still stay with the Superflexibles since I have found no other steel strings that do the job better. For the rest I like these strings. If only the D tension was 10 lower then I would have found the (almost) perfect strings.

[Eddue]

Les

I posted to Raka in response to using Bel Canto D and G with Spiro E and A. I thought that a Superflexible A might work better with the Bel Cantos compared to a Spiro A string.

I can see the Superflexible D is larger than a Spiro weich but I need to refer to the Thomastik tension charts to see how they compare in tension, since string gauge and tension are too different measurements.

[Steve Boisen]

The Superflexible D is almost the same diameter as the A string. I noticed that right away, but this did not bother me once the strings were installed. I'm finding that I like these on my new bass which seems to respond better to higher tension strings. I had been a diehard Obligato fan but they were just too soft and flabby on this bass.

- Steve

[Raka]

I don't spend too much thinking on tension, diameter, etc... Could be that the D has more tension, but I didn't noticed that when playing, or at least this was not a problem big enough. I just noticed that the d string sounded great at pizz, though.

[DoubleMIDI]

I have a question regarding Superflexible low B (or low C) strings for orchestral playing.

I normally play a high C 5-string with synthetic core strings for jazz, but might want to restring it to low B for a two day orchestral project with GDAE Spirocore Weich 4/4 (which I have and like too, maybe replacing the E by Spiro Mittel) and thought about a cheap low B for these strings. The Superflexible is almost half as expensive than any other low B string I found (except Innovations, at least in Europe).

Of course, I simply could order a Spiro Weich low B, but was think about a Superflexible 4/4 low C tuned down to low B to use with the Spiro Weich (or a Superflexible low B with Spiro Mittel).

Tensionwise this should fit, but what about the sound?
Do you think the sound is similar enough that they will mix with the Spiro Weich or should I grab deeper in my almost empty pocket to get a Spiro Weich or Mittel low B?
(I don't think I will use this string very often.)

[Steve Boisen]

I've never used a low B (or C) but I have mixed Spirocores and Superflexibles before and they match up well. I also know that the Superflexible low 5th string is popular with orchestral players as it gives a very clear sound.

- Steve

[DoubleMIDI]

Thanks a lot Steve!

I even thought it won't make a lot of a difference for those few low notes in the scores.
Since I want it for orchestra this is what I need. And I can check out one more string type...

[Steve Boisen]

They sure like them at The Contrabass Shoppe over in the UK. They also talk about the extended E and low B/C strings being good choices.

- Steve

[DoubleMIDI]

Thanks for the Contrabass Shoppe link Steve. I once looked into their pages, but this was months ago when I was not interested in a low B/C. The low B/C (and also the high C) is for 4/4 only but it is fine for my 109cm bass.