What kind of strings for bow?

[Gustafsson]

Hello everyone.

It's my first post here. There's no proper finnish bass forums so I have to practice my english a bit.

I've been playing bass for a few years and I got my first (electric) upright bass today! I don't know a thing of the instrument and I'd like to learn it, so if anyone has any good links, feel free to post for me.

So... My bass has these strings with kind of a plactic(?) cover on them, so I can't get any sound with bow out of them. What kind of strings should I use?

Thousand thanks.

-Gustafsson

http://www.myspace.com/grotesquegallery
http://www.myspace.com/sublimaatio

[TroyK]

Welcome, there are many good choices. It might be best for you to visit a stringed instrument shop in your town and see what is available and what they recommend.

A few ideas for you:

2 Austrian companies: Thomastik and Pirastro have very good orchestral strings. Here in the US Helicore's are a little less expensive and work very well too.

There are a lot of choices and people have their preferences. It sounds like you have a string that was not made for and is not cabable of being played arco, so you need to get set up with some orchestra strings, but which one's can be a long expensive question. I suggest buying locally and perhaps even having them installed for you, if that is an option.

Keep the strings that come off of it. You may want them someday. If not, someone here will trade something for them.

Good luck,

Troy

[Gustafsson]

Yeah,

I thought the same thing about the strings. Probably nt made for playing by arco. Thank you very much Troy for your quick reply. I must visit some of the Helsinki music stores tomorrow.

-Gustafsson

[Jake deVilliers]

Hold on there Troika!

Thomastik - Infeld is Austrian but Pirastro is a German company. They both make great strings.

[R Sturm]

No sound with the bow sounds like no rosin, not a problem with the strings. You can get sounds with the bow on almost any string, ugly maybe, but a sound. If anything, smooth plastic strings are probably better for bowing than roundwound strings or anything like what you have on your bass guitar (even rough plastic like supernils)! But you need rosin.

[TroyK]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Hold on there Troika!

...but Pirastro is a German company...

I stand corrected! I was SURE of myself too. Wow.

[Jake deVilliers]

You'd think with the quantity of string packages you've handled you would have noticed that!

[Gustafsson]

The problem really was the rosin, but it's all taken care of now.

thank you veery much

[TroyK]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

You'd think with the quantity of string packages you've handled you would have noticed that!

I'm still amazed. I've sent things back and forth with Herr Meuller. I just don't get how I could have been off by a whole country.

Sounds like we gave bad advice anyway. There is a LaBella string that is kind of plastic coated that I've heard is not physically possible to bow and based on his description, I assumed that is what he had.

Rosin is certainly a cheaper and faster solution than strings.

[Jake deVilliers]

"Rosin is certainly a cheaper and faster solution than strings."

Say what Troika?

[TroyK]

...that's why I've been historically conservative about trying different strings.