spiro arco???

[Marcus Johnson]

Different on each bass, I suppose. It was obviously tolerable on my La Scala, but then again, I could put rubber bands on that bass and it would sound good.

[vier-personen]

Originally Posted by damonsmith

- I drop a couple unamplified Low Es before de-tuning in this little clip. I am not so sure I'd call the sound pathetic. I have used Weichs for years.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yIhj0zSRbS0

awesome clip, thanks for posting it!

[Ric Vice]

Vier-Personen,

Here are a couple of less expensive thing that have worked for me.
Lemur Music has a device called a Vibra Mute. It's a little piece of clear plastic tubing capped of at each end that "threads" through the afterlength of the strings below the bridge. It will help take some of the
nasal quality of sound that Spirocores produce.

Recently, I had to perform the Jimmy Blanton version of Sophistacated Lady at a concert honoring St. Louis Jazz Musicians. For this event I replaced my Spiro Weich G with a Tomastic Superflexible and it's a good compromise for arco. What you loose is the ringing sustain of the Weich G. Spiro Mittens do sound much fuller as others have stated.

Ric

One distinct advantage I have is that my older Walter Woods MI-400_8
has a phase switch that also improves bowed tone.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Ric Vice

Vier-Personen,

Spiro Mittens do sound much fuller as others have stated.

Would you say they sound...... wooly?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by damonsmith

- I drop a couple unamplified Low Es before de-tuning in this little clip. I am not so sure I'd call the sound pathetic. I have used Weichs for years.

Originally Posted by robgrow

I had always used Spiro mittles, and didn't think I'd like the weich E. However on this particular bass the weich E vibrates more freely, whereas it was always just a little choked with a Spiro mittle E. Anyway the weich E doesn't sound at all wimpy on this bass. It's very loud and powerful. The weich E bows rather nicely too.

Ok so I admit the Weich can work well on some basses with some players.

I just liked the lamp cord riff.

I thought it was funny.

Kinda about the level of spiro mittens.

badum bum.

[vier-personen]

Originally Posted by Ric Vice

Vier-Personen,

Here are a couple of less expensive thing that have worked for me.
Lemur Music has a device called a Vibra Mute. It's a little piece of clear plastic tubing capped of at each end that "threads" through the afterlength of the strings below the bridge. It will help take some of the
nasal quality of sound that Spirocores produce.


Ric

One distinct advantage I have is that my older Walter Woods MI-400_8
has a phase switch that also improves bowed tone.

Thanks Ric,

but I couldn´t find the device you mention at Lemur´s website.
I am waiting for my bass to be finished at the luthier and it will have a set of Bel Canto on it, so there should be nothing nasal about it I hope, but I do think about getting a set of Weichs when the BCs die, so the Vibra Mute might be helpful then, thanks.

Btw, I had a set of Spiro Mittels on my bass when I started playing ten years ago, and these strings combined with bad technique gave me tendonitis, so my relationship with spiros is somewhat tense but I am willing to forgive.

[Ric Vice]

Vier-Personen,
It looks like they are out of stock. so here is some additional information. You need to contact Don Payne c/o Jazzazart Productions
@ 1-800-406-2320- 816 NW 73 Avenue, Plantation, Florida, 33371 his email is recyclednotes@comcast.net

Ric

[Anonymous75966]

FWIW to the OP, I get what I think is a reasonably good, dark, amped arco sound with reds and a Realist. Any other pickup I've used with Spiros has been awful - the Fishman would break glass, start all the dogs barking, and occasionally induce seizures in the sound tech. I personally think Spiros are fine for section playing once they settle down a bit.

Mark Dresser plays hellacious arco on Spirocores, and I was strangely pleased to see him using Pops rosin. Not just for newbs ...

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by Dave Chokroun

FWIW to the OP, I get what I think is a reasonably good, dark, amped arco sound with reds and a Realist. Any other pickup I've used with Spiros has been awful - the Fishman would break glass, start all the dogs barking, and occasionally induce seizures in the sound tech. I personally think Spiros are fine for section playing once they settle down a bit.

Mark Dresser plays hellacious arco on Spirocores, and I was strangely pleased to see him using Pops rosin. Not just for newbs ...

+1
I think that the darker sound of the Realist is countered by the brightness of the Spiorcores. However, is very dependant on the actual sound of a particular bass. Pops Rosin is very "lightweight" and dosen't seem to add to the problem. Spiro's are really bright when you first install them, and after about 3 to 4 weeks they start to settle down.
The Realist does have one drawback however, even though it has a higher output than other pickups, it's theshold of usable gain is lower before it "goes into muddy land." For me at least, the Realist is only
useful at lower to moderate volumes. It's not a pickup that you can push to far.

Ric

[vier-personen]

Originally Posted by Dave Chokroun

Mark Dresser plays hellacious arco on Spirocores, and I was strangely pleased to see him using Pops rosin. Not just for newbs ...

yes! I listened to "Unveil" a lot lately, as well as Joelle Leandres "Concerto Grosso" (what I could guess from pictures she plays spirocore solos) and there is a lot of arco playing on both CDs. I really dig the sound! It´s very clear, can be aggressive but also gentle (not as gentle as other strings though).
I have been playing spiros years ago, but didn´t care for them, lately I played obligatos and liked them quite a lot, but I really missed the clearness of articulation and the defined pitch I can hear on these recordings that I couldn´t get from obligatos.
As of today I have bel cantos on my bass and it´s a bit early to make comments, but the defined pitch and clearness is definitely there, they sound very different than spiros though - darker, warmer. picc. sustain is there, but less - wait, that´s another thread.
Bottom lines is, arco on spiros is possible and actually sounds good!

[Marcus Johnson]

That's the thing with Spiros for me as well. I just haven't found any other string that allows me to zero in on the pitch as cleanly as Spirocores.

[Kam]

I've been using Spiro Weichs for about a month now and the arco experience isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It is definitely not a string I would want for any kind of serious orchestral excerpts (ex: Beethoven 5th Scherzo mvt) since the response time (for me at least) is slow on the E and A strings. For scale/arpeggio work and lyrical solos though, I'm digging them.

I was using Obligatos, which I adore for arco work, but I just wasn't happy with the pizz sound on jazz gigs. Too muddy, lost in the mix. A factor in that is probably because I have a fairly dark bass with a Realist.