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Double Bass DB String haters thread

Huy Nguyen

Huy Nguyen

Official Forum Flunkee
Supporting Member
Mar 16, 2004
6,521
2,104
Richmond, CA
#1
Just for fun, and out of complete subjectivity, we're always talking about the best strings for our basses.

What about the opposite? What was the worst string you ever used? Keeping in mind that one man's garbage is another man's treasure.

Please don't preach about how good a particular string for you. There's enough of that in the other threads.

Thinking back, Helicore Pizz was a loser for me. Nasal and wimpy. Evah Pizz meds were also not very good. Very dark and once lots lots lots of tension to the point of being unplayable.
 
#5
Oh great, catharsis through eloquently expressed disgust!

For me, Velvet Compas360 was a letdown. I really tried to like them; then the guitar player in my band at that time said something like "Okay, whatever you're playing, I can't hear the pitch."

But I remember REALLY HATING Helicore Hybrids after one particularly bad set. I was never quite fond of them, but I had this one particularly wonky set where the A buzzed like nothing else, the G was drop dead out of the box, the E string felt strangely twisted and didn't sound like a new string either, and the D broke after 30 minutes.

and +1 for Superflexibles. They were on one of the basses at a music school where I teach, and for the life of me I cannot see why these strings should be used at all.

Best
Sidecar
 
#7
Red Labels give me the heebie-geebies. Arco, they sound like a jar of angry bees. + the longevity of a gnat.

Our school resource office will only order these, but I end up taking the dead strings off my personal instrument (Helicore or Belcanto) and putting them on the HS basses. The improvement in tone is astounding.
 
#11
Corelli 380's are awful. These are nickel, not tungsten like the 370's. They were hard to bow and had a rough outer surface.

I like Superflexibles though.

- Steve
 
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#15
Helicore Pizz, You cant bow them at all. Floppy spagetti.

I wanted to love Evah Orchestral gauge. I Wanted to be the guy to tell all of you that you were namby pambys for not being able to hang on those strings. They were just too much for me.

I loved my Helicore Orchestrals till i played on other strings...
 
#16
Helicores and Helicore Hybrids, for several reasons:

1.) not uncommon for there to be a bad finish on the windings, making them rough.

2.) pitch definition is so-so at best.

3.) are weirdly high-tension on the hands but rubbery under the bow. I seriously don't know how they do it.

The last time I posted here about helicores, I actually received an email from a D'Addario customer service rep, who asked me to go into detail about what I disliked about their strings. After I did so, they offered me a set of their new (at the time) Orchestral strings, the Kaplans, and let them know what I thought.

I didn't like them either (too dark for me), but I do find them better than Helicores. Also, let me say that D'Addario has some of the nicest customer service reps around: Seriously nice people, congenial and polite.

I just wish I didn't hate their strings.

eerbrev
 
#17
TORTURED said:
Dominants! They're the worst:

They sound lovely
They break
They don't come in a longer scale set

HATE THEM

love them

:crying:
Click to expand...

Another hapless soul crushed by Doms again I see.

Ebolagatos = Tubarama.

I forget that the Helicore pizz has this sandpaper-like texture to them. Extra pain for the glutton for punishment. ;)

Corelli's def win the pasta comparison. Maybe they should rename them to Capelini.

Gut strings like Gamuts deserve a mention. *** with that price? Ugh! $600 for a set of strings. Tuning constantly going awry. You would think at that price it would do everything, including some unmentionables. Ah well.
 
#18
I dislike the FEEL of metal strings, I love gut and synthetic!!!
I just played a bass at Upton for about 20 minutes which was strung with Zyex and my hand hurts! I haven't played metal strings on an upright in at least 4 months.
Mind you, I love the SOUND of metal strings- the tension is no fun tho.
 
#20
Hi everyone!

This is Josephine from D'Addario. If anyone ever has questions or concerns about our strings, or would like to try a particular set please feel free to message me here on TB. We appreciate all of the feedback, positive and negative, as we're always striving to do better for all of the players and teachers out there.

Thanks!
 
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