• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass DB String haters thread

Re-vamping this thread again. I don't like Obligatos. Played them on my teachers bass tonight and they just felt like wet noodles. Too loose for my right hand. I like the feel of spirocores and Evah Pirazzis.
I'm with you here. I've tried Obligatos twice, and currently still have just the low E on my bass. They are floppy things to bow.

One of my talkbass pet peeves, if I may, is people saying anything is "good for arco." There is a big difference between playing the 10% of a broadway show that's arco or otherwise taking out your bow for something pop/rock/jazz/etc. and trying to play Beethoven. If you say it's good for arco, then say what kind of arco you've used it for. So far, I can live with my low E Obligato but the G and D strings drove me a bit nuts once I started working on my classical playing. Mind you, they don't sound bad, and if you get used to bowing them, it's really not _awful_, but something's just not quite right and you can't really crank on them the way you can a stiffer string.

Rant over.

-S-
 
I don't remember the brand, but I broke my E string just before a gig and had to go to the local music shop and get something in a hurry. I bought a steel E for £20 made the bass sound like a wasp in a jar strumming a banjo.
 
I don't remember the brand, but I broke my E string just before a gig and had to go to the local music shop and get something in a hurry. I bought a steel E for £20 made the bass sound like a wasp in a jar strumming a banjo.

That's strange! I guess challenge accepted ;). The "unbowable" string that I've bowed quite fine (just as well as spiros) is the Innovation Super Silvers.
 
My old guitar player worked at a guitar store and told the regional manager for DB that I was a dedicated heavy gauge Rotosound user. He gave me a free set to try. I put them on and after 20 minutes took them off and gave them to a friend of mine to try. I hated them.
 
Pirastro Jazzers!

The thing was that my bass REALLY hated these!
Way too bright, sounded like a guitar.

After that I got some Obli's and that wasn't all that fun either, but at least it sounded somewhat like a bass!

Also, I'm not a huge fan of D'addario Pizzicatos.
 
I`m really f****n sorry.

Thomastik-Infeld: Spirocore, any gauge in any tuning. Dominant. Belcanto.

Pirastro: OBLIGATO any tuning, orch or solo. Evah Pirazzi. FLAT CHROMESTEEL. Jazzer.

Gamut Pistoy, wound or unwound, on any bass, any string lenght.

Lenzner: anything over 2,5mm gauge.

Efrano.

Thank you,

Reiska
 

Latest posts