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Double Bass G string hunt

#23
Caro said:
Maybe Belcanto, Flat-Chromesteell or one of the Flexocors. Thomastik-Infeld and Pirastro have good descriptions of these strings on their websites. They have varying degrees of brightness. They all come in orchestra or solo tuning. The plain Flexocor has 3 different gauges. All of them are metal strings which may match up well with the Spirocore Weich. I've used Flexocor G for many years with Spirocore A and E. I also don't like the whining and excessive brightness of the Spirocore G. I play both pizzicato and arco. These are all high quality stings that will last a long time.
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I've used in the past the flat chromesteel set a lot.Decaying tension from high to low strings.The G is 32 kp i think if i remember correctly from DOUBLEMIDI 's chart. It is a fast string but cuts through the right hand finger a lot because its very thin and tensed. ( I play a lot with 2 over 1 or just the index for walking...soloing is a different story).It is also very bright!
The flexocor G is decent for jazz pizz but I am looking for a sound that would be a mix of Spiro weich "woody and precise" and gut " strong fundamental with attack and air". I don't think that Flexocors are close to that description. Thanks for your feedback.
 
#26
I have Pirastro Flexocore Deluxe strings on my carved bass and I really like the sound and feel of the G string. It has a nice decaying thump when played pizz and it’s wonderful under the bow. I know you said you play pizz only, but they are good for both.

The Oliv G is great and if you don’t take it on and off a lot, the windings don’t unravel. I bought a used Oliv D and G on here a couple of years ago and I purchased it knowing it had some separation of the windings in the peg box area. I used these on my Kay and it sounded so good; and it absolutely did not affect the sound. I plan on eventually using an Oliv D and G on my carved bass over Spiro Mittel E and A after I get a year or two more into my arco lessons. If you get one lightly used on here you can save a lot of cash on one. I think I paid $75 total for both strings on here in 2019.

Other good options I’ve tried for a G string are the Evah Pirazzi Slap Synthetic G, and the Aquila Sugar Slaps G, which mimics gut like no other string I’ve ever used. Aquila makes the mimicked Golden Spiros Wound Gut and Synthetic strings, and they sound awesome. If I played strictly pizz or slap, I would try those. Even a Supernil G sounds good pizzicato when mixed with a decent E, A and D. I’ve played those over EP Slaps and wound gut La Bella E and A strings and they sound nice.
 
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#27
Thanks a lot for all your replies,they were all very helpful!
I couldn't deal with the Spiro G any longer so I put on the other great string besides Spiros...gut. I had a NOS Eudoxa plain G (yes,they used to make them like that before 30 years or something) in my string drawer and I used that . Of course it sounds great...however it is very different from the Spiro D. So I tried a few things and ended up with a Corelli 370m D string which sounds ok but is too thin. However , as soon as the Spiro D left the bass the sound opened up .It seems that my bass likes something lighter than Spiros for the top two strings. The E and A sound and feel great.
Here is a soundclip ...(I think I uploaded it by accident twice ,maybe a moderator can erase one of the two.Also my phone starts ringing at some point...hahha sorry for that!)
 

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#29
Endlesssolo said:
I couldn't open your audio file but gut D and G over Spiro E and A is a classic set up that many jazz players use.
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Hmmm...I don't know why the audio is not playing...As for gut D and G over Spiros...I think I would like to try something else(not gut) for the D string if I decide to keep the gut G...but that's maybe a whole new thread for the future...Thanks!
 
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#33
TroyK said:
I use 3885 Weich, but use an S42 Mittel G string and it is glorious.

Larger diameter, yet by the numbers slightly lower in tension.

Robust, clear, dark, feels great, sounds great pizz and arco
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I’m wondering how the mittel can be lower tension, unless you are comparing the manufacturer data for 4/4 strings at 4/4 length, vs 3/4 strings at 3/4 length? I remember a chart on here purportedly showing tensions of all the spiros at one common string length, and the mittels all being predictably higher tension than all the weichs, string for string.
 
#34
Trivolis said:
Thanks a lot for all your replies,they were all very helpful!
I couldn't deal with the Spiro G any longer so I put on the other great string besides Spiros...gut. I had a NOS Eudoxa plain G (yes,they used to make them like that before 30 years or something) in my string drawer and I used that . Of course it sounds great...however it is very different from the Spiro D. So I tried a few things and ended up with a Corelli 370m D string which sounds ok but is too thin. However , as soon as the Spiro D left the bass the sound opened up .It seems that my bass likes something lighter than Spiros for the top two strings. The E and A sound and feel great.
Here is a soundclip ...(I think I uploaded it by accident twice ,maybe a moderator can erase one of the two.Also my phone starts ringing at some point...hahha sorry for that!)
Click to expand...
Eudoxa G and D over Spiro weich E and A is one of my favorite jazz setups ever. Eventually had one of the Eudoxas unravel in half position, and they also accentuated my bass’s natural wolf tones, so bowing was really messed up… ymmv
 
#35
dfp said:
I’m wondering how the mittel can be lower tension, unless you are comparing the manufacturer data for 4/4 strings at 4/4 length, vs 3/4 strings at 3/4 length? I remember a chart on here purportedly showing tensions of all the spiros at one common string length, and the mittels all being predictably higher tension than all the weichs, string for string.
Click to expand...
Spiro 4/4 Mitts G string has 27,33 kp of tension on 105cm string length, Spiro Weich 3/4 version G has 28,03 kp on the same string length. It's all in DOUBLEMIDI 's very useful excel file !
 
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#38
Trivolis said:
Spiro 4/4 Mitts G string has 27,33 kp of tension on 105cm string length, Spiro Weich 3/4 version G has 28,03 kp on the same string length. It's all in DOUBLEMIDI 's very useful excel file !
Click to expand...
I may have seen an erroneous version of this data, but I copied it down and had saved it, what I saw also was in other units (imperial vs metric?)

The numbers I saw were purportedly tension at 3/4 bass size, orchestra pitch:
Spiro M3/4 G : 67.2
Spiro M4/4 G : 61.4
Spiro W3/4 G : 60.6
Spiro W4/4 G : 55.3

Are these no good?
 
#40
Keith Rawlings said:
I have Pirastro Flexocore Deluxe strings on my carved bass and I really like the sound and feel of the G string. It has a nice decaying thump when played pizz and it’s wonderful under the bow. I know you said you play pizz only, but they are good for both
Click to expand...
+1. Flex Deluxe G and D sounded and felt good with Spiros on my bass. Their pizz sound has a nice push to it.
 
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