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Double Bass I found the perfect strings

TroyK

TroyK

Mar 14, 2003
8,127
10,484
Seattle, WA
#1
After years of trying everything on the market that I could get my hands on (thanks in part to many of you), I've found the perfect strings and see no reason to look any further.

They sound clear, even and precise all they way up the neck. My wolf tones are gone. Good pitch stability. Not too bright, but not fuzzy. Very stable tuning wise. I'm certain that they have an arco limitation somewhere, but it is beyond my own arco limitations, so I may never know. They bow as well as any string I've ever tried that wasn't only useful as an orchestral string. Yet, they are great for pizz. Tension is perfect. LOUD. Big bottom, lose nothing on the treble end.

I think my search is over. I'll be happy to give my impressions of things I've tried in this forum for those of you still searching, but I think that my search is over. Just thought I'd let you know.





...okay, I know you're going to ask, so I'll tell you;

Q: What are they?

A: A really, really good setup. Wish I had gone there sooner.
 
#4
hditty: Very nicely done! Hats off to a beautiful response.

Marcus: I think it's worth keeping alive for the "Hey I saw something with pink silks and a smiley face on the ball ends. Any idea what they were?" banter.
 
#5
I guess it was Gary Peacock who said that every bass has a setup and string height that it "likes", and then it's up to the player to adapt to it. Mine seems very happy with it's current setup, and sounds great no matter what string I use.

It's been interesting to watch the strings forum veer all over the place over the years. I remember when Obligatos were very much in favor, and then they seemed to fall out. The gut thing has always been active, yet now we see some diehard "gut guys" going in other directions. The one thing that stays relatively constant is praise for Spiros.
 
#6
Yeah, I think there's some truth to the string height thing. For a while I thought of it as string tensions but height/tension go hand in hand. My recent string change was prompted by a luthier who kept bugging me that my strings were too low. I kept them low because the tension was low, not because I liked them low. Like the rest of us, I tried all sorts of strings and not until I blew $200 on some Olives (which I pretty much immediate took off as soon as they were on) realized that my bass likes low tension. I know I keep babbling about it but the Spiro Solos made a huge difference on my bass. The olives were loud yes, but they were also pretty tight on my bass (even more so than my worn out Stark E believe it or not).

Only just recently that Stark E has been going dead. Raising the string heights only gave it a little extra life before it went back to being dead while making my FCS very tight. With the solos now, I jack up the string heights because it puts it at a tension I like - and now the bass thunders, the floor shakes when I play it. No real volume issues here. Feel wise, the strings are not loose by any means. They feel like how I had the FCS/Stark E but only that the strings are higher.

IMO, I think we should start encouraging people to find not only the sound they like, but the amount of string tension they like to play at... then find a string that matches that sound and tension. That way we're inspired by the sound we make and have strings that suit our ability - which is also a confidence builder since we dont' ahve a piece of equipment that makes things harder than need be.
 
#7
What a thoughtful set of posts! Spent last few weeks thinking about this. I have a newish bass, which I am still trying to figure out. Its had some great setup work done...sound post (wood and position), bridge replaced, nut reworked, tailpiece replaced, endpin replaced, fingerboard touched up, all evaluated by a good luthier, tweaked, and retweaked.

Have been using Belcantos (after trying many others) because my old faithful Spiro Weichs sound scary bad on this bass. My bridge was a frog hair too high and I was thinking, "lighter tension." Got a bootleg/prototype set of Belcanto Solo and shaved my bridge legs a bit, dropping the strings. Now the thing is too loose to really get the wood moving...:)

Seems like either the Solos, higher, or the regular BC's, lower, would feel about the same. I remember going through this with the Spiros and the Superflexibles.

So, in agreement, the magic, for each bass, seems to be a relationship between string height, string type, and setup. Lets leave the bow/rosin thing out of it, plus the bass itself, just for simplicity...I am considering these as constants, for this discussion. Some symbiosis between the bow/string pushing the bass and the bass pushing back to keep the string going...

Problem is, when I am futzing with strings, et al, I am not playing...:hmm:
 
#8
Marcus Johnson said:
I guess it was Gary Peacock who said that every bass has a setup and string height that it "likes", and then it's up to the player to adapt to it. Mine seems very happy with it's current setup, and sounds great no matter what string I use.

It's been interesting to watch the strings forum veer all over the place over the years. I remember when Obligatos were very much in favor, and then they seemed to fall out. The gut thing has always been active, yet now we see some diehard "gut guys" going in other directions. The one thing that stays relatively constant is praise for Spiros.
Click to expand...
I am trying to restrain myself from doing the string thing all over again on my new/old bass.

It's like quitting smoking.

Spiros sound really good on there.

but what about the Evahs in the drawer or the Dominants I haven't touched in years or....

Visit nnick and get a proper setup.
 
#9
This thread reinforces the observation that I and many others have made a number of times. That is, that there is no "right string" for every bass and player. There are so many variables that interact, you just gotta go for trial and error.

When it's all over, then you find you have Spiros (or, in my case, Doms). :D Once I found the perfect string. Then it disappeared and wound up as my avatar.
 
#10
It's gotta be seasonal no? (wait -- that's another thread right?!)

With the sticky summer humidity jacking around my action I've been having thoughts of trying a lighter gauge.

Steady...fall will be here soon enough -- then I'll love my starks & oblis again...
 
#11
I didn't want to say what my strings are and I don't really want to get into what went into my setup (although, if someone else on the board wants to, I'll defer to him), because I know that if I was reading this two years ago, then I would looked at it as a possible solution for me. "So, if I use x gauge of y strings and have z done to my bass, then...?"

I trusted a luthier and left my bass with him for a few weeks while I rebuild my practice studio. He spend a lot of time with me and my bass and did some intuitive exploration in setting her up. He kept going until it responded. It wasn't just string height. I can witness in the setup forum, but can't add anything that hasn't already been said over there, technically.

The point is that my bass was showing signs of goodness, but wasn't happy. I wasn't happy and I threw strings at it for years before I dealt with the problem. Now the bass is happy. I have some good strings on there, but I'm sure that it would also be happy with different strings now, if I had it set up with them. I wonder if I would have been injured (shoulder) if I had this setup before? Maybe, but I did feel back then that my instrument wasn't cooporating with me and I had to fight it a bit. I don't feel like that now.

Just my story.
 
#12
No, I think you're still right Troy. In a certain sense, throwing strings at a bass is meaningless if you've got a bad setup. My bass has been through 2 setups. The fingerboard is nice and dressed and the nut height is just right. If you don't have these two factors to your tastes, it's hard to find a starting point. Esp since those looking for growl need to look first at the nut and not at the strings.

Like I was trying to say, it's not so much string height but more like at what tension do you like to play at and what tension does the bass like. Heights probably only factor in that you don't want it too low as it may affect the sound in terms of how much you can grab on the string.
 
#13
All of those things likely can be factors. Just to clarify, my bass was set up. Fingerboard dressed, et al. It had been with Hammond Ashley and I later started taking it to a private luthier on referral from some other players. They all took good care of her and did what I asked them to do, when I took it in. Only towards some of my last visits did I start asking for sound improvements rather than specific repairs.

At any rate, the luthiers can chime in if they want to. All of the things that might contribute is beyond my understanding, but it's the things we've mentioned, plus others. Weight of the tailpiece. What type of woods are being used. Soundpost length, endpin...other stuff. I don't know. But I do know that my bass was something that I loved and there was a good sound in there that I wanted more of, but it was inconsistent and a bit choked down. Read all my old posts about the treble side being thin and bright and all of the attempts I made to solve that with strings. I tried every tension from Superflexible to Spirocore Solos tuned to orchestra pitch.

A lot of things worked fine. It's just a different instrument now. Time to focus on my playing and trying to get my shoulder better.
 
#16
There is no doubt that a well tailored setup is the best thing for playing and tonal happiness. One does have to choose a string set that pleases them first to then have the setup evolve around the strings. Everything from fingerboard camber to soundpost fit and placement is influenced by the strings tension and movement.

My difficulty has been which set of strings to set my bass around.

I'm there again.....
 
#17
I dont' see the problem Unca. Can't you just break out that drawer full of previously used strings and run your new baby through the gamut (pun intended :p)?

:D
EDIT: Seriously tho, I think I'd rather find a sound I like (dark vs light, thumpy vs sustained, stringy vs not, oldskewl vs. modern, etc), find a subset of strings that match that description, and run through them all until you get the string/height taht both you and the bass likes. I think that's the process I'm following now.
 
#18
hdiddy said:
I dont' see the problem Unca. Can't you just break out that drawer full of previously used strings and run your new baby through the gamut (pun intended :p)?

:D
EDIT: Seriously tho, I think I'd rather find a sound I like (dark vs light, thumpy vs sustained, stringy vs not, oldskewl vs. modern, etc), find a subset of strings that match that description, and run through them all until you get the string/height taht both you and the bass likes. I think that's the process I'm following now.
Click to expand...
Yes that's the point I guess. I do have a lot of stuff laying around but nowhere near as much as I've tried. The beauty is I've played with enough stuff that I'm really down to a couple things that I like and I'll just settle into one of them.

No guts on the new beast.
 
#19
TroyK said:
Indeed. Montana is not that far and it's a lovely time of year to drive through Alberta and British Columbia. Plus, gas is so cheap, you almost can't afford not to go ......
Click to expand...
Now you have me thinkin' Troy :) .... Crescent Beach is only 800 to 1000 miles one-way depending on the route. GAS in all of its manifestations is indeed So Cheap, a person can't afford not to indulge ;) ..... as long as that person doesn't get busted for smuggling an upright across an International Boundary :D .
 
#20
I did get hassled on the way up.

The heavily armed (Things have CHANGED!) Canadian border guy says "What's all that stuff in the back?"

I said "That's just my bass"

HACBG: "What?"

Me: It's a string bass.

HACBG: <blank stare>

Me: An old fashioned standup bass. <pretend air bass playing for effect>

HACBG: What are you doing with it?

Me: My friend is a guitar player, I'm going to visit and we'll play. He might try to fix something on it for me while I'm there.

HACBG: <tires of the conversation and waves me on>

ON THE WAY BACK

Me: <sigh here we go again>
American Border Guard: Why did you bring your doublebass up?

I almost shat myself.

Things have indeed changed.
 

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