Double Bass Kolstein Heritage

[bejoyous]

I've been thinking of trying Kolstein Heritage strings next.

I've been playing on Obligatos for a few years and they sound great but they do roll. On sixteenth note passages, the rolling sometimes muffled the articulation.

I've been using Dominants for the past year. They are nice sounding and very loud. They keep their tuning great and they feel nice under the hand. But, they sounded very metallic and brittle until they were settled in. I found I had to be very careful when playing every note otherwise there would be lots of cracks and squeaks.

So, I was wondering what other's experiences were with the Heritage strings?

 

[jazzbassnerd]

Sounds like you're playing a lot of arco. I used the heritage strings for about a year and, while I definitely liked them at first, this did fade.

This is not to say in any way that they are bad strings, they're better than many other synthetic core strings I had tried, they just came at the end of my use of synthetic strings.

Though I never used them, I've heard many, many people on dominants and might suggest sticking to them.

 

[conte2music]

i played heritages on a friends bass. he previously had obligatos. The heritage didn't roll but they didn't have nearly as rich a tone on his instrument. Also, the obligato g pizz was much beefier.

Chris

 

[martinc]

I tried the Heritages on my King plywood and found they did not have the tone I was used to with the Obligato's. They had a kind of "plastic" sound . I had them on for a couple of months to make sure they were well played in but they did not improve.
For me the Obligato's or Dominants are a better way to go in the synthetic core string if you bow. The Dominants last longer than the Obligato in my experience.
I have found the Innovation Super Silver to be better sounding (ie more gut-like) than the Heritage, Dominant or Obligato...for pizz...on my King and on my Eberle.
Hope this helps.

 

[FRED BERMAN]

I'M REALLY HAPPY WITH THE HERITAGE STRINGS. BRIGHTER THAN I LIKE WHEN THEY FIRST GO ON, BUT THEY GET A FULL GUTTY PIZZ SOUND VERY QUICKLY THEREAFTER AND IMPROVE WITH AGE. GREAT BOW RESPONCE FOR A HYBRID

 

[Francois Blais]

Hi Fred, and welcome on talkbass!

Also thanks for your comments on the Heritage strings.

May I suggest that you turn off the CAPS LOCK key on your keyboard, please?
Writing all CAPS is considered SHOUTING, in Netiquette.

Have a nice day!
Best regards,
François

 

[Dave Whitla]

Writing all CAPS is considered SHOUTING, in Netiquette.

Unless your name is Owen Meany...

Brian, I haven't tried Heritage strings, but I did have Obligatos for a while, which I sort of liked but really didn't like the roll of them. I've tried a lot of strings in the past while and two that I'd recommend are the new Thomastic Bel Cantos or Velvet Compas 180s. On my bass, both of those played and sounded better than Obligatos.

 

[labravajazz]

I found them the least plastic sounding synthetics and the most allround and robust tone. I am more of a gut string preferrer but of the almost gut strings these are good and IMO better hybrid application than Bel Canto, Obligato or Compas

 

[Mike Goodbar]

CAVEAT: I tried them when they first came out, and I undertand they've tweaked the formula a bit.

I wasn't crazy about them. The G was a bit thin sounding, and while they were super-responsive at first, they quickly settled into a "dead" feel. Good bow response, though. I left them on for a year and switched to an Obligato GD/Superflexible AE combination that I like a lot.

 

[Francois Blais]

CAVEAT: I tried them when they first came out, and I undertand they've tweaked the formula a bit.

The same thing happened with the Kolstein Varicore.
He makes changes to the formula (calling them improvements) but sells them under the same name.
He should change the name when he changes something methinks.
Otherwise you end up with an inconsistent product.

Just my $0.02

 

[Angelos]

I like the feel and the sound both with pizz and bow. It's the only synthetic string I've ever tried, but they don't seem to last very long. I've had them less than a year and they're falling apart. Do all synthetic string have a small life span?

 

[Reuben]

Yes, but the Kolsteins are especially fragile.

 

[Steve Freides]

I had a chance to play a friend's bass with Kolstein Heritage strings. One thing I really likes was the smooth surface, which made it much easier to slide up and down the string.

It was an interesting comparison for me because the Kolstein Heritage is a hybrid, and my current Heilocore Hybrids are, well, also a hybrid. The two could not be more different from one another, and my impression was the the Kolstein was an altogether superior string, but it's always tough to compare on two different instruments.

I would appreciate being enlightened about the smoother versus not smooth surface of bass strings.

-S-

 

[Francois Blais]

I had a chance to play a friend's bass with Kolstein Heritage strings. One thing I really likes was the smooth surface, which made it much easier to slide up and down the string.

It was an interesting comparison for me because the Kolstein Heritage is a hybrid, and my current Heilocore Hybrids are, well, also a hybrid. The two could not be more different from one another, and my impression was the the Kolstein was an altogether superior string, but it's always tough to compare on two different instruments.

I would appreciate being enlightened about the smoother versus not smooth surface of bass strings.

-S-

They are not hybrid in the same sense.
The Helicore Hybrid is named that way because it's designed to work good for both arco and pizz work.
The Heritage is a hybrid string in the sense that it uses a synthetic core with a steel outer wrap.

Smoothness is usually the result of polishing.
Corellis have a rough surface because they're probably not much polished after final grinding.

Don't know if that answers your question though.

Best regards,
François

 

[martinc]

I had a chance to play a friend's bass with Kolstein Heritage strings. One thing I really likes was the smooth surface, which made it much easier to slide up and down the string.

It was an interesting comparison for me because the Kolstein Heritage is a hybrid, and my current Heilocore Hybrids are, well, also a hybrid. The two could not be more different from one another, and my impression was the the Kolstein was an altogether superior string, but it's always tough to compare on two different instruments.

I would appreciate being enlightened about the smoother versus not smooth surface of bass strings.

-S-

Steve: By "smoother" v "non-smoother" do you mean the type of winding on the core of the string? There is flatwound and roundwound. Flatwound is smoother than roundwound. Roundwound can wear into your fingerboard quicker than flatwound and is rougher on the fingers.
In the case of Corelli's as Francois mentioned...they are not as smooth as Pirastro's (for example) even though they are the same type of nickel winding. However ...running some 0000 steel wool 0r 400/600 sandpaper up and down the string will soon smooth it out.

 

[Steve Freides]

Thank you both for your replies.

Very interesting - hybrid vs. hybrid. Yes, my D'Addario's must be round-would and the Kolstein Heritage are flat would. I recall, from EB, that round-wounds have twangier (or something) sound, but I have no need of that, and the Kolstein's felt _great_ under my fingers - they felt lower tension, too.

The Kolstein's say "Orchestral/Jazz" so I guess they're also hybrid in that sense. From their web page on these strings:

*-------------

So what are the new Heritage Bass Strings all about? Three
years of research and development with the highest attention to creating the first Perlon, synthetic core Bass String that offers the player the wonderful feel and tension of gut strings, but emulates the best arco and pizzicato tonal qualities of the finest steel orchestral or jazz string. Heritage offers the first string of it's type to not only afford the player the best in jazz quality playing, but remarkably does not roll under the bow...thus creating an arco/orchestral quality string that can be utilized under the most demanding bowing requirements. To play on Heritage Bass Strings is to experience the vast quality of this string.

*-------------

-S-

 

[martinc]

Steve:
I believe both the Heritage and the D'Addario's are flatwound.
Check out some electric bass strings to see what roundwound feel like. Much rougher.

 

[Steve Freides]

Yeah, I just took a closer look at my Heliocore Hybrids - they're flat mostly, but there are a few places (which I've been working on a lot lately) where the windings are much more prominent than others.

-S-

 

[Sam Dingle]

I know this is old but has anyone tried these in comparison to the Spirocores? I'm looking to change strings. I want something with less tension and easier bowing. I'm deciding between these, the obligatos, Zyex and the Evahs. These seem like the right ones. Any issues with these strings? How long do they typically last?

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

I have. Heritages are like Obligatos with even less balls. They were on my bass for less than an hour.