Double Bass My string journey documented (to be Continued)

[jmpiwonka]

i'd say it depends on how long each minuet is...

 

[Sam Dingle]

Oh god damnit...

 

[Simon Toth]

I get tired on high action after 10 minutes BTW I just played jazz on flexocor solos tuned down. Sounded awesome, dark but cool.

 

[Bigbassguy]

Thinking about putting evah weich on my7/8's wulter and getting away from my guts altogether.

 

[Sam Dingle]

The evah weich are a good transition from guts. I have seen 3 former gut players in nola throw evah weich on their bass after giving up on guts, then they move on to another set of strings. One is now playing spiros, one is playing a full set of evah regulars, ones playing some zyex mix (lights with a medium E or maybe Medium E/A. Can't remember).

Just an update. I'm sticking to the dominants right now. I don't want to give up on them too soon. I had a weird situation at the post office when trying to ship my stark E string they wanted to charge me close to $50 to ship it overseas so I refunded the buyer. With the dominants on top maybe the stark E will speak more...the medium E seems to have lost some growl but I'll wait till after the weekend. Maybe someone will buy the stark so I don't have to mess with things.

I'm liking the dominants and spiros more for arco. I need the D string to die just a little more. I'll keep them on for a bit.

I'm finding that the windings are super smooth and because of that I need to really focus to not have my fingers slide out of tune. Its weird but going at fast tempos (Like Walkin on Four and More live) I feel like I'm slipping around.

If they don't break and don't change drastically enough to make me not like the sound, I'll stick with them till the summer when I'm getting a C extension put on the bass and decide if I want to spring for a new set, or full spiro set or or or.... I got the pair for a the price of one so I won't feel bad if I have to buy two more in June. They'll have to take the strings off and I'm not sure its a good idea to put them back on.

 

[jmpiwonka]

I think I need to try the Evah Weich, atleast for the top two strings.
I've got an old German bass that I spent a little on to get it up and running and I've gone through a few different strings to see what it sounds like.
Had Jazzer E and A, with Gamut D and G strings. Worked ok but it was the first thing I had on the bass so naturally that changed.
Then I got some dead Spiro Mittel and put the E and A on, then I tried the whole Spiro set and it was too much tension for the top. Back to the Gamut.

Then I got some Oliv D and G, they are pretty awesome, the G string longevity is a burden though. As is the tuning instability.

I just bought some Superflexible Solo for the D and G positions, tension is ok but MAN, the strings are soooo thin.
Super easy to play though. Could use just a tad more tension too.
I think Evah Weich is where I will settle, seems I'd get a tad more tension and mostly what I'm looking for, a meatier feeling string. Possibly like splitting the diff. between the Oliv and Superflex...

 

[Bigbassguy]

Im using Evah weich strings on my upton hybrid and they are wonderful. I hope they last!

 

[Peck_Time]

Are Evah weich significantly different to normal Evahs?

I can’t stand the normal Evahs- tried them on three different basses and the stiffness kills my hands. I normally play guts with a reasonably high action (on supersilvers now as i save up for a set of gamuts) so i need a good acoustic sound.

 

[Sam Dingle]

The Evah mediums are very tight. They feel closer to heavy strings imo. The Evah lights feel more like medium strings except for the E which I find always too loose.

 

[Simon Toth]

So if I use medium E with Weich A, D, and G is it the ultimate EP set?

 

[Reiska]

IME reqular Evah E works really well with weich ADG. Pirastro has this nonsense policy of making most of their sets with less tension on the E than A. They say that this should somehow make them sound better, but my experience is that it throws the playability to wrong direction ( pizz and arco both ) and makes any bass sound more wolf-y. I like the tone and smooth windings of all Evahs, and have the EA of all sets, reqular, weich and slap, but I play Spiro weichs now instead ( with plain guts on DG ) because of this. IME Evah requlars feel like Spiro Starks after a while, and Evah weichs feel like Spiro mittels. I`ve also found that Evah weich E works really well with Animas or Garbos on top, tension and tone is a great match. Weich E / synthetic slap ADG is a good match as well.

 

[Bigbassguy]

How about evah e and a weichs with plain gut d and g?

 

[Sam Dingle]

How about evah e and a weichs with plain gut d and g?

I think @Michael Karn used that setup for a while.

 

[Sam Dingle]

I did a thing I've never done before...played arco on "arco" strings (belcantos). Oh my god. God dangit. That's the arco sound. No $#!+!! Ahhh.

String update: Spiro e/a and dominant D G sound good. Nice and even pizz. The dominants to me are only 10% less fun pizz than spirocores but about 40% better for arco.

 

[Michael Karn]

How about evah e and a weichs with plain gut d and g?

I used that setup for a few years and really enjoyed it

 

[SamuelHarris]

I did a thing I've never done before...played arco on "arco" strings (belcantos). Oh my god. God dangit. That's the arco sound. No $#!+!! Ahhh.

String update: Spiro e/a and dominant D G sound good. Nice and even pizz. The dominants to me are only 10% less fun pizz than spirocores but about 40% better for arco.

Got some in the classifieds

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I did a thing I've never done before...played arco on "arco" strings (belcantos). Oh my god. God dangit. That's the arco sound. No $#!+!! Ahhh.

String update: Spiro e/a and dominant D G sound good. Nice and even pizz. The dominants to me are only 10% less fun pizz than spirocores but about 40% better for arco.

Yeah, those are the strings that all of the classical players play at my school. Even I can start them quickly without squeaking. That pretty much seals it - I'm a Thomastik guy. When the time comes for me to "retire" (whatever that means and if it happens), there will be two basses, and one of them will have those strings on it so I can learn to bow properly.

 

[isolated]

For what it's worth, on my French flatback bass, a Belcanto (D&G)/Spirocore (Orchestra E&A) combo is the ticket. Especially since I've been playing with the bow more than I ever thought I would. They are surprisingly versatile - clear, good sustain, but not 'zingy,' not too thumpy, and they last....

 

[Sam Dingle]

I'm really enjoying the Dominant D and G strings. So much that I'd like to add an A. I make sure to seriously practice every day which is probably good. Sometimes my practice is just musical stuff (Learn a tune by ear, practice a transcription) or sometimes its just doing technique, sometimes both, but now that the bass is a little tighter I do both. I start up with "The Big Scale" both arco and pizz, and focus on using body weight vs arm/hand weight. Then move on to the other stuff. kkkThe sound is awesome. As long as I don't experience breaking I'll stick with them for a bit.

Just comparing the D/G to spiro D/G, They are 90% as good as pizz strings (simply tension wise I like the spiros more. Color wise they are slightly different) but arco wise they are better than spiros. Still cutting, still bright but the scratch is minimized. With spiros I know a lot of people say arco depends on technique (which it does) but even with that there is till a scratchiness to the spiro D/G that (I found) was always there. The dominants loose that and only show an unintended scratch when my technique is off. My arco teacher said that my setup would be odd in the orchestra but is fine if I'm the only bass.

I'm liking them. I'd like to add the A and see how it works on my bass. I do still think that the 3/4 spiros may work better with the dominants just because of the stiffness. I have tried a stark and It doesn't work for me just yet.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Good to hear! You are right: the Dominants do keep you honest with your technique. I can slag off with spiros a little more and get away with it. In my office, there's a really nice Shen SB-100 with Spiro Weichs on it and a ply LaScala with Dominants. When students ask if they can use one of the basses during a lesson so they don't have to schlep their bass, they always choose the Shen. They love the sound of the LaScala but always say it's tiring....which is true if you don't practice with that setup. If you do, it's manageable and the sound (IMO) is worth it.

I still remember one of my favorite lines from Rufus Reid about that bass. We were in a master class on the first day of the Aebersold camp, and Rufus had not yet assembled his bass after the flight. He asked if he could borrow the LaScala, and I said of course. He played a scale on it, then gave me a raised eyebrow and smiled and said, "yeah, I remember when I was young". Then he borrowed another bass to play.