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Double Bass My string journey documented (to be Continued)

#221
Both Steve`s and Jim`s posts are words of wisdom I think. I`ve tried a lot of things on my brief but intense journey with the DB, and I wouldn`t be in this spot where I`m now if the guts setup that I had 6 months ago hadn`t messed up my hand health, I loved the tone. I was tired on trying strings and setups, and I still am, trying to find something I can live with. In a way, ignorance is bliss.

But then again, I think there are far more stupid and harmful things to throw your money in and be into than DB strings!
 
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#222
It is like life. If we do not have a problem, we take smaller problems and elevate them to bigger problems. I know with my plain gut Lenzners, the E has less volume than the other strings, but I try to work around it/accept it. Sometimes it is good to accept some kind of dogma, and get on with it. Spoken by a guy who has owned perhaps 25 tennis rackets.
If now just the Lenzner G was not so noticably higher tension than the rest of the set...
 
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#223
Kööpenhaminan Povl is talking serious words here. I`ve been a tone enthusiastic for last, say 30 years, beeing now 42 years old. As a drummer I was the guy who had the right sound for the situation, and that with my incapability to play busy made me, accidentally, first call dude in the circles I was living in back in the day. I`ve allways been a tone enthusiastic, and all that definently reaches the level of obsessivity, that`s who I am. I like dogmas too, they make life in all this flow of everything simpler to handle. Another issue is about longevity, how I grow as a musician with the instrument besides / nevermind all the setup wankery. Old times with guts and spiros only ain`t coming back, and this day with the internet and this discussion makes a whole world of things possible, with the increased economical potential.

With all that said, I try my best to keep Evah w`s with Chorda G from this day on, and rehair my bow ( it`s nearly 2 years of heavy daily use I fiqured out today ) asap. It`s good, very good.

BTW, no driving lisence, but a fixed gear street / road bike in the cellar for everyday use and a -8kg fixed gear 29`r bike for east Helsinki trails in the hallway. How`s that for dogmas? :)
 
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#224
I sadly don't think I can do the dominants anymore. I am not dying about the sound. I think they aren't a good enough arco compromise to be away from spiros and honestly I think that the tension is just too much for me. I played a 2 hour brunch yesterday then a 3 hour show that night and today I can barely get through a tune. I even lowered the string height before starting my practice schedule.

I've been keeping up with my warm up each day since I last posted. Making sure to "stay in shape". Maybe I simply am not strong enough for them.

I was very positive a few posts ago about them but I can't sacrifice the playability of my bass for them. :(

Back to spiros until the arco becomes annoying again...then the search continues.....:banghead:
 
#227
Thanks chris. I agree with what was said above, I was better off before talkbass and knowing about different strings. But even more specifically, i was better off when I didn't know how to change my strings haha. I played spiro mediums my entire freshmen and till the last month of my sophomore year because I didn't know how to change upright strings. Then I thought those were getting dark and asked my teacher for help...worst thing he ever taught me....

No @Scott Lynch I haven't tried flex deluxe. I hear they are pretty tense though. I heard a video of a bass with spiro medium mixed with flex deluxe and I could very much hear the difference between the A and D string.

Evah weich is calling my name but luckily I filmed myself with them for a promo video my jazz band has (I send it to people when they want a band for a wedding cocktail hour). The lack of power is noticeable to me now so I don't want to go there again. I'm not gonna think about it. I'm gonna go practice.
 
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#228
Sam Dingle said:
Thanks chris. I agree with what was said above, I was better off before talkbass and knowing about different strings. But even more specifically, i was better off when I didn't know how to change my strings haha. I played spiro mediums my entire freshmen and till the last month of my sophomore year because I didn't know how to change upright strings. Then I thought those were getting dark and asked my teacher for help...worst thing he ever taught me....

No @Scott Lynch I haven't tried flex deluxe. I hear they are pretty tense though. I heard a video of a bass with spiro medium mixed with flex deluxe and I could very much hear the difference between the A and D string.

Evah weich is calling my name but luckily I filmed myself with them for a promo video my jazz band has (I send it to people when they want a band for a wedding cocktail hour). The lack of power is noticeable to me now so I don't want to go there again. I'm not gonna think about it. I'm gonna go practice.
Click to expand...
I’ve always thought about seeing if a luthier can teach me how to set and adjust my own sound post. Considering how crazy I’ve gotten with string changing if I knew how to do that I’d go mad!!!
 
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#231
Selim said:
The upper FDs are pretty manageable - the set only gets tighter as you head toward the lower strings.

In any case, I felt that I could (and did) cover a lot of musical ground with this combination.
Click to expand...

I found this to be true as well. I have no experience with the FD E and A string. The tension measurements of the FD D and G via the Pirastro website seem to match up with Spiro Mitts, and they felt roughly equivalent on my bass, if not slightly tighter.
 
#233
DoubleMIDI said:
Better use my Excel file from my Dropbox (link in signature) if you really want to compare string tensions. Specially if you want to compare to 4/4 Spiros!
Click to expand...

Don't worry, I did. :)

the F D and Spiro Mitt D and G seem to be about the same, while the FD E and A are just a bit heavier than the Spiro E and A. Disclaimer: this is all estimation as I do not know the formulas for converting tension to different scale lengths, but rather tried to eyeball the ratios on the calculations that DoubleMIDI made on that chart. I did account for the fact that the FDs are measured at 106 cm and the Spiro on the DropBox chart at 105 cm.
 
#234
Formulas are in Formulas.html in my Dropbox. Both, written and for recalculating tensions (you need to have JavaScript enabled in your web browser to calculate).

I did some mathematical transformations from a formula I found which seems to be the basis for mass/tension/pitch calculations to get the formulas I was interested in. Seems to result in formulas that I later found elsewhere, so I think my formulas are correct (but idealized, they don't take into account the stretching of strings and the reduction of mass on the vibrating part because of this).
 
#235
Didn't want to start a new post so I thought I'd try here.
Going through an old briefcase, I found some DB strings.
The brand is Oxford. They don't look very high end.
Anybody heard of these? I have no idea where they came from.
Might be decent enough for EUB.
 
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#237
Hi guys! So I though I share some thoughts. This week I tested 2 sets of strings on 3 different basses! Here's the list:
Otto Rudner: Flexocor Solo
Hora fully carved: Superlexibles
Czech fully laminated: Flexocor Solo

I use the Rubner at school and I borrow the Czech from school. The Hora is my beautiful lady.
I like the flexocor-s, a lot! I would love to buy a set to my Hora! I don't know the Superlexibles. Too bright for Arco, awesome with pizz. They have the sound I like, really McBride like :)
I wanna try a set of D'addario Hybrids. Thoughts on them?
Cheers, Simon :)
 
#240
bassfiddlesteve said:
Does it rhyme with Zelcanto?

- Steve
Click to expand...

Closer to zuperflexible....


And they are ok. I found a set on Ebay new for very cheep. I actually don't mind the bigger D string because the pizz sound on the GDA is pretty good and the tension is nice. Not as high as spiro mediums but not wimpy or lacking OOMPH like the weich (on my bass). The E will end up as a spiro medium soon though. Compared to the ADG the E feels super weak. The E sounds good alone but the sound compared to the other 3 isn't working.

I might not keep them cuz the arco sound out of the package is horrible. 10 times worse than the spirocores. Can't even force a non harsh tone. Not scratchy, but harsh. Like a fork sliding across an empty plate...

but the pizz has more air than the spiros with is nice. I have a steady friday gig i'll test the full set on and find out.
 
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