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Double Bass Obligatos: is the love gone?

#21
I gave them a try when I switched to 5ths because they are one of the few sets out there. I had a couple of weeks between gigs and had a bunch of strings to try out. The C string rolled a lot, and you couldn't really dig into it at all. Apparently it has been changed a few times though and is much better than it used to be.

I remember the rest of the set didn't feel that bad and the upper strings didn't have the roll issue. I liked the sounds I was getting out of them and thought they were fine. I played a wedding in a string trio (violin, viola, bass) and they fit nicely with the other instruments and I thought I was happy. Other than the C string which could be swapped out for a Spirocore or something they seemed great.

Then I got an unexpected call for an orchestra rehearsal with a small orchestra (around 25 players?) and I thought I would give them a shot. I was the only bassist in the group and there were 2-3 cellos and no low brass making the orchestra pretty top heavy. I could not hear myself at all during the rehearsal, to the point where I was hoping my muscle memory could be trusted for intonation. I would not call my bass a quiet bass, and I have played in much larger orchestras with it and in sections of up to 10 bassists and still been able to hear myself. They came off as soon as I got home from the rehearsal, and my bass sounded like my bass again.

The nail in the coffin for me was playing them on a colleague's bass. I helped him find the bass when he was on the market and was very impressed with the instrument. He puts a set of Obligatos on and I sit in on his bass and again I have no hope in the world of hearing myself. Maybe it has something to do with how they project or maybe I just found a few basses that really don't like them but with the number of other options out there that I have been much happier with, I don't see going back to them/recommending them any time soon.
 
#27
THey reminded me of guts. I had a set on recently and I was pretty happy with them. It all depends on the user.

I'm now back on my old Jazzers since somehow the tension on my bass seemed to have come down and I really enjoy the sustain. Diff'rent strokes.
 
#28
My current bass - plywood, 60 years old-ish - came to me with an old set of Obligatos on it. I then tried a couple of other things, most recently Original Flat Chromes, which I liked for bowing but didn't for pizz.

I figured a new set of Obligatos might be what I'd like best but, having had them on my bass for a month, they just roll too much for me. IMHO, they're a great string if you bow sometimes, but if you're an orchestral player or otherwise someone who wants to really dig in, they're just too floppy.

My next thought, unless someone convinces me otherwise, is D'Adarrio Helicore Orchestral strings in medium. I've heard these strings on another bass, a 1/4 size hybrid I own, and I think they pizz just fine and I like the bowed sound better than the Hybrids.

Let's try a silly metric here - for me, on the arco/pizz continuum:

Obligato - 40/60

Original Flat Chrome - 90/10

I think I'd like 80/20 if I could find it.

-S-
 
#31
Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with the folks in Pirastro's naming department. They have 3 strings out now with "Flexicore" in the title. These have the red silks.

They are really an orchestral string, but not nearly as dark as the Original Flat Chromes for pizz. They're still pretty dark, but you might enjoy them for both, I did for a while.

Speaking of redundant names, they also have a string called "Flat Chromesteels", which are different than the Orig Flat Chrome that you are using. Very suitable for both arco and pizz. Less dark than any of the flexicores.

Have you tried Evah Pirazzis? Someone's going to come along and mention them soon, so I why not bring it up? I prefer Flexicore 92s, personally, but there are more people in the EP camp on this point.
 
#32
Flex 92's are a great arco string, one of my favorites. I really liked their pizz too, but it's "thumpy"- very dark in timbre, not a lot of sustain. If one wanted what some would characterize as an "old school" pizz sound, theses could be a great choice on many basses. They are a bit zingy when new, so please let them break in, or consider a used set.

As for Obligato (Obligati?), does anyone know what is happening mechanically when one experiences "the roll"? When I had them on one of my basses I tried to twist them, to see if the windings would separate- they wouldn't. I also noticed that they started quickly with the bow- which shouldn't make sense if they were rolling...you would think than drawing the bow against the wrap of the windings would make the string come apart, and that bowing in the direction of the windings would choke the string.

Joe
 
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#33
SVT4001 said:
Flex 92's are a great arco string, one of my favorites. I really liked their pizz too, but it's "thumpy"- very dark in timbre, not a lot of sustain. If one wanted what some would characterize as an "old school" pizz sound, theses could be a great choice on many basses. They are a bit zingy when new, so please let them break in, or consider a used set.

As for Obligato (Obligati?), does anyone know what is happening mechanically when one experiences "the roll"? When I had them on one of my basses I tried to twist them, to see if the windings would separate- they wouldn't. I also noticed that they started quickly with the bow- which shouldn't make sense if they were rolling...you would think than drawing the bow against the wrap of the windings would make the string come apart, and that bowing in the direction of the windings would choke the string.

Joe
Click to expand...

Actually, I do. I dissected one years ago. You might find a photo of it on here if you look at my posts from...last decade.

The core looks like a paintbrush. It's a bunch of little fibers, which is not what I thought. There's a tight metal wrap around it and some dampening (paper, cotton, something) and then the winding that you see and touch. On the E and A strings the winding spins freely of that center core with the wrap around the paintbrush. I don't think they break, I don't think the winding separates, it just spins a bit and for me it screws with my time and feels weird. Something that I think some people overcome. I never really had a problem with the D and G strings and was recently considering some with Jazzers below, which I've done before with pretty good success.

Evah Pirazzis don't do this and Pirastro made a stable, solid synthetic core string which almost everyone else has failed to do, including them, but they sound darker and feel stiffer, which is not for everyone. Good, solid strings, though.
 
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#34
Thanks for the string autopsy report Troy!

I used Obli's for a few years, probably about a decade back or so. I did notice the roll, but it didn't bother me. I thought that the roll might be our perception of some other phenomenon- especially since the strings speak so quickly arco.

As for Evah's- I've played them on a few basses, and I like them a lot. I recently got to play Nicki Parrott's bass, which is strung with Evah weich- HOLY COW!!! Of course, her bass was set up by Arnold, so there's that, but it got me curious about how they'd sound and feel on my bass.

Joe
 
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#37
I think Passione might be a bit too dark for the pizz, but it would depend on the bass.

Flex Deluxe and Belcanto could be good for the 80/20, methinks.

Steve, I think for me, I'd rate the arco of Obligato higher than 40, so take that into consideration with any of my suggestions! :D

I also use Spiro Mitts for my classical arco string.

Joe
 
#40
SVT4001 said:
I think Passione might be a bit too dark for the pizz, but it would depend on the bass.
Click to expand...

I played Passione and Flexocore DeLuxe at the Pirastro booth on Musikmesse Frankfurt some years ago and the Flexocore DeLuxe were definitely darker than the Passione. Also up the fingerboard the sustain was longer with the Passione.
Both were Pöllmann basses and I played them one after the other and changed back and forth a few times. Of course, it could be possible that the basses were so different that the character of the strings was changed, but I doubt that Pirastro would have selected the basses for the strings that way for demonstration purposes.
 

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