Double Bass Obligatos Last Forever!

[bassfiddlesteve]

I know they get a bad rap here but man they sure have found a match with this bass

I’ve noticed that the same three or four people that don’t like Obligatos tend to repeatedly post their negative impressions here on Talkbass which is not representative of the real world. If you visit websites where they sell double bass strings, you’ll find that Obligatos are a popular choice. They receive good reviews and were widely considered the best “hybrid” string before Pirastro introduced the Evah Pirazzi Weich set. I know several bassists in the “real world“ including myself who still use and like these strings

- Steve

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[Sam Dingle]

I can't understand not liking them. They are very low tension and the low strings sometimes roll.

Evahs are super high tension and become dark quickly

Evah weich have a week E string

Spiro G's are too bright

Gut strings don't stay in tune

Oliv's come unwound

Dominants break

$500 custom strings didn't make me sound like Larry Grenadier

All strings have some downsides.

 

[TroyK]

Francois: Yeah...that's what makes me think Pirastro has changed something. I can't remember if the original Obligato's had a solid synthetic core.....or a multi-strand which they have now. I also have read that D'Addario's "zyex" core material is used by other stringmakers too. I hope Adrian does not accuse me of "fake news"!

I was an early adopter of Obligati when they came out. I was SO happy with them, before rolling set in. Pirastro sent me a set of Permanents which became my go-to for years after that and then I moved to mostly Jazzers or Spirocores with occasional experiments.

I dissected one of the first year's Obligato strings and it was not a solid core. It was filaments like a paint brush and I don't think that's what was rolling. There was a winding around the core and then something in between, then the outer winding and the roll appeared to be between the windings. For me, it was the E and A strings and mostly the A, maybe because I pull harder on it. It was bad enough that I feel like it effected my time.

Currently, as an experiment, I have Jazzer E and A with Obligato D & G. All used and dug out of my string box. I'm really liking this combo. They feel and sound perfectly matched. The E and A are the better 1/2 of the Jazzer set and they feel like I think the Obligato should feel. I have trio and quintet dates coming up and I'll get a chance to scratch record a bit in a studio and then I'll decide how I feel, but it's a good mix.

I like Spirocores, but I can't imagine that they match with Obligati sonically as well. YMMV, of course. I haven't tried it.

I used Evah Pirazzi for a year and have played and heard other basses strung with them. To me, they are not really comparable to Obigato. Much stiffer and darker. Depends on what you're going for.

 

[TroyK]

Evahs are super high tension and become dark quickly

They are stiff, which is different than high tension. As I recall, they're not higher tension than a lot of other "medium" strings (there is a chart somewhere). It's more perception than reality. They do have a dark character, that suits some people, but not others.

Spiro G's are too bright

Not necessarily. Weichs on my bass, set up properly can be glorious. I have to coax mellowness out of them with my hands when I want it, but it's there. They are rich, dynamic strings, whereas I find Evah Pirazzi to have a narrower range of overtones. If you liked how Evah sound and want Spirocores to sound similar, it's easier to get that sound from Evahs, but it's impossible to get Evah's to sound like Spirocores. Anyway "too dark" and "too bright" are relative to the ear, the bass, the player and the room.

Gut strings don't stay in tune

Nothing is as stable as a quality steel string, but in stable humidity...I'm not sure that's entirely true either.

Oliv's come unwound

True

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Dominants break

Probably true, but I know a couple of credible guys who claim otherwise.

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$500 custom strings didn't make me sound like Larry Grenadier

No doubt, but I'll bet he can sound like him on any of the strings bantered about here.

​

All strings have some downsides.

Tough to argue with that. It's about set up and finding the best tools for you to work with. For some people that's going to be whatever came on their bass and I envy those people.

 

[flatback]

I havent experienced rhe rolling in fact i am not sure what is meant by that. My luthier is making a new bridge just texted to say he will take off rhe oblis to make rhe bridge putting others on and he is not responsible for any string probs. I guess thinking they will break. God i hope not they are nearly new

 

[TroyK]

I havent experienced rhe rolling in fact i am not sure what is meant by that. My luthier is making a new bridge just texted to say he will take off rhe oblis to make rhe bridge putting others on and he is not responsible for any string probs. I guess thinking they will break. God i hope not they are nearly new

Imagine that if you had a super-slowmo macro video of the string being pizzed (or I suppose bowed). The finger pulls the string back and releases it so that it can vibrate. With a rolling Obligato, the winding twists around the core, so the string doesn't immediately move the direction you are pulling it, the winding just sticks to the finger and turns.

It became very pronounced on my A string and it put me behind the beat. The E also rolled, but not as much, or I didn't pull it as hard. The D and G did not at all, so it was hard for me to adjust to them without it effecting my time and articulation.

 

[Sam Dingle]

They are stiff, which is different than high tension. As I recall, they're not higher tension than a lot of other "medium" strings (there is a chart somewhere). It's more perception than reality. They do have a dark character, that suits some people, but not others.



Not necessarily. Weichs on my bass, set up properly can be glorious. I have to coax mellowness out of them with my hands when I want it, but it's there. They are rich, dynamic strings, whereas I find Evah Pirazzi to have a narrower range of overtones. If you liked how Evah sound and want Spirocores to sound similar, it's easier to get that sound from Evahs, but it's impossible to get Evah's to sound like Spirocores. Anyway "too dark" and "too bright" are relative to the ear, the bass, the player and the room.



Nothing is as stable as a quality steel string, but in stable humidity...I'm not sure that's entirely true either.



True

​

Probably true, but I know a couple of credible guys who claim otherwise.

​

No doubt, but I'll bet he can sound like him on any of the strings bantered about here.

​

Tough to argue with that. It's about set up and finding the best tools for you to work with. For some people that's going to be whatever came on their bass and I envy those people.

I wrote that more as a "you can find something wrong with everything" kind of post.

 

[TroyK]

I wrote that more as a "you can find something wrong with everything" kind of post.

Not only can I, but I have!

 

[flatback]

ah I know what you mean by rolling now but that has not happened to me at all with these strings. I really like the way they feel on my bass