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Double Bass Pirastro Oliv - take care, durability, life

premajz

premajz

Apr 6, 2012
34
9
Czech Republic, Europe
www.facebook.com
#1
Hi, I´m considering of buying Pirastro Oliv G and D.
Now I´m using set of Zyex medium for about one year. I´ve used Spiro Weichs and Pirastro Jazzers before. Steel strings are very durable and I´ve know them for 13 years of using. I would like to know how to take care of gut string wit steel wounding - Olivs to keep them live in good condition for long time. I play mainly folk and swing music: 60 % arco, 35 % pizz, 5 % slap in different conditions: bars, wine cellars with high humidity, outdoor stages etc. I know these changes are not very suitable for gut strings. But I very like sound of gut strings and also I like Chris Woods sound and his "aggressive" pizz style which is similar to mine. But with steel strings my right hands fingers really hurts after 4 hours of playing at gig.

Would you recommend me Olivs? And how to care of them? I know there is some oil for gut string but Oliv has steel wound.... I´m used to change strings aprox. once per 1-2 years.

Thank you well.
 
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#2
premajz said:
Hi, I´m considering of buying Pirastro Oliv G and D.
Now I´m using set of Zyex medium for about one year. I´ve used Spiro Weichs and Pirastro Jazzers before. Steel strings are very durable and I´ve know them for 13 years of using. I would like to know how to take care of gut string wit steel wounding - Olivs to keep them live in good condition for long time. I play mainly folk and swing music: 60 % arco, 35 % pizz, 5 % slap in different conditions: bars, wine cellars with high humidity, outdoor stages etc. I know these changes are not very suitable for gut strings. But I very like sound of gut strings and also I like Chris Woods sound and his "aggressive" pizz style which is similar to mine. But with steel strings my right hands fingers really hurts after 4 hours of playing at gig.

Would you recommend me Olivs? And how to care of them? I know there is some oil for gut string but Oliv has steel wound.... I´m used to change strings aprox. once per 1-2 years.

Thank you well.
Click to expand...
Olivs are pretty much what you don't want, based on what you'll be using them for. Players I know get a year out of a set by which time they start to unwind. They don't hold up well for slapping. Since they're wound, they can't be oiled. The conditions you say you work in will have you tearing your hair out with Olivs. I'd look into strings from Eurosonic ( Invalid Link Removed ) or Innovation ( [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] ) to start with.
 
#5
Respectfully, I would not recommend Eurosonic strings for arco work. I have no problems bowing some strings that have a reputation for being "difficult to bow", but I couldn't get Eurosonics to work consistently under the bow. YMMV of course.

Further, I have had issues with Pirastro wound gut and as much as I love their sound and feel I had to move on.

Humbly, I recommend plain gut for your application of 60% arco, 35% pizz and 5% slap. While well known for their quality in pizz and slap, plain gut is also a great choice for arco. I have heard the sound characterized as "reedy" and I feel that is apt. I would go on to recommend Gamut's Pistoy string as having superior quality for arco applications, especially when compared to other plain gut, even other Gamut strings. While they may be expensive, I feel they are well worth their price, and used strings occasionally appear here in the classifieds.

Joe
 
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#7
Thak you all for advices, but I don´t want to try Eurosonic or Innovation strings because I think they are primary for pizz and slap playing. My main style is arco with lot of POPS rosin :).
I still haven´t found how long is average period of Olivs D and G life. If it is less than one year it won´t be cake for me :). Do you have any experience with frequent retuning?
Thanks.
 
#8
Innovation Braided (140B) is primarily an arco string. Innovation Honey primariliy an (old time sound) jazz string. Both are metal wrapped. I have played the Innovation Braided in a symphony orchestra (as a guest, I'm not a member there). All other Innovation strings have a synthetic wrap and are indeed not well suited to arco, but the Braided are at least as good as your Zyex bowed. I think as good as Evah (Weich). The Honeys are a bit harder to bow, but I didn't took the time to break them in, since I disliked the sound (personal preference).

You might want to try Spiro Solo tuned to orchestra tuning. Less tension but should be bowable, a bit more tension than most naked gut. You can try that with the Spiro Weich tuned down by a half tone. If you like that, get the Solo set. If not keep your money.
 
#9
In my experience, combined with that of
others, Oliv G and D will last about a year with non-slap use. If they're subjected to a lot of temp and humidity variation, the life expectancy will be shorter. The core shrinks and swells as humidity changes, causing the windings to loosen. Evah Pirazzi Weich might work for you. I have them on my Arnold Schnitzer #34 and my Merchant Vertical Bass.
 
#12
premajz said:
Hi, I´m considering of buying Pirastro Oliv G and D.
Now I´m using set of Zyex medium for about one year. I´ve used Spiro Weichs and Pirastro Jazzers before. Steel strings are very durable and I´ve know them for 13 years of using. I would like to know how to take care of gut string wit steel wounding - Olivs to keep them live in good condition for long time. I play mainly folk and swing music: 60 % arco, 35 % pizz, 5 % slap in different conditions: bars, wine cellars with high humidity, outdoor stages etc. I know these changes are not very suitable for gut strings. But I very like sound of gut strings and also I like Chris Woods sound and his "aggressive" pizz style which is similar to mine. But with steel strings my right hands fingers really hurts after 4 hours of playing at gig.

Would you recommend me Olivs? And how to care of them? I know there is some oil for gut string but Oliv has steel wound.... I´m used to change strings aprox. once per 1-2 years.

Thank you well.
Click to expand...


I have used the Oliv for at least 6 years on D-G. I did have some problems with the G string breaking, but in the last few years,I think the quality has improved also. A great string for Arco and good for jazz also. There are some tuning issues,but it isn't enough to stop, if you like the sound and feel form this string.
Have used Velvets,Spiros. Evas.Obligatos..Gamut,,, the Olive seems to work well, I have got up to 2 years on them... Check them out with a used G and D,if you like them, spring for some new ones...
 
Last edited:
#13
Hi there,
finally I bought slightly used Olivs A,D,G one month ago. I´ve used them with Zyex E. First impressions: Olivs was very weak and I had to elevate my bridge height to get suitable volume. But after some weeks and gigs they "settled down". So I was able to decrease bridge height to my usual height. They sound dark and warm. I love especially G string (sweet, warm with a lot of volume), D string is very good to my ear, A string is less punchy than I´m used to have, but I like it. They sounds wonderfull if you play slowly arco, very good for pizz or slap.
Olivs changed my bass sound (full carved bass) - now is more darker but not so clear, piercing and sharp - and my bandmate is still complaininig about my sound mainly if I we play some fast songs. He was used to sharp sound of Spiros and Jazzers :). Our band plays mainly small venues acoustically without any PA system.
But I definitely love the sound and I happy with theese strings. But they are so expensive ... I can recommend them - if you have chance to buy them slightly used.
 
#14
The Olive G is one of my alltime favorite strings. Life varies with players and style; I've had three in the last five years. None of the ones that I changed out broke, I just passed them on to friends interested I trying them after they had a bit of use. Like everything, you really need to pay attention to the bridge and nut and also equalizing the tension at breakover points, or any windings will eventually start to separate.

On the other side of the bass, two years ago I broke a Spirocore Stark E in the first ten minutes of playing time, proof that even the mightiest of strings break when you least expect them to.

j.
www.condino.com
www.kaybassrepair.com
 
#19
Most tailpieces I have seen have a constant width slot for the strings. Some cheap Asian BSO tailpieces a bit narrow for some Es or low Bs.
If your slots get progressively wider towards the low string,s the higher string slots might be a bit too narrow for some thicker higher strings like synthetic and gut core or naked gut strings.
 

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