Some low-tension darkish strings?

Just a few weeks ago I cut my forearm at work with a grinder. I also cut partway through the muscle that handles wrist movement though luckily my hand muscles were unscathed.

Luckily, the healing is coming along pretty well. I've just started playing a little bit of electric these past few days, which I can do largely without discomfort. I haven't started playing upright again yet, however, and I would like to get some easier playing strings to ease my hand back into playing and prevent further injury once I'm feeling up to it.

Right now I'm playing a set of Bel Cantos, occasionally with a Spiro Weich E. I play 90% pizz, with only the occasional tune and practice at home being done arco. As such I do need a string that is bowable, but by no means do I need anything as nice as the BCs for that.

I'm fairly happy with the pizz sound of the BCs. I find them just a touch lifeless (not too dark, but lacking in "something") and they can be lost in a dense mix, not really sitting on top or underneath.

I think Evah Pirazzi or the Weichs would probably match the sound I'm looking for, but from what I've read even the weichs aren't going to be any lower in tension than the BCs/Weichs.

I've long wanted to try guts, and I see that a D/G have just gone up in the classifieds (these are all I'd want for plain gut anyway), but I'm not sure if such a drastic change at the moment is a good idea. And in any case I'd still need to find bottoms.

I'm mostly leaning towards Animas, though they're a bit pricey. I just saw Adrian Cho, and as always he sounded great. I think they're probably pretty close to the sound I'm looking for and from what I've read are about as low tension as I'll find. The Blues and Obligatos are two more economical options I've been looking at.

Anyhow... that's where I'm coming from. Am I missing any other options? Can anybody compare the animas/blues/oblis especially from a feel standpoint?

Thanks

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I hadn't thought of solo strings tuned down, but I'm not too fond of doms on cello, so might stay away on bass.

I think I'm gonna just bite the bullet and get some animas. They sound more or less like what I'm looking for.

Cheers

 

I'm not terribly worried about the thickness of the strings. The one time that I've played guts I actually enjoyed the thickness. I may have to adapt, but I don't mind that too much. I find that kind of thing can get you thinking in too many ways.

Arco shouldn't be an issue. The majority of the bass arco I do is essentially long tones. If I can't get a handle on trickier stuff I can just pull out the cello.

The one thing I do wonder about is the windings. I've played cellos with round windings that didn't bother me, but I wonder if I might have to adapt my pizz technique. In balance though, I think the pros outweigh thy potential con.

The main thing I'm looking for right now is a string low enough in tension to get playing again. Everything else is gravy. But thanks for your thoughts

 

I decided to go with a set of Animas. I picked them up today and just finished putting them on the bass and playing around for a few minutes. It's really nice to finally be able to play again!

I'm really digging them. The windings really feel no different under my hands than any normal set of strings. The tension is definitely low enough. They don't bother my arm at all (compared to electric bass which makes it ache a bit, and the former Bel Cantos which my arm just didn't like) and once I'm all healed up I like the idea that I'll be able to play long acoustic gigs without want to cut my arm off by the end.

The sound is perhaps a little bit brighter than I'd prefer, but I expect that'll tone down a bit as they settle, probably to exactly where I'd like them to be. But even if they don't, the sound is special enough that I'm really pleased.

I think the best description for these strings, at least as they are now, is probably "full range." The sound big, deep, and full, yet manage more articulation than I thought possible from this bass. I'm definitely going to have to work a bit on my intonation with these things. Through my Realist and little GK combo they sound absolutely huge. Pretty much my bass only louder, and better

Bowing isn't so bad either. They're definitely no BC, and it'll take a little bit of practice to get the right touch down, but they'll suit my needs for sure and have a really neat sound under the bow.

I'm really pleased with the choice and I'm excited to see how they develop in the next weeks/months.

I do have one question I'll ask here before starting a new thread, but I'm going to have to figure out a new way to mount my Realist output jack. Without a ball end to hold it to the tailpiece it's floppy and buzzing like there's no tomorrow. Anybody have any ideas?