Double Bass Spiro question(s)

[Marcus Johnson]

At the same time, Mitts were just the thing for my ply. Horses for courses.

Yeah, they can really wake up a ply bass.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

........... BTW... looking for a particular string? I might have it.....

YMCA, IHOP, NORML, etc.

I've had my turn with the EP weich set. Somebody else's turn.

However, let me know if you want to SELL the regular EP's.
Although the weichs are nice on this bass, I have them at 6-10mm and could use a bit more meat. If you still have some with miles, name your price.

 

[Marcus Johnson]

I've had my turn with the EP weich set. Somebody else's turn.

However, let me know if you want to SELL the regular EP's.
Although the weichs are nice on this bass, I have them at 6-10mm and could use a bit more meat. If you still have some with miles, name your price.

Let me see what's in The Big String Ball. I should probably fly Francois over to Maui to help me identify them all. (not gonna happen, Francois )

My thinking is that I would just as soon send 'em out. Some of you know that a few people very generously paid it forward when I decided to go to gut strings. That change made a huge difference for me personally. It's immeasurable. So, I'm thinking that this would be a good way to light up the incense and reach some karmic balance. I honestly don't even know what I have; Spiros for sure, Animas for sure, the original Evahs I'm pretty sure, probably some Obligatos... even a coupla random guts I think. Not necessarily full sets, just odds 'n ends. I have to sort everything out. I was very fortunate have a remarkable set of Gamut gut strings arrive, free of charge and without my request, from two different friends that I met on TB. That's made every day of work better for me.

Let me see what I have. They aren't doing any good all coiled up in the shed.

 

[Meddle771]

Wouldn't happen to have a full set of mittels....?

 

[drurb]

Spirocores don't sound good on every bass. NO string does.

exactly. agree. no generalizations possible, really.

I agree with clink but, IMO, you take it too far by saying "no generalizations possible." There are all kinds of valid generalizations made here all the time about Spiros.

 

[Marcus Johnson]

Wouldn't happen to have a full set of mittels....?

That's one thing I probably don't have. There might be an E in there, the rest are probably weichs.

 

[Big B.]

I haved used spirocores for jazz and classical for about 12 years and I think they sound wonderful for both. My suggestion, if you try the spiros, is to make sure you leave them on long enough to get broken in. The sound that comes out of new spiros bears little resemblance to the sound of a well broken in set.

 

[Uncletoad]

the full Mittel set is high-tension on the G string and less so on the E string. btw, that's very useful information. it explains (at least to me) why i wanted a Stark E and prefer the Belcanto G (which is slightly less tension, much more bowable than the Spiro Mittel G's banjo twang).

To be sure, the tension is higher by the numbers on the Mittel E string at 75lbs and the Mittel G at 66.1lbs. That really doesn't speak to stiffness I guess, which is rather elusive numerically. I believe the Mit G to seem stiffer than the Mit E relatively.

I think in general manufacturers gauge and tension sets with looser E's in mind. Surely Pirastro does and to a lesser degree I think they all do. Not sure why but I'd think arco has something to do with that. The stiff E is harder to start than a less stiff E.

Balance maybe the other thing here. I think tensions are chosen in part by how the whole set makes an instrument react. The Stark E pulls the neck in different proportion to the Mittel E so the rest of the strings feel different in relation to each other.

There is no doubt to me the Spiro Mittel set is well balanced. They did lots of homework on that. When you disturb that balance by adding a Stark E or whatever you mess with that balance for good or for bad.

As with any modification you get a little bit of what you are looking for along with a little bit of something you aren't looking for that you'll have to learn to live with.

 

[TroyK]

...
Balance maybe the other thing here. I think tensions are chosen in part by how the whole set makes an instrument react. The Stark E pulls the neck in different proportion to the Mittel E so the rest of the strings feel different in relation to each other.

There is no doubt to me the Spiro Mittel set is well balanced. They did lots of homework on that. When you disturb that balance by adding a Stark E or whatever you mess with that balance for good or for bad.
...

This is absolutely spot on in my experience. That's why I think you have to start with a set and then adjust if you must. even with single Gs, for example, I've found that it's hard to have an opinion about them on my own bass without consideration for what they are on there with. An EP G is not the same next to an EP set as it is with a Jazzer Set, etc. Nor is the D string next to it (to stick with my example).

Mixing gauges of spirocores can be a fruitful endeavor. Have done and will likely do again, but save yourself some money and heartache and start with a matched set. It's either going to be what you need or you'll have information that you don't have now.

 

[William Hoffman]

To be sure, the tension is higher by the numbers on the Mittel E string at 75lbs and the Mittel G at 66.1lbs. That really doesn't speak to stiffness I guess, which is rather elusive numerically. I believe the Mit G to seem stiffer than the Mit E relatively.

I think in general manufacturers gauge and tension sets with looser E's in mind. Surely Pirastro does and to a lesser degree I think they all do. Not sure why but I'd think arco has something to do with that. The stiff E is harder to start than a less stiff E.

Balance maybe the other thing here. I think tensions are chosen in part by how the whole set makes an instrument react. The Stark E pulls the neck in different proportion to the Mittel E so the rest of the strings feel different in relation to each other.

There is no doubt to me the Spiro Mittel set is well balanced. They did lots of homework on that. When you disturb that balance by adding a Stark E or whatever you mess with that balance for good or for bad.

As with any modification you get a little bit of what you are looking for along with a little bit of something you aren't looking for that you'll have to learn to live with.

Thomastik has picked a good balance, no doubt, but they must have the ideal instrument in mind when they fix the tensions. but in practice it is really a matter of experimenting and, let's face it, a bit of luck or accident, by which we can arrive at the insight into what our own instrument needs to sound best.

This is absolutely spot on in my experience. That's why I think you have to start with a set and then adjust if you must. even with single Gs, for example, I've found that it's hard to have an opinion about them on my own bass without consideration for what they are on there with. An EP G is not the same next to an EP set as it is with a Jazzer Set, etc. Nor is the D string next to it (to stick with my example).

Mixing gauges of spirocores can be a fruitful endeavor. Have done and will likely do again, but save yourself some money and heartache and start with a matched set. It's either going to be what you need or you'll have information that you don't have now.

yes, starting out with the full set of Mittels and adjusting from there is technically the only way to go. right on the money, too. and now, off to the shed...

 

[Treyzer]

I go through periods of activity and avoidance with TalkBass. It is a great resource and has been a great community for me personally. But...honestly...I'm feeling a period of avoidance coming on again.

+1 on that

For what it's worth, I found the Olive G, Weich D & A and a Mittel E works real well for me. Not that anyone cares. I've seen so much stuff that has little to do with playing the double bass well lately that it has made me less and less interested to stop by.

I'm a product of my generation and proud of it. Although I primarily play Double Bass, which I love, and I know lots of standards (not nearly as many as someone like Paul); I also play the electric bass (real well)! Made a living at it for many years with lots of well known people. I also like the Beatles, Stones, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, BB King, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn,Yes, Return to Forever, Led Zepplin, John Pattatucci and many others who have nothing to do with the "Great American Songbook" of the 50's and 60's.

Done, I'm Out!

 

[Marcus Johnson]

+1 on that

For what it's worth, I found the Olive G, Weich D & A and a Mittel E works real well for me.

I did that, is that your setup right now? It was great, really nicely balanced.

Oh... whoops, sorry Trey, just saw your last line.

But yeah, that particular setup worked well, with the slight additional whomp of the Mittel Spiro, and the beautiful presence of the Oliv G... that is a really nice combination. Another one that might come close, and cost less, would be to sub an Evah Pirazzi Weich for the Oliv. Not the same, but pretty close.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Thread cleaned by multiple request.

Here's a thought for everyone to consider: we all value this forum, or else we wouldn't be here. In cyberlife, like real life, everybody doesn't like everybody. That's just the way it works. We have a little thing on TB called the "ignore list", which can be found under "My Talkbass" on the bottom of the left sidebar. In it, you can specify users who regularly get on your nerves, and once you do this, the software will automatically hide their posts from you. I have 12 members on mine, and it greatly improves the quality of my TB experience. I often think that if real life had this feature, it would simplify things considerably. Usually, when I think this, my next thought is, "oh wait... it does; I just have to remember to use it".

When I see threads get derailed by personal sniping, it's a minor annoyance. But when I see valued long time members who had nothing to do with the origins of the sniping start mentioning that their experience is becoming marred by it, I get slightly more annoyed. If there's somebody breaking the rules and you see it, please don't reply - report the post and sooner or later one of the mods will come along and deal with it in one way or another. Replying usually only leads to more sniping, which leads to more derailment, which leads to more work for whoever has to clean up and less enjoyment/edification for those who were interested in the thread topic. So please, learn to use either your mental ignore list or the software one built in here, and report anything that breaks the rules. In the meantime, while you are waiting for one of the mods to show up, the best thing is simply to ignore the sniping and keep replying to the on topic posts as if the unpleasantness never happened. This sends exactly the right message without sending any wrong messages IMO.

Back on topic, I can put spirocore mittels on just about anything and find my sound on it. As a pizz player, I like a heavier E string on every single set I've ever played, but that's just me. The spiro mittels with a stark e on my ply LaScala just kill, and put a smile on my face every time i pick it up. Even if you end up going with something else, it's worth trying the mittels on your way there - that way, you'll know what all the talk is about, and you'll always have a set in your string drawer the next time you get a bad case of TROIKAPHRENIA. And a big +1 to whoever mentioned the bit about keeping them on for a while while you make up your mind. After about a month, they start to settle in, and I always find it really hard to take them off at that point.

...NORML...

New Orleans Ratatouille Mother Lode?
Never Order Regurgitated Maggot Lunches?
Nuns Ostracize Recalcitrant Maltodextrin Lumps?

Inquiring minds.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

DURRL said "TROIKAPHRENIA"!

 

[TroyK]

New Orleans Ratatouille Mother Lode

+1!