Spirocore Stark

It wouldn't work on my basses. They didn't like Gamuts and Mittels. Starks would crush it. Plus the timbre difference between the guts with very little midrange and the Starks with a enough midrange to laser through a brick wall would drive me buggy. When I used Spiros, I tried a Stark E and it threw off the other strings so badly, I couldn't use it. The Stark E sounded amazing though. Too bad it made the rest of the bass sound like poop.

mark

 

I mixed Gamut Heavy + with Stark E and A and then Stark E and Mittel A and then Mittel A and E. In all those scenarios the balance never worked right. Even lighter Gamuts were worse.

Mittel E/A Gamut Heavy D/G worked for me for awhile but it's still very weird in transition. Forget trying to bow that mix.

Gut tops, even the heaviest of them don't mix well with spiros until you get very light like a Weich E and Solo A or Solo A/E or something like that. Then your steel strings will be significantly smaller in diameter than your Gut strings, which is also very weird.

 

I see! Thanks UncleT and Mark! I have suspected this My Gamuts love Super Silver I just miss the growling of the Spiro's and I am finding myself walking up to the left corner of my room where my old hybrid strung with Mittels live more often than visiting the right corner where my carved beauty sleeps with the Gamuts and SSilvers. I love them both for different reasons but I hear Mittels in my head. I listen to Mingus and Chambers ALL the time so one would expect that my brain should be tuned for guts and it is, but as soon as I hear the Spiro Mittels I melt. I can feel my Gamut bass looking at me jealously and she is pissed off

(

 

You need to go where your head, heart and ears take you. If you're hearing Mittels in your head, you probably should be playing on them. They probably sound fantastic on the carved bass too. Swap strings. Put the guts on the hybrid and goof around with it and take it out for the gigs that would be gut appropriate. Put the Spiros back on the main bass and go to town. I tried guts on 3 different occasions (and going back to Spiros each time) before it stuck a little more than a year and a half ago. And right now I'm only using 1 gut string. Nuno very generously sent me a Garbo Light D to try out and so far I love it. I haven't gigged on it yet so that will be the real test but so far it matches my Gamut Pistoy G beautifully in feel, tension and sound. And I have Animas on the E and A and I'm digging those. This whole thing is a journey not a destination.

 

I recently started playing all starks on my backup bass.

Since this thread is a few years old and recently started to get new posts I want to ask:

Is anyone still using all starks? Or is it just the stark E mixed wioth other strings?

 

So I'm rather late getting in on this but I think the Starks are what I'm looking for. I moved to the very dry and substantial day to day temp difference of CO after years in highly humid but consistent AR and I've had issues with tension. I can handle the action fluctuations but the tension dropping has a profound effect on the tone, acoustic volume and rubber band sound on the Mittels I've stood by for years, not to mention the overly "electric" tone I'm stuck with through an amp. I can get used to the RH workload if I can get the rich, low piano tightness in tone I hear in my head. It's been mentioned but has anyone had real issues with the added pressure to the top? I have a craved Hans Kroger assembled in Germany with Korean wood before they went downhill with under cured wood.

 

Did people have to have a setup on their bass after putting the stark E string on? I've got spiro medium on my rental bass right now and the E string is not doing it for me, and it sounds like it could use the stark E. Could I just throw it on or is there a setup needed?

 

You should also try a Weich E.

 

Seriously or is that a joke? I feel like it needs more power compared to the other 3 strings. Would a weich work?

 

Also shameless question but does anyone have a Stark E they would be willing to part with or even let me borrow for a month?

 

my plan is to combine the Oliv you sold to me with Stark E&A on my carved bass. I think a stark E sounds great on my bass

if I had one I'd let ya borrow it, but sadly.......

 

I am happy to find different bassists' string experiences in one place! I bought the starks after six years of being an evah orchestral gauge man. I made the mistake of putting these on right before a four gig in three day schedule and my hands got eaten alive! I bought velvet animas and I am extremely pleased with their pizzicato sound.

I had my injured bass repaired and it came home recently so I have two double basses for the first time! I put the starks back on to the shen and they sing with the bow. In my experience they sound great all around, but my hands couldn't take them as a pizzicato exclusive string.

 

If your hands are strong and your string heights are low, Starks aren't too bad. I used to slap them for three sets a night when I was still playing the stiff, heavy German plywood that was my first instrument.

 

Good news everyone! My spiro Stark E string came today, bad news is my bass in in the shop again. The wait may actually kill me haha.

 

If ya don't mind giving an update, I'm curious to hear how those Olivs and Starks sounded

 

I ended up pairing the Olivs with Evah lights. I like the G more than the D on my ply bass. I think they're a good match with the Evahs. However, I've been recovering from shoulder surgery, so I haven't gigged with them. Sorry I can't provide a better review.

 

Not a joke. My student's new bass was shipped with a Stark E and Mittels. The E string boomed arco but lacked focus for jazz pizz. We tried a Mittel E
and then a Weich and the Weich had more center to the sound and spoke better.

 

I'm using a Stark E and Mittels for A-D-G with really great balance between them in pizz (Schnitzer New Standard plywood bass). Not enough arco experience to comment.

 

I'll have to try that when I get back to that bass. On my carved bass the stark E with the mediums choked my bass.