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Double Bass SPIROCORES ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!
- Thread starter Jason Sypher
- Start date
It’s a ridiculous string. So lyrical under the bow that I can hardly stand it, and the pizz is magnificent.
Greg Clinkingbeard
Commercial User
Spirocores are great but not right for every bass. I have been trying to sell my old German flat back for a few years and one of the top players and teachers in town suggested Spirocores so I switched from Evah Weichs. The last guy who tried it couldn’t bow it so I went back to the Evahs and started playing it again. People tell me I’ve never sounded better and they much prefer it to my other basses. Spirocores are fantastic on some basses and others, not so much.
Gotta find the right strings for a particular bass.
Gotta find the right strings for a particular bass.
I'm sure it's somewhere in the threads but...
why is nobody trying to manufacture the lycon strings today? Secret formula went to the grave? Not enough interest? Why????
In another thread it was mentioned that a new string by Presto (was it Prestoflex?) was supposed to be re-creation of the Lycon. I inquired about it here about the conversation never went anywhere.
- Steve
Had orchestra rehearsal last night, these strings are working out great for that, very pleasantly surprised! Years ago I couldn’t get a good arco sound with the reds and these Weichs are much easier, for me at least (I’m not so awesome with the bow, but maybe I got a bit better since then). Tone is great, not harsh at all, and with the dynamic range of Schuberts Unfinished, these things can do it all. They’re louder than the helicores but still can produce soft passages very nicely. Even the G string, maybe especially the G string. And they’re not even broken in yet.
Guess I’m hooked, all set now for this bass.
Guess I’m hooked, all set now for this bass.
What seems harsh maybe at home magically solves itself at the gig and those frequencies that we feared at the house blend beautifully with other instruments. You just gotta trust it on days when you feel insecure.
I’m a huge fan of the Weichs arco tone. They have such a wide dynamic range and a broad pallet of colors to choose from. I did a performance of Shostakovich’s violin concerto in A minor several months ago where me and the two other bassists were playing on Spirocores (1 on Weichs and the other on solos tunes down to orchestra pitch). When I listened back to the recording, the bass sound was very epic and Russian. Plus they’re pretty excellent for playing new music on!
It looks like history is repeating itself.
I put 4/4 spiro weichs on my Arvi about a week ago. I got the idea from watching videos of Joe Conyers. My bass has a very thin top and has responded well to light strings in the past, and I thought the lighter string would keep the brightness in check.
The result has been really interesting but I'm not 100% sold yet. The strings are pretty bright and a little scratchy under the bow. They respond beautifully to changes in speed and pressure - comparable to Flexocore Originals in that regard, but maybe even better. They also get the whole bass ringing - I can feel the bass vibrating in ways I've never felt it before. I think that's in part the reduced tension on the top so they're not choking off the sound. They're super loud, too - it feels like I'm projecting to the very back of the hall without much effort. In spite of that, they're easier to blend with the sound of the orchestra in front of me. The D and G in the upper registers sing almost as nicely as the Flexocore Deluxes they replaced (those strings had pros and cons, too).
The downsides, so far, are that the extended E and, to a lesser extent, the A, is a bit hard to start under the bow. I think I'm learning to play them a little better, but I'm still not confident with them the way I was with the Permanents I'd taken off. The other thing is that the clarity is exposing crap in my technique - if I shift badly or flub a passage, there's no hiding behind the damping in the string.
If I can figure out how to get the E and A to start reliably, I'll probably never look back. Otherwise, I may try to find an extended E that matches tonally and tension-wise but gets started a little quicker.
The other experiment might be trying the 3/4 Weichs, but I think my Arvi's string length is a full 42" and I don't know if they make an extended E for the 3/4 set.
The result has been really interesting but I'm not 100% sold yet. The strings are pretty bright and a little scratchy under the bow. They respond beautifully to changes in speed and pressure - comparable to Flexocore Originals in that regard, but maybe even better. They also get the whole bass ringing - I can feel the bass vibrating in ways I've never felt it before. I think that's in part the reduced tension on the top so they're not choking off the sound. They're super loud, too - it feels like I'm projecting to the very back of the hall without much effort. In spite of that, they're easier to blend with the sound of the orchestra in front of me. The D and G in the upper registers sing almost as nicely as the Flexocore Deluxes they replaced (those strings had pros and cons, too).
The downsides, so far, are that the extended E and, to a lesser extent, the A, is a bit hard to start under the bow. I think I'm learning to play them a little better, but I'm still not confident with them the way I was with the Permanents I'd taken off. The other thing is that the clarity is exposing crap in my technique - if I shift badly or flub a passage, there's no hiding behind the damping in the string.
If I can figure out how to get the E and A to start reliably, I'll probably never look back. Otherwise, I may try to find an extended E that matches tonally and tension-wise but gets started a little quicker.
The other experiment might be trying the 3/4 Weichs, but I think my Arvi's string length is a full 42" and I don't know if they make an extended E for the 3/4 set.
I'd give them another month or so for them to settle in. Spiro's are truly like wine. The older they get the better they are. Maybe if the extended E still gives you trouble, an S42 Mittel could be a good substitute.
So I promised Rick Wolff I'd give a review of the Spirocore S43 (4/4) solo set recently installed on my 2005 NS Cleveland ply (the string length is 42".) This bass has had a full set of EP Slaps (w/ gut D & G) for the last year or so and before that plain gut D & G for several years with various E's & A's... Low Tension. I decided to start my Spiro re-emersion with the tension closest to the gut that's been on the bass. The reason I decided to come back to the Spirocores is the need/desire to explore a more modern sound but still have access to an older style/sound if I wanted and Spiros are the most versatile of any steel strings I've ever played. I was not interested in synthetics, I've never found a set with anywhere near the dynamic range as gut or steel on this bass. The solo E & A are really similar to the Evahs actually but have a bit more harmonic content, I like them a lot. The D & G are still very midrangey/bright and on the edge of me being able to control but are starting to settle in. They can still be whiny and I have to really pay attention to minimize this as much as possible with both left and right hand technique. It has been a challenge not to overplay and also to get used to the much smaller diameters, I definitely think these two issues are related. Under the bow, the whole set is really great, very lyrical and expressive. Overall there is plenty of volume pizz, arco and slap. It's really forcing me to focus on technique, though, to get what I want, there were sounds I just didn't have access to with the gut. I know with practice, I can find my way back to getting a very usable "gut" sound with these strings as well... that's the intention anyway. I'm still on the fence with the tension... I really want to give the solos a fair shake but I might end up moving up to the S42w (4/4) weich. The bass is feeling like it wants a bit more tension and I'm sure it would have more volume with the weich but I'll stick with the solos and concentrate on technique for now.
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I’m on 100+ gigs with the 4/4 solos, at least with the IV-II strings. I love this set, but I’m in Spiro G hell currently. The I (A tuned to G) never broke in. It was way way to easy to overplay and sounded thin on its best day. Arco, it was great. Did a west coast tour and a couple of months of local gigging before I threw in the towel. Acoustic, it was sad sounding and through my Krivo I couldn’t for the life of me get a truly balanced sound.
I’ve been using a Eurosonic Medium G in its stead, mostly because I had one on hand and I love that “gut” feel and gauge, as well as an evening up of the bass. This has been a kind of weird solution though, and I’m pretty eager to go back to a full, guaged steel set if only for arco. The 3/4 Spriocore solo A has proven impossible to get as a single string stateside and I’m done with bothering my distributors about it so I pulled the trigger on a Jargar Dolce G. From what I’ve read, this might solve the issue. Review forthcoming...
I’ve been using a Eurosonic Medium G in its stead, mostly because I had one on hand and I love that “gut” feel and gauge, as well as an evening up of the bass. This has been a kind of weird solution though, and I’m pretty eager to go back to a full, guaged steel set if only for arco. The 3/4 Spriocore solo A has proven impossible to get as a single string stateside and I’m done with bothering my distributors about it so I pulled the trigger on a Jargar Dolce G. From what I’ve read, this might solve the issue. Review forthcoming...
Very true. I thought I hated Spiros, but it took getting a new bass to find out that it was actually the bass I had been playing for 30+ years that didn’t like them.
Also something to note. I just took my strings off to work on my bridge and something occurred to me that I don't think anyone has ever mentioned. Every time I take off my strings for a bit they will sound brighter when I put them back on the bass. This brightness will fade within a week but it is a real thing. This can occur even when just removing two strings (as say in switching out to guts) and returning them a few days later. Very odd. Scientifically unproven. But real.
