Bad news is I have a new crack, good news is that it gave me the chance to play a bunch of basses at Hammond Ashley today, most of which were strung with Spirocores, but here are some general impressions.
They have an old playwood Kay with a neck repair that is Mittel E and Weich else. That things sounds AMAZING. If anyone is shopping for a Kay, go buy it, it's a bargain. I wish I had room.
They also have two similar aged and conditioned German basses of semi-unspecified origin, both strung with Mittels. The nicer looking of the two sounds like wonder bread. It's the kind of bass that makes me not like Spirocores. It sounds like, well, Spirocores. Sort of like an electric bass, very stringy and thin. $10,000 pricetag on that one, by the way.
Two basses down for $12,000 is a bass that I wanted to leave the shop with. I didn't really hear strings, I heard tons of character. Volume, complexity, great balance, strings didn't feel stiff at all. It was just awesome. I could have played it all day and kind of wish I was still there doing so. When I pick my bass up this weekend, I'm going to have to take her in there and A - B them. In fairness, my bass is strung with string drawer clearance crap right now, but I should have an idea.
There were some other, kind of generic basses that were all what they were. Some felt and sounded better than others. There was a Shen Willow, which was my first one, but it was strung with Helicore Orchs, so it was tough to tell what it would be like as a jazz bass.
Then there was a bass strung with Heliocore Orch E and A and Flex '92 D and G. I played the open G and thought "geeze, I don't remember Flexicores sustaining that well." Then I played the D and got a very unsatisfying thud. Obviously a setup problem there. They must be consigning it or, I'm sure they would fix that. Just goes to show...
I picked up the bow they had sitting out (French, I play German) and drug it across everything. If you are an orchestra player, I can't tell you what is important in a string. If you're a pizz player who picks up a bow now and again, there is NOTHING wrong with Spirocores. We all know that now, right? I don't know how that rumor got started.
So the point being, Spirocores are great strings. Setup and the general character of the bass are vital. When set up right for playing jazz, in a group with other musicians, out in the world, I just can't imagine a better string in whatever gauge you and your bass seem to like best. Certainly there are other things and other considerations, but I'm really impressed. If Spirocores don't sound good on your bass for jazz and you're not a gut player, what you have just might be an instrument problem.
They have an old playwood Kay with a neck repair that is Mittel E and Weich else. That things sounds AMAZING. If anyone is shopping for a Kay, go buy it, it's a bargain. I wish I had room.
They also have two similar aged and conditioned German basses of semi-unspecified origin, both strung with Mittels. The nicer looking of the two sounds like wonder bread. It's the kind of bass that makes me not like Spirocores. It sounds like, well, Spirocores. Sort of like an electric bass, very stringy and thin. $10,000 pricetag on that one, by the way.
Two basses down for $12,000 is a bass that I wanted to leave the shop with. I didn't really hear strings, I heard tons of character. Volume, complexity, great balance, strings didn't feel stiff at all. It was just awesome. I could have played it all day and kind of wish I was still there doing so. When I pick my bass up this weekend, I'm going to have to take her in there and A - B them. In fairness, my bass is strung with string drawer clearance crap right now, but I should have an idea.
There were some other, kind of generic basses that were all what they were. Some felt and sounded better than others. There was a Shen Willow, which was my first one, but it was strung with Helicore Orchs, so it was tough to tell what it would be like as a jazz bass.
Then there was a bass strung with Heliocore Orch E and A and Flex '92 D and G. I played the open G and thought "geeze, I don't remember Flexicores sustaining that well." Then I played the D and got a very unsatisfying thud. Obviously a setup problem there. They must be consigning it or, I'm sure they would fix that. Just goes to show...
I picked up the bow they had sitting out (French, I play German) and drug it across everything. If you are an orchestra player, I can't tell you what is important in a string. If you're a pizz player who picks up a bow now and again, there is NOTHING wrong with Spirocores. We all know that now, right? I don't know how that rumor got started.
So the point being, Spirocores are great strings. Setup and the general character of the bass are vital. When set up right for playing jazz, in a group with other musicians, out in the world, I just can't imagine a better string in whatever gauge you and your bass seem to like best. Certainly there are other things and other considerations, but I'm really impressed. If Spirocores don't sound good on your bass for jazz and you're not a gut player, what you have just might be an instrument problem.
) As for Spirocores, I agree with you but I think many times it's not that they don't sound good-- it's that there are nuances of other strings that we sometimes like better. Still, yes, Spiros ought to sound good and if they don't then one might look at setup issues.
I've lived in the same neighborhood for a long time. I don't steal gigs.
