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Double Bass The Best Hybrid String is... Drum roll please...

A

AMUNC

Guest
Jan 22, 2012
117
2
Raleigh, NC
#1
I apologize, I'm a jokester. If i really knew the answer to the ongoing hybrid debate, 50% of this corner of TB would be elmiminated.

I am sure a thread discussing all hybrid strings would be very helpful to many a TBer, including myself. So feel free to post on what you find to be the best hybrid string, and why; it doesnt even need to be advertised as a hybrid, just whatever you personally find works best for arco and pizz.
 
#7
Marcus Johnson said:
Spirocores or Evah Weichs.
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MIKMAN said:
+1!!!
Click to expand...

+1 again!!!

Steve Boisen said:
Spirocores are great strings but I've never thought of them as hybrids.
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Spirocores, IMO, don't deserve a "but" at all. :) EPs, in my hands anyway, bow much more easily than do Spiros but, as many have pointed out, Spiros can be fine for arco given the right technique.

I always did like the sound of the Oblis but (yes, there's a but), I found, as did quite a number of other players, that they sounded far better in my living room than they did on the bandstand. If your style runs toward an old-school percussive acoustic sound (and mine does, if I can be said to have a "style" at all :)), then, IME, when you try to dig into Oblis, they give up. Not so with Spiros and EPs.

With strings, YMMV, certainly applies!

Adam Maloney said:
I apologize, I'm a jokester. If i really knew the answer to the ongoing hybrid debate, 50% of this corner of TB would be elmiminated.
Click to expand...

I assure you that even if you thought you knew the answer (there actually is no answer), then we'd still discuss all this stuff. :)

Adam Maloney said:
I am sure a thread discussing all hybrid strings would be very helpful to many a TBer, including myself. So feel free to post on what you find to be the best hybrid string, and why; it doesnt even need to be advertised as a hybrid, just whatever you personally find works best for arco and pizz.
Click to expand...

Adam, we all do feel very much free to post. I think you'll find threads here discussing just about any "hybrid" string of which you're likely to think. This is one of those topics that's perpetual around here. It may be new to you, but not to the folks who've been around here.

Just have at the search function. As a newcomer, it's a fine way to get acquainted with TB. Welcome!
 
#8
There is no 'BEST'. Strings that work well on one bass may not work well on another.
That said, in terms of durability Spirocores are tough to beat. Evahs are right up there. Judge whether a particular bass is bright or dark. Does it like high tension strings or low. Too many variables in play for anyone to designate the 'BEST'.
 
#9
Big question.
I play jazz, tango (lots of heavy bowing, but pizz too), sometimes chamber music, and I own just one bass. It's an old anonymous bohemian bass, 100 yrs old), dark sound, huge E-string, Anyway I like dark sounds (on bass guitar too...).
I tried Corelli, very soft (maybe too sofft for walking pizz), but little sound.
I used for a long while D'Addario Helicore Hybrid, but they were too bright: very long-lasting too, so it took a while to get them worn out.
Two years ago I tried with Thomastik Belcanto: Great!
Medium, rope core, chrome wound.
Pizz: 5 - dark but never muddy, strong attack, very woody (if it fits the kind of sound you're looking for)
Bowing: 5 - simply perfect.
Durability: ? -very reliable in tone quality, almost in two years
Feel: not soft, but I like them this way.
Price: here in Italy they are in the midrange for good strings.


Just my opinion, but try these and maybe you'll be happy. And I'm not paid by Thomastik...
 
#10
drurb said:
Spiros can be fine for arco given the right technique.
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I was never happy with the arco response from Spirocores on my bass and I eventually switched the D and G strings to Thomatsik Superflexibles which improved the bowed sound dramatically. I've toyed with the idea of trying a full set of Superflexibles as these were once recommended as "hybrid" strings before that termed was used for double bass strings.

Anyone here use Superflexibles?

- Steve
 
#11
Steve Boisen said:
Anyone here use Superflexibles?

- Steve
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They were a good option before Evah Pirazzis, Obligatos, and Bel Cantos came along. Haven't used them in years, though.

I will agree that on some basses, Spirocores are comically horrible for bowing. But it's been my experience that, on good basses and with an experienced player, they're great. My favorite "hybrid" string, for sure.

I just think of all of the great players I've heard do amazing things both arco and pizz on Spiros...Dave Holland, Mark Dresser, Mark Helias, Ray Brown, Christian McBride, Bob Hurst (the list goes on and on, and I'm referring to seeing them specifically when they had Spiros, in the case of those players using something different now--like Bob Hurst [EP] and McBride [Helicores, I think]). I stopped making excuses long ago when it came to bowing Spirocores! :)
 
#13
Jeremy Allen said:
I will agree that on some basses, Spirocores are comically horrible for bowing. But it's been my experience that, on good basses and with an experienced player, they're great. My favorite "hybrid" string, for sure.
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I had them on my '49 Kay M-1 which is not a great bass for arco anyway. I suppose it needs all the help it can get from bowable strings.

Good observation about the great players you listed. There are many examples of people doing some nice things while bowing on Spirocores. I'll add Jay Leonhart who I saw a few times in NY. He even let me sit in on his bass (ex George Duvivier) which he had just gotten back from David Gage. It had a new set of Spiro weichs with a mittel E. He took some nice arco solos on it that night.

- Steve
 
#14
About 3 years ago a guy came to sit in with the section in my Orchestra and he had a Kay with Spiro mittels. he sounded amazing.
Last year at the Bass slam held at the University of Colorado several orchestral bass players had their basses strung with spiros , mittels and stark.
 
#16
Yeap. I agree.
I tried them for a little while. And they worked quite well for jazz gigs as long as I was playing without an amp. And then if I had to muscle them too much to get more sound out of them, they would not respond very well.
 
#18
I suppose it depends on what you do most in your daily work... what you play most nights of the week. I'm primarily a jazz bassist, but I play occasional jobs in any style that you can think of. So it's a matter of playing the odds. Given those parameters, some of the best sounding strings that I've had on my bass was a full set of Gamut guts. I think they would work in any setting. My bass LOVED them, and so did I. My feeling is that it's a case of getting the bass to sound and play as nicely as possible.

The term "hybrid string" is misleading. It suggests a certain string composition, and that is missing the point. I see the term as connoting a string that allows a freelance player like myself to work in a variety of settings with confidence and success. For me, that is currently a set of Spirocore Weichs with a Mittel E. Many people may not see Spiros as a "hybrid string", but for me, it's more a question of how well they function for all my professional needs, and less about what they're made of.
 
#19
Marcus Johnson said:
I suppose it depends on what you do most in you daily work... what you play most nights of the week. I'm primarily a jazz bassist, but I play occasional jobs in any style that you can think of. So it's a matter of playing the odds. Given those parameters, some of the best sounding strings that I've had on my bass was a full set of Gamut guts. I think they would work in any setting. My bass LOVED them, and so did I. My feeling is that it's a case of getting the bass to sound and play as nicely as possible.

The term "hybrid string" is misleading. It suggests a certain string composition, and that is missing the point. I see the term as connoting a string that allows a freelance player like myself to work in a variety of settings with confidence and success. For me, that is currently a set of Spirocore Weichs with a Mittel E. Many people may not see Spiros as a "hybrid string", but for me, it's more a question of how well they function for all my professional needs, and less about what they're made of.
Click to expand...

Great post.
 

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