Double Bass Thomastic Spirocore, from birth to death.

[bonaventura]

The Stark E was a thud pretty much and the pitch centers were getting wavy. I couldn't touch it without my hand turning black.

hmmm, internal collapse of spiral core. sounds like some serious corrosion/oxidation as well... do you clean the sweat and rosin off your strings after a gig? but given your heavy hand and intensive use of this string, no wonder. Held up for three years, not bad at all... Can't complain about that. I think it was David Gage that said in one of his articles that E strings tend to wear out first. Anyway sounds like that Stark E was real far gone, deader than I've ever seen.

The A was losing power and focus, the notes had become short. The D sounded kinda flat and was getting thuddy as well.

That's the more usual wear and tear. Strings not completely gone but tone is noticably fading fast. That's what usually passes for Dead. In the past i've sometimes replaced mine even before they get that far. But then I was just doing what my teacher originally told me when i was starting out, he says: "New strings every year." Not really needed with Spiros... After I read Dr. Rod's comments in the "Unbowability Myth" thread i changed my mind and Spiros will stay on mine a lot longer.

The G actually sounded really good and I was contemplating leaving it. I so rarely like a Spiro G I was afraid I'd just hate the new one.

I hated new Spiro G's too, twangy sounding for the first few months. Maybe you'll put the old one back on!

 

[Uncletoad]

I'm lazy and slovenly when it comes to instrument care. Cobbler's kids have no shoes. Rarely clean up my strings. It wouldn't matter all that much if I did I suppose. They just get funky again the next night.

6 months to a year out of a set of bass strings is pretty cheap amortized across a year's worth of work. I used to spend thousands more a year for electric bass strings when that's all I giged with.

Progis Riport:

The fat girl with the huge tracts of land was very distracting last night, as were the stripper chicks and the vacuant drunken boys following them around like flies on dung. Rising above it I played fine. Nobody in the band noticed the difference between this week's sound and last week's. That could mean lots of things, some bad some good. Overall I probably just swapped out the strings for me again I guess.

They are breaking in fast, sounding better each night. Still suck for arco but then so do I. Doesn't stop me from whipping it out whenever I can. Especially for the Fat chick and the strippers. I'm certain that no matter how bad I play just the fact that I have a bow at all makes me hot.

End Penis Riport:

 

[Jason Hollar]

Paging Dr. Freud!!!

 

[Paul Warburton]

I'm lazy and slovenly when it comes to instrument care. Cobbler's kids have no shoes. Rarely clean up my strings. It wouldn't matter all that much if I did I suppose. They just get funky again the next night.

6 months to a year out of a set of bass strings is pretty cheap amortized across a year's worth of work. I used to spend thousands more a year for electric bass strings when that's all I giged with.

Progis Riport:

The fat girl with the huge tracts of land was very distracting last night, as were the stripper chicks and the vacuant drunken boys following them around like flies on dung. Rising above it I played fine. Nobody in the band noticed the difference between this week's sound and last week's. That could mean lots of things, some bad some good. Overall I probably just swapped out the strings for me again I guess.

They are breaking in fast, sounding better each night. Still suck for arco but then so do I. Doesn't stop me from whipping it out whenever I can. Especially for the Fat chick and the strippers. I'm certain that no matter how bad I play just the fact that I have a bow at all makes me hot.

End Penis Riport:

 

[bonaventura]

Progis Riport:

The fat girl with the huge tracts of land was very distracting last night, as were the stripper chicks and the vacuant drunken boys following them around like flies on dung. Rising above it I played fine. Nobody in the band noticed the difference between this week's sound and last week's. That could mean lots of things, some bad some good. Overall I probably just swapped out the strings for me again I guess.

They are breaking in fast, sounding better each night. Still suck for arco but then so do I. Doesn't stop me from whipping it out whenever I can. Especially for the Fat chick and the strippers. I'm certain that no matter how bad I play just the fact that I have a bow at all makes me hot.

End Penis Riport:

so is this thread dead? right after birth? or does nobody wanna touch that?

for all its phallic symbolism, the double bass bow is really a cool way to break Spiros in.

 

[Uncletoad]

so is this thread dead? right after birth? or does nobody wanna touch that?

for all its phallic symbolism, the double bass bow is really a cool way to break Spiros in.

Nah, nowhere near dead. This is a Marathon. Took a year or two to do the Gamut thread. This is just getting warmed up.

Patience young Skywalker. More will be revealed....

 

[bonaventura]

took the new Evah E off over the weekend. put the year-old Spiro Mittel E back on.

it was a hands-downer, no contest. that E ain't dead, just barely broken in.

this is on the '93 Gruenert (basically a "carved beginner's" bass -- what Horst G. calls it -- heavy strong build, needs some tension), the Spiro's fundamental, overtones, and deep down vibration in the bowels of the instrument give a sound that the synthetic strings -- no matter how good they are in many ways -- just don't get.

i'm gonna leave the old Spiro on. maybe try a Stark E someday, but no hurry.

it's a new mix for me: Spiro E, Evah A and D, Oliv G. still miss the bowability and soft sweet sound of the BCs, but the punch and warmth of the EP A and D is also nice. And the Oliv, well, no comment needed. Tasty.

 

[drurb]

I'm beginning to believe that only very broad generalizations can be made about strings and experiences with them. This makes sense when you think about it. Personal preferences aside, different basses "like" different tensions, etc. in terms of making them speak. With several basses, I've found that the Doms or Evahs (synthetic cores), yield a fundamental (especially on the E) that is much more intense and room-shaking than a Spirocore could provide. I certainly accept bonaventura's report of his experience and I think this really points out how different basses can be expected to react differently to different strings. Overall, it still seems to be true that if you don't want to go down the string wormhole and you want to be pretty much assured that the string you buy will work on your bass, buy Spirocores.

 

[Marc Piane]

With several basses, I've found that the Doms or Evahs (synthetic cores), yield a fundamental (especially on the E) that is much more intense and room-shaking than a Spirocore could provide.

Have you tried the Stark E? Holy ****. Scary. Hide the women and children scary. Takes a minute to get used to since its alternate use is in suspension bridges but talk about shaking bowels. On my bass there is no other E string that even comes close.

 

[drurb]

Have you tried the Stark E? Holy ****. Scary. Hide the women and children scary. Takes a minute to get used to since its alternate use is in suspension bridges but talk about shaking bowels. On my bass there is no other E string that even comes close.

No, sure haven't tried one on my current bass. I wonder if it might make the sound somewhat uneven. Right now, things are pretty well balanced with the powerful sound I get from the Evah E. I'll sure keep the Stark E in mind and thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Marc Piane]

I've tried it with a few combos of A,D,G and always thought it matched well. I'm on Mittels with the Stark E currently. I'm a fan of my 2 year old Spiros. Too bad you have to wait a year before they sound the way I like them.

 

[Mark Perna]

I tried the Stark E on my Kolstein and have to agree that it was Earth shakingly great. Unfortunately, the tension was too high for the bass and it greatly affected in a detrimental manner the other three strings. I had to take it off. I'm planning on trying it on the '74 Juzek. I don't think the '28 would take the tension very well either.

mark

 

[Uncletoad]

Progris Riport:

Spiros are breaking in fine. E and A are sounding good, D isn't to bad and G is coming along.

Snag in the road however. The Alsatian Queen has now developed a crush. Not on me or someone else but while she was either sitting on the gig or in the van in travel. I opened the bag to practice and there it was. Rib section G string side on the flat by the neck mortise. A big 6" section pushed in and all cracked up.

Dang. That's ugly.

Nnick says the top has to come off to fix it. Discussion with insurance company to follow.

Surgery likely in the coming months....

I'll post pics later.

End Progris Riport.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Bummer Phil!

 

[bonaventura]

Sorry to hear that. :scowl: Please post pix whenever...

 

[marvin spangles]

me too.:scowl:

 

[Paul Warburton]

Awwww...so sorry, Toodles.
I told my Bohmann the bad news about the Queen last night. It gave a little "shiver".
Our collective condolences.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

That blows, Phil. Sorry to hear that. I take it you'll be playing your NS Clydesdale in the meantime?

 

[bribass]

oooh, so sorry to hear that Phil .

Don't worry. I'm sure Nick will her get her patched up back to all her old Franco/German glory. Buck up.

 

[MR PC]

Too bad. Better the bass than your own self though. Maybe Mr. LLoyd and Mr. Devillers could work on getting rid of the demon that is following that bass around........good luck!