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Double Bass What Strings do the GODS use?

#21
Originally posted by Matthew Tucker

It'll be a while before I get any for free though. Sounds to me there's great potential for a cyberspace swap-meet where I can swap my old set of thomastik red-ends for someone else's crusty corellis just "to see what happens" ...

Only half kidding ;-) I get a lovely mellow sound above bottom A all the way up the neck but the E string just goes thump. Can't help wondering whether or not another string would help, given that "the sound is in the hands". It would be cheaper than flying Ron Carter over here to see if his hands can make my bass sing down low ... but there again I only just forked out for a new set.

Yeah, Ok ... I'll go talk to my luthier.
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Matthew... that avatar is really freaking me out!
 
#24
Just for information:
I saw an interview with John Clayton a while back & he mentioned he uses Thomastik Superflexibles.I have used these in the past & they are a good all_purpose string-not as twangy as Spirocores.They only come in orch. & solo gauges,though.
 
#26
Originally posted by jimclark68
Bruce, or anyone else,

Can you comment on the tension of the Superflexibles? The figures I've seen puts them somewhere between the Spirocore Orchestra medium and weich. But I would be curious to hear from someone who has actually used them.
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That's how they felt for me when playing them.
Definitely easier playing than regular Spiros.
Somewhat similar to Jazzers too (tension-wise).

HTH!
 
#27
The bass I used the sflx's on has a 43" string length(almost ) so I think that made them a little stiffer than it might on other instruments(could somebody explain to me how that works?I'm still not sure if that's right).
Anyway ,I would agree with francois about the overall tension.In general, I was pretty happy with them & may go back to them in the future.I like to try different strings just to experiment.They are good strings for a bright-sounding bass and also work well for both arco & pizz.
hope this helps
 
#28
Originally posted by Bruce Calin
The bass I used the sflx's on has a 43" string length(almost ) so I think that made them a little stiffer than it might on other instruments(could somebody explain to me how that works?I'm still not sure if that's right).
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That's right.
Imagine a bass with a 41,5" scale.
This gives a given tension for a given string.
Now if you increase the scale, the pitch will lower.
You'll need to increase the tension (crank up the string) to bring it to the original pitch.
If you have problems figuring why increasing the scale decreases the pitch, think it to other way: when you stop the strings with your left hand, you get higher-pitched sounds. When you stop the strings with your left hand, you're actually decreasing the scale...
Increasing the scale is just the contrary.

HTH!
 
#30
i used the superflexibles for about 9 months and liked them alright. the pizzed e didn't have enough punch and sustain for me, especially after a couple of months. i found them only a little better to bow than spiros - i think the windings are similar.

regarding the tension, the t-i website lists the tension of all the strings they make. the super's have about the widest range across the set, from a g that is about weich tension to the e, which is about spiro orch tension.

sean p
 
#31
Originally posted by powermans
...can you really get more speed by using light guage! :cool:
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Ok -- I give. I'll join in the GAS-O-mania.

For pizz, at least, I've found the opposite to be true. A thicker strings seems to respond more quickly. Furthermore you can set your action lower which will increase left hand speed, which gets you smoother (and more choices of) articulation. Skinny strings seem to have to get some flopping around done before they actually start to make a sound.

The fastest strings that I've played, and I've tried many, are the Spiros. I did play a set of Spiro Mittels, but on a huge bass set up mean, so I was struggling to get a ballad out (Carlo DeRosa is a freak).

Now, I can say that you can only truly compare gauges for the same brand of -- or at the least a similarly designed -- string. The light gauge Weichs will likely act a lot quicker than fat ol' animal innerds.

All of that said, I would like to add that there are different kinds of speed. I had a set of Thomastik Dominants on, and they seems to be really, really fast for full out pizz from the right hand, but allowed very little with the left hand. Hammer-ons were inaudible and I couldn't get an even tone with pull-offs. The gave me a negative speed gain in comparison to the Spiros. I'm strong but have slow hands, so a string that allows a lot of left hand BS'ing work to my advantage.

The Ebola-Gatos seem to be better than the Dominants for left hand articulation, but still not as nice as Spiros. As a side-note, the E and A are really starting to test my patience with The Stick.

Pointless rambling mode off now. Apologies for the plotless post....
 
#32
Further to the above point of the sound being in the fingers, on the album "Oscar Peterson & the Bassists", Niels' bass breaks down and he uses Rays' bass for the last track, AND GUESS WHAT? Yep, he sounded exactly like every track he played on with his own bass! Now Niels uses a quite different bass, and strings, and pickup, than Ray Brown. Yet he made Ray's bass sound almost EXACTLY like his own. Point taken, Ed.
 
#33
Marty , you sent me searching for my copy of "Oscar Peterson and the Bassists" on your info regarding Niels using RB's Bass...... I DID NOT KNOW OF THIS! however, I have found the SAID CD and intend to have a CLOSERRRRRRRR listen to the recording.
Yes, as I originally started this Thread, I have found some very interesting and thought provoking comments from fellow bassists from around the globe on strings and sounds infact, it was Ed a few threads back who got me to thinking about the sound coming from the FINGERS... It was (I THOUGHT) a strange comment at first however, I have since given my bass to a number of different players and YES they all sound a little different.So,I am starting to concentrate on developing MY own sound. As much as I LOVE NHOP's sound I'm starting to TRY to create MY sound...
Thanks again for the (O/P Bassist info)
 
#35
Originally posted by lin fung
a question for Francois:
You wrote earlier that Gary Peacock plays "regular" spirocores. Does this mean weichs or mittles?

Mittels (mediums).

What's the growliest kind of string? I really like the articulated string sound and growl he gets.

In my own experience, the strings with the most growl were Pirastro Jazzers.
They're about the same tension as Weichs. (someone here said they were somewhere in-between the Weichs and Mittels)
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#36
Just to continue this thread a little longer, I was having a STRING debate with a fellow Jazz Bassist today and , we got onto the subject of "What Strings do the Gods Use" and Jimmy Blanton's name came up... now , I always understood ( MAYBE WRONG) that around the early part of 1900 that the pre-dominant string used for bass was "GUT" and , that the steel string became popular in later years, however, my friend tells me with knowledge .....that although GUT was around in those years a BIG majority of Jazz bassists used STEEL STRINGS.
Any Comments on the evolution of the Steel String
"I'm thinking of Francois at this moment in time"!
I'm curious, What was the early Jazz Bassists prefered String...Gut or Steel???

Any Thoughts ?:cool:
 

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