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Have you bowed Innovation Silver Slaps?


Lazurus
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My teacher is doing well with an ageing novice, he is concentrating on my tone and intonation and bowing is very good for this. I much prefer pizz and eventually slapping but follow his sound teaching on the cheap steel orchestral strings currently fitted to my bass. I have a set of Silver slaps ready to go, but if I put them on for pizz and slap practice will I still be able to Arco when required. There are differing reports on the web, the sales buff says you can bow them (but they would say that)

So has anyone used them for arco or am stuck with the high tension steels until I finish my initial leanings, this will prevent me from practicing slap as the steels are way to tight, ok for pizz and arco though hence my quandary.
I am not looking for orchestral quality with my bowing technique but I have no whish to make it worse. lol.

Stuart

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Yes, you can bow silver slaps...but it's a pretty harsh sound compared to orchestral strings. You'll need to roughen up the string wrap between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard with some fine grade sandpaper to give the bow something to grip.

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[quote name='Lazurus' timestamp='1484728434' post='3217761']
Thanks for all the input, I have been recommended Evah Pirazzi Bass Weich (Soft) Set of Strings as perhaps the best all rounders' are these a starting point?
[/quote]

I couldn't comment with any authority for slap, but I've found them to be the best hybrid for pizz and arco. they bow just as easy an orchestral string, but they pizz much better than any orchestral string. A good choice!

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I'm not much of a bower. I try now & again. I currently have a set of Silver Slaps on my EUB, and am fortunate to also have an acoustic DB - so they've usually got different strings on each - for different styles of playing.

There is indeed, a horrible sound when bowing the Silver Slaps. I thought it was my poor technique at first, but I can get a much better sound out of other strings. However, the Silver Slaps are the best strings for Slap technique IMHO. I tried others - Weedwackers got me started in building up my Slap technique, but I found the E string too weak. Once I'd been playing those 4-6 weeks, I shifted over to the Silver Slaps.... but I couldn't bow either the Weeds or the Silvers

Perhaps TheRev's suggestion of roughening the strings may work, but I think I'd be reluctant to do this personally. Would this weaken the strings? Or would it be off-putting or too rough for when you're slapping? - You do hit the strings quite hard with that technique. If you do try this - please let us know how you get on :)

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My '2 cents' worth Lazurus.
I have tried bowing Innovation strings--they didn't do it for me. [b]But [/b]what I did like about Innovation was that I liked that 'old school' sound I was after--and good for slap.

I changed to a used set of Evah Weich's and they are great for bowing / pizz / and slap. Infact I have a 2nd DB and I am thinking of putting on another set of Evah Weichs.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had a chat with my teacher and we have arranged to spend the next couple of months on Pizz and left hand so I put the silvers on, now just need to learn that right hand technique, on top of learning my left, reading the bass clef, guess the arco will wait a while.......

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  • 2 weeks later...

Golden Slaps were good enough for at one for me to get through a couple of ABRSM grades before I gave up, so it can be done if you're not looking for anything too intricate. Rub a little rosin on the bowing area of the string initially, over time it'll build up anyway,that should get enough traction. Steels will sound nicer, but I just don't like em for anything but arco

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