Bowing

[gypsyjazzer]

Those of you who bow:  What are the best strings you have tried? Sets or mixture. Arco being my first choice--pizz secondary.

 

[Owen]

For a useable aspect of both I have settled on Innovation - either Braided or Polychrome.

 

I played a bass with Obligato solo tuning but tuned at concert pitch. They were fabulous, but I just cannot fathom the concept of paying that much for strings. One day maybe.

 

 

[SubsonicSimpleton]

What sound do you want?

How intricate is the music you want to play?

How much money do you have to spend?

I've tried several options longterm myself, Spiro weichs, Evah weichs, Innovation Honeys, and currently have Innovation golden slaps on my bass and have played a bunch of other offerings on other peoples basses - the main thing that I've noticed is that each string requires adjusting your technique to get the best out of it, exactly how much you need to adjust seems to determine whether players like or dislike a given string depending on what they are already used to playing.

I wouldn't recommend the golden slaps to someone whose main activity is classical orchestra, but they sound much closer to plain gut than modern steel wound strings, so if you are on a tight budget and shooting for a Paul Chambers vibe or even baroque they are a viable option as long as long as you are willing to make the effort to adapt your aproach a bit IMHO. Popular internet opinion on these strings is that they are unbowable, sound terrible and/or require modification to work for arco playing, this hasn't been my experience, so YMMV.

My preferred string for arco/pizz but no slapping that I've tried thus far is definately the Spiro weich - in the balance between sound quality and how tiring they are to play and cost they win out for me, but plenty of other people prefer other options depending on what their bass responds best to or what they are seeking sound wise. My observation on playing other peoples basses with strings different to what I'm familiar with is that the string stiffness/tension aspect tends to figure as a bigger issue than sound characteristics given similar string construction, so I figure that my technique and bow are much more significant than the strings in the overall sound.

[philparker]

I've tried most - at least all the usual strings - I play in an amateur orchestra and I'm lucky enough to have more than one bass and the bass for my orchestral playing is strung with Pirastro Flexocors. The same strings have been superb for more than three years now - they bow very easily. Thomastic Belcanto's are also very good, but do not last as long. I really enjoyed Evah Weichs, but they are a 'hybrid' and if you want a good arco string that sounds better at pizz then they could be the ones for you?!

[neilp]

If you want an arco string, for me there's nothing to touch D'Addario Kaplan. Lights are just perfect on my bass. Rich, complex sound, great focus and projection and they speak easily too. I've been through Flexocor Original, Evah Pirazzi and Bel Canto but I won't be looking any further. Kaplan Lights it is, for all my bowed playing except the stuff in solo tuning. For that I use Helicore Solo - also D'Addario, and also fantastic, but totally different.

Simpleton's right though, most of the sound comes from technique

[gypsyjazzer]

Thanks guys for your replies. If anybody has a set for of Kaplan Lights or Flexocor for 3/4 bass--GDAE-- they wish  to sell forward details. Send me a PM. Thanks.

[Owen]

On 29/08/2018 at 17:57, neilp said:

Simpleton's right though, most of the sound comes from technique

Good technique can make not nice strings sound ok, but good technique and nice strings means you don't have to be thinking about your strings. This gives you headspace to count the correct amount of bars rest or try and decipher what the conductor actually wants.

[neilp]

On 31/08/2018 at 11:07, gypsyjazzer said:

Thanks guys for your replies. If anybody has a set for of Kaplan Lights or Flexocor for 3/4 bass--GDAE-- they wish  to sell forward details. Send me a PM. Thanks.

I don't have any Kaplan Lights spare, but I do have a set of Kaplan Solo, tune them to orchestra pitch and you'll get very much the same sound and feel. How do I know? I've tried it! They're in the classifieds, almost new, let me know if you want them.

Neil