This Friday is the last day to enter the April raffle for a free Upton Bass Revolution Solo pickup. We don’t have a ton of entries at present, so if you enter then your odds are really good that you’ll get that pickup.
The topic is simple–share with us what your favorite brand of string is at present… and why? Submit your comments (a paragraph or two is fine) at the following URL (with a valid email address so that I can contact you if you win–no spam!) by the end of Friday, April 39:
http://doublebassblog.org/2010/03/bass-blog-raffle-topic-for-april-2010.html
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Its so expensive to buy a set of strings and just not get on with them and I think I must have tried them all ! I am really lucky to have a great luthier friend who repairs and makes double basses who also knows his Pirastros from his Helicores, Spirocors and D’Addarios ….. second hand strings have been in plentiful supply and the perfect way to get to grips with strings.
After trying out various cheaper strings to see if there was a cost effective way of getting good quality( and there are loads of them around) I discovered just how important good quality strings really are …..they make such a difference to the feel, tone and playability of the instrument.
I experimented with the Pirastro Original Flexocor strings snaffled from a classical instrument in for repair but for me as a Jazz player, they just thump in a muffled kind of way particulary on fast passages and low tones. For my style of playing they just dont have that bright pizzicato sound and are pretty high tension too. They do sound pretty good with a bow and so I imagine are well liked by orchestral players ….just dont give me the sound or feel that I need under the fingers.
I got on pretty well with my luthier friends suggestion ( which he made from day 1 !!) getting fitted up with Pirastro Obligatos – they give you that nimbleness of lower tension strings and sound really full , clear and good for Jazz and bowing. I would have these on my bass but….. when I tried Spirocore ….what a difference!I just knew that these where the perfect match for me for the instrument, the music. They just sing, with a beautiful large bright sound, powerful full of sustain !
The change to Spiros was so important and guys I play with suddenly said how much my playing had improved the minute I got the Spirocores on ….maybe before then I was most definately probabaly seen as a bit of bad workman blaming his tools. But the right set of strings makes an incredible difference !