Spirocore Red's, Orchestral ??

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Originally Posted by Bin Hire

Sorry Arnold, I really respect your great experience but, I have bowed spiro reds and they didn't seem particularly hard to bow. Mind you, I must be honest and say that I have never had a set on my own bass. Maybe it is time to try them?

I get it. When I was a classical bass student I also played jazz, lounge and wedding gigs, so I had reds on my bass. (Back then there were really only 2 or 3 metal string choices.) My arco teacher was constantly on my case to get those "chainsaws" off my bass. But I developed decent enough bow technique to pull a reasonable sound. However, compared to modern damped arco strings like BelCanto or Kaplan or Flexicor, Spiros can be very tricky for someone who did not start out with them.

[Alex Verbree]

I use spirocore lower strings on my Upton, And I enjoy them (classical playing). at first, they were very bright, but they have now calmed down a bit. I have a personal preference for using brighter strings on the bottom to help with low range definition, so they suit me just fine, and in terms of bowing i have no difficulty, and i don't consider myself to have the most fantastic of bow arms.


just my $0.02


alex

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Alex Verbree

I use spirocore lower strings on my Upton, And I enjoy them (classical playing). at first, they were very bright, but they have now calmed down a bit. I have a personal preference for using brighter strings on the bottom to help with low range definition, so they suit me just fine, and in terms of bowing i have no difficulty, and i don't consider myself to have the most fantastic of bow arms.


just my $0.02


alex

One day a new sub comes into the section with a smallish old dark varnished Italian bass and I looked over at his strings. G/D Flex (? 92 or orig) and E/A Spiros. They sounded fine. A year or so earlier another guy with a large Italian had Flex g/d/a and Red Spiro Ext. E/C. Last year I had a bass in here with 3 Orig Flex and a Solo Spiro (red/yellow) ext. E/C.

So, I have seen them in use on the bottom and in mixed sets but rarely have I seem them recently with all Reds.

[Scott Pope]

Ken, I didn't mean to be off topic. Your main question: the difference in feel between the 3/4 and the 4/4 Spiro mittels: according to the numbers, the 3/4 3885 set, on a @106 cm mensure bass, compared to the 4/4 S42 set strung on the same bass, might feel a little bit stiffer, but hardly noticable, assuming the bass is setup with the proper overlength to the tailpiece, and the pegbox geometry being able accomodate either string.

I only posted the numbers to get a broader perspective, and to remind everyone about all the current different choices now available for Spiros.

Thank you very, very much for the history of the reverse stagger tuners. I've also swapped out which string goes to which tuner to lessen the stress on the E string break over the nut and to better seat the G string to avoid "twang" as well.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Scott Pope

Ken, I didn't mean to be off topic. Your main question: the difference in feel between the 3/4 and the 4/4 Spiro mittels: according to the numbers, the 3/4 3885 set, on a @106 cm mensure bass, compared to the 4/4 S42 set strung on the same bass, might feel a little bit stiffer, but hardly noticable, assuming the bass is setup with the proper overlength to the tailpiece, and the pegbox geometry being able accomodate either string.

I only posted the numbers to get a broader perspective, and to remind everyone about all the current different choices now available for Spiros.

Thank you very, very much for the history of the reverse stagger tuners. I've also swapped out which string goes to which tuner to lessen the stress on the E string break over the nut and to better seat the G string to avoid "twang" as well.

I thought the main question was the Bowing of the Reds in Orchestra. The tension between 3/4 or 4/4 sets do not matter all that much. Why would one buy strings too long or short for his bass? Plus, each bass has different tensions as well so I am not really concerned with the String numbers as the bass and its set-up will matter more.

Also, I am glad to see you had some positive results moving the strings to different gears. I also think it helps to open up the sound a bit when lengthening the E-string up to the A-string Post.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer

I get it. When I was a classical bass student I also played jazz, lounge and wedding gigs, so I had reds on my bass. (Back then there were really only 2 or 3 metal string choices.) My arco teacher was constantly on my case to get those "chainsaws" off my bass. But I developed decent enough bow technique to pull a reasonable sound. However, compared to modern damped arco strings like BelCanto or Kaplan or Flexicor, Spiros can be very tricky for someone who did not start out with them.

When I had my old Czech/German bass in the early '70s, my friend Victor Venegas told me I needed Flexocors to Bow as I was using Red's. So, I got them (they were like the 92s, reddish/maroon silk) and they sounded dead on my bass with Pizz so, I took them off and stayed with Red's. My next bass and basses I got one after another, my WBW Wilfer from Juzek, Bernardel and Tirol, ALL with Red's and I learned the Dragonetti, Eccles and all my classical training with these basses. In 1973/4 I got my old Italian, selling off the other basses in the process one by one, the old Czech gone first, I put the Reds on the Italian and never looked back. I sometimes tried other strings later on like Rotosouns synthetic Orchestra strings, no longer made but similar in my mind to Obligatos and later the Labella steels for Orchestra which I helped in the testing developments but, always went back to Reds. Homer Mensch had a mix of Spiros on his Italian, with regular, weich and solos to make up his set when that bass came to sale. So, I did see at least one other bowing professional using Sriros.

My only concern here is how they will sound on my bass, the Hart. I have no problem bowing them but, the sound they have is what they have. That, I can't change. I do however want to find out if or how many people currently use then for Orchestra regardless of where they are in the world. For Pizz, I have been able to play Jazz on just about any of my basses with all sorts of Bowing strings. Maybe it's my set-up or my technique or what I like to hear but I am a one string per bass kinda guy. What ever is on the bass, I do everything with.