16 replies to this topic

[baboom]

Just fired on some silver slaps (well, the violin shop did) and am loving them. They replaced metal flats that came with the bass.

Two queries
1. The D string is a bit more yellow than the others - any particular reason?
2. How long does it take to settle down the tuning. It's getting better after three hours jamming at a local acoustic session.

[daflewis]

baboom, on Aug 17 2011, 12:42 AM, said:

Just fired on some silver slaps (well, the violin shop did) and am loving them. They replaced metal flats that came with the bass.

Two queries
1. The D string is a bit more yellow than the others - any particular reason?
2. How long does it take to settle down the tuning. It's getting better after three hours jamming at a local acoustic session.

Hi Baboom,

Glad you're liking the Silver Slaps! They should settle down pretty quickly, within a day or so as a rule, as the core material doesn't stretch much.... (though there are other factors that can effect this like how neatly they've been wound on to the tuning pegs and whether the nut and/or bridge have been widened to take the strings and/or lubricated with graphite, i.e. just rubbed with pencil lead).

As for your question about the D being more yellow; you've got me there! but I've emailed the factory, so should have an answer for you later today with a bit of luck....

Just out of interest, are you a slapper, or do you just like the low tension?

Cheers,
Daf

Edited by daflewis, 17 August 2011 - 11:19 AM.

[daflewis]

Hi again,

Got a reply from Tony this morning - "The reason the D string is that colour is there is bronze wire showing through the outer layer, we try and get the G+D strings to look similar to gut"

Cheers,
Daf

Edited by daflewis, 17 August 2011 - 09:13 AM.

[Clarky]

daflewis, on Aug 17 2011, 10:12 AM, said:

Hi again,

Got a reply from Tony this morning - "The reason the D string is that colour is there is bronze wire showing through the outer layer, we try and get the G+D strings to look similar to gut"

Cheers,
Daf

Being dumb here but I thought SS's were entirely synthetic, hence they cannot be used with mag pickups. This imples there is metal core?

[PaulKing]

Clarky, on Aug 17 2011, 12:21 PM, said:

Being dumb here but I thought SS's were entirely synthetic, hence they cannot be used with mag pickups. This imples there is metal core?

There is a fine metal wire adding weight (I presume) to the winding. I was amazed to find a signal coming from a mag pickup on an old EUB I had strung with Innovation Rockabillies.
I'm not sure it was enough to rely on, but it was there.

[baboom]

Wow, informative stuff. Thanks for the super quick responses Daf and Paul.

As to why I went for these, it is a bit of both. One of things that attracted me to the silver slaps was the generally positive response in reviews and that people thought they were a good all-rounder, i.e. in addition to working well for slap you could play pizz and I saw someone even claim arco was acceptable. Seemed like a good bet for someone still working out their preferences. The stuff I'm playing benefits from a bit of slap here and there. Also, I've been keeping an eye on my wrists and having low tension strings seemed like a bit of a no-brainer to help avoid hurting them (in addition to sorting technique etc). I've got a three-gigs-in-three-days weekend coming up mid sept, so for me at this early stage, that is a lot of playing in quick succession and it seemed like it was worth making the jump to strings that would suit the style of music better and be easier on the body.

Cheers
Tim

[daflewis]

Hi Clarky,
The G string on the silver slaps is totally synthetic - just the core which is yellow and a nylon coating, but the D has some metal wraps so the bronze wire is there to colour the string to match the G (as well as add some weight as Paul mentioned).

One of the things that has been requested a lot is a silver slap set that would work with a magnetic pickup, but Tony has told me that because of the fact that there are no wraps on the G string it's going to be tough. However, we're going to try and work out something....

Baboom, thanks for that - I'm going to have to try the slaps with a bow and see what they're like... Please let me know how you get on with them on your gigs in September if you get a chance.

Cheers,
Daf

Edited by daflewis, 17 August 2011 - 11:44 PM.

[PaulKing]

I'm not a bower but ... I've read quite a bit about Silverslap/Supersilver tending to roll under the bow.
Somethig to do with all windings going in same direction maybe?

[daflewis]

PaulKing, on Aug 19 2011, 07:55 AM, said:

I'm not a bower but ... I've read quite a bit about Silverslap/Supersilver tending to roll under the bow.
Somethig to do with all windings going in same direction maybe?

Hmmm... I really need to check these out - I'm surprised how many people seem to use them as an all round string. in fact, i'm going to go and put them on my spare bass now!

Edited by daflewis, 21 August 2011 - 07:28 PM.

[baboom]

Had my first gig with the silver slaps at the free fringe, Edinburgh, in the Phoenix Bar, Sunday night. Unfortunately, my iphone did that classic trick of being unable to play the voice memo I had recorded so no sample is available. Nonetheless I really enjoyed the strings.

I also rescued my bow from my old flat and had a shot at arco in the house. It was a lot of fun (I even had a lapsed grade 8 cellist helping out) but as I cannot compare to other strings I shall not hazard an opinion other than that I thought the tone sounded pretty alright when I managed to get the bowing approximately right.

[owen]

baboom, on Aug 23 2011, 03:20 PM, said:

I also rescued my bow from my old flat and had a shot at arco in the house. It was a lot of fun (I even had a lapsed grade 8 cellist helping out)

'cellists - wanabee bassists, every last one of them. Talk about denial!

[thisnameistaken]

I tried bowing my silver slaps but I didn't like the sound. The G in particular was too reedy and weak-sounding.

They are good for everything else though.

[baboom]

owen, on 06 September 2011 - 08:10 PM, said:

'cellists - wanabee bassists, every last one of them. Talk about denial!

Haha, brilliant!

[baboom]

thisnameistaken, on 07 September 2011 - 08:53 AM, said:

I tried bowing my silver slaps but I didn't like the sound. The G in particular was too reedy and weak-sounding.

They are good for everything else though.

Interesting, don't feel so bad now about my attempt!

Having said that, I saw someone say somewhere they needed to re-rosin their bow every 10-15min for these strings.

A colleague played bass for 30 years and says he has the bees knees in terms of really sticky rosin (I have some fairly plasticky stuff) so I may well try this again when the "good" rosin comes out!

I'm not thinking of doing very much arco with them at all... but curious mainly....

Edited by baboom, 14 October 2011 - 12:56 AM.

[daflewis]

Quote

A colleague played bass for 30 years and says he has the bees knees in terms of really sticky rosin (I have some fairly plasticky stuff) so I may well try this again when the "good" rosin comes out!

I wonder - was it Nymans by any chance? - seems pretty much "industry standard" these days!

Hi Baboom,
the slaps are a bit "reedy" as you say under the bow - and actually, real gut strings can have a similar characteristic, but as the name implies, that wasn't really what they were designed for ! - I've actually been really surprised by what a good pizz sound they have - a little more "air" in the sound and "click" in the attack. i haven't tried them on a gig yet though - I'm still getting used to the feel of the much thicker gauge.

[rockabillybob1]

use them for what they were intended lovely deep rockabilly sound on the bass side and a crackin click and you wont go far wrong

[daflewis]

amen...

PM replied to btw Bob - sorry it took a while - all my message and thread notifications seem to have stopped....!