High, Medium or Low Tension ..

[MJJS]

Hi All,

I've just purchased my first starter DoubleBass. Its in very good condition and has an adjustable bridge and a fishman pickup. I want to put a decent set of strings on it and am looking at the D'Addario Helicore range. But, what tension should I go for? I intend to play mainly piz. At this stage, I don't even have a bow.

Thanks.

[bassace]

Assuming you get an enthusiastic response, and you probably will here on BC, you'll get a whole raft of opinions/preferences with regard to strings. But will others' preferences be relevant. When I started many years ago there wasn't too much choice and I fitted Spiro mids and resolved that if these did a reasonable job I'd never get sidetracked into trying other strings. And I have stayed that way. And as a beginner could I venture that your choice is not too important with regard to manufacturer. As you develop you will understand the instrument better and you might find where shortcomings are in your strings and use that as a basis for choosing another make that will compensate.

I would not recommend a hard grade under any circumstances. A soft grade would certainly favour a starter but if your action is low you'd better be sure that your fingerboard has the right degree of relief - by that I mean that its profile has to be correctly planed so the strings don't clack on it. You choice of Fishman, I assume it's a Full Circle, is a good one.

Good luck with your bass/set up. At times your setup/specification can lead to periodic frustrations initially, but ultimately you'll be rewarded.

[TheRev]

As a starting point, I don't think you can go wrong with Spirocore Weich. Nice easy playable tension but without losing note definition on the E string. If you decide you don't like them, you'll have no problem selling them on.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

Regardless of which brand/type you choose to go for, it's probably a good idea to get light tension - it takes time to build good technique and develope the strength in your fingers and build those callouses.

Worth having a think about whether learning to play with the bow or rockabilly style slapping is of interest to you, because some strings do pizz and arco but not really slap friendly for a learner, and others are better for pizz and slap but not so easy to bow.

Most important is enjoy your DB adventure, there is a lot you can influence about the sound you make by how you play regardless of what strings you end up choosing.

[D'AddarioUK]

[quote name='MJJS' timestamp='1447702615' post='2909675']
Hi All,

I've just purchased my first starter DoubleBass. Its in very good condition and has an adjustable bridge and a fishman pickup. I want to put a decent set of strings on it and am looking at the D'Addario Helicore range. But, what tension should I go for? I intend to play mainly piz. At this stage, I don't even have a bow.

Thanks.
[/quote]

Hi MJJS,

We produce two types of string that may interest you in the Helicore range. Firstly the Helicore pizzicato if you will primarily be playing pizz, we also do hybrid strings if you're playing a mix of pizz and arco. As for tension we tend to recommend going with medium tension as a starting point.

Thanks,

[Hector]

I can recommend Helicore Hybrid Mediums, (and Zyex mediums on the G/D if you want to get fancy). I'm very happy with that setup both pizz and arco.

[MJJS]

Well, thanks for the comments. Looks like med/low as opposed to high as a start.

I use D'Addario on all my fretless - hence starting my search there.