Lighter feeling strings?

[therealting]

I’d like to make my Eminence EUB easier to play - the action is pretty low but the strings feel stiffer to me than they do on my acoustic double bass.

Would I be right in thinking these are D’Addario Helicore Hybrids? Any suggestions on lower tension strings to try?

[Staggering on]

According to the string ID illustrations on the Gollihur site you are correct.You can tell if they are light or heavy by the colour of the ring at the pegbox-light is yellow, heavy is dark orange.

[petebassist]

The lightest strings I've used were Presto Jazzicatos. They used to mellow-out my old Stentor 1950 acoustic bass nicely, and felt soft under the 'fretting' fingers as well as being easy on the plucking hand. 

 

[tommyjamesallen]

Try some solo strings and tune them down to orchestral tuning. It can work really well.

[TheRev]

Of all the different strings I've used on my Eminence, these all felt lighter than the stock Helicore hybrid/orchestral set:

Velvet Garbos

Velvet Blues

Innovation Super Silvers 

Preston Nylon wound

Thomastik spiricore weich

Thomastik Superflexibles

Evah Pirazzi weich.

 

 

 

[therealting]

On 23/10/2018 at 19:47, TheRev said:

Of all the different strings I've used on my Eminence, these all felt lighter than the stock Helicore hybrid/orchestral set:

Velvet Garbos

Velvet Blues

Innovation Super Silvers 

Preston Nylon wound

Thomastik spiricore weich

Thomastik Superflexibles

Evah Pirazzi weich.

 

 

 

Aha, someone who has tried a bunch! Which were your favourites? I do play orchestral double bass and have had lessons, but am mainly an electric player so would rather take it easy on the RSI and let the amp do the work when possible. 

[TheRev]

For tension, I liked the Super Silvers but preferred the sound of the Evahs.

If you like an old school sound, then the Super Silver's will do the job. If you want a more focussed sound then go for the Evahs.

[Happy Jack]

On 23/10/2018 at 19:47, TheRev said:

Of all the different strings I've used on my Eminence, these all felt lighter than the stock Helicore hybrid/orchestral set:

Velvet Garbos

Velvet Blues

Innovation Super Silvers 

Preston Nylon wound

Thomastik spiricore weich

Thomastik Superflexibles

Evah Pirazzi weich.

 

 

 

Strewth mate! How did you manage to go through seven sets of strings on one DB?

I've had the same Silver Slaps on mine for six years ... they were on there when I bought it from Clarky. 

[TheRev]

31 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Strewth mate! How did you manage to go through seven sets of strings on one DB?

I've had the same Silver Slaps on mine for six years ... they were on there when I bought it from Clarky. 

Easy, a combination of money and unrealistic expectations.

[TheRev]

That's not even the full list, just the ones that I felt were lighter than Helicores.

[therealting]

On 23/10/2018 at 18:56, tommyjamesallen said:

Try some solo strings and tune them down to orchestral tuning. It can work really well.

How floppy do they get? Just seen that @benbastin has a solo set of Kaplans in the Classifieds...

[benbastin]

Broadly speaking it's like tuning your current strings down a tone. 

Solo strings are engineered to give you a similar feeling string when tuned a tone above EADG. 

So to give you an idea if the feel is where you want to go try tuning down a tone (DGCF) and it will give you a ball park idea. 

Then come buy these strings off me

[therealting]

Thanks guys. Wondered if you’d know what strings these are on my acoustic upright. The colours suggest D’Addario Prelude from Bob Gollihur’s site, but I’m not sure if these are metal stranded - does that look like synthetic gut at the tailpiece to you?

I might actually swap the strings over on them to see how they feel. 

Edited October 30, 2018 by therealting

[TheRev]

Yep, looks like synthetic core to me.

 

[therealting]

The colour coding looks like D’Addario, but the Preludes are stranded steel not gut - could they be another brand?

[TheRev]

Do they have ball ends or are they knotted behind the tailpiece?

 

 

[therealting]

10 hours ago, TheRev said:

Do they have ball ends or are they knotted behind the tailpiece?

 

 

Looks like knots to me!

Edited October 31, 2018 by therealting

[TheRev]

I thought they might have been Obligatos but they have ball ends (and the silks are wrong anyway...)

 

So you've got a set of metal wrapped synthetic gut strings - that might narrow the search down?

[therealting]

I emailed Gollihur and they say they’ve never seen them before! Solid core with a knot, steel wrap... their guess is an early version or prototype of Innovation Honeys.

I played my upright acoustically yesterday with a mid-size jazz band and struggled to pull volume out of it during faster passages. Might have to work on that technique.

In the meantime of purchased @spencer.b’s set of Cordes Lambert GT-47s to try on the Eminence, curious to see what they are like. 

[therealting]

My Cordes Lamberts arrived today, so I immediately tried to string up my Eminence with them and found that they are too big for the tuning machines 😕

What I did do was swap the Helicore Hybrids on my acoustic with the mystery synthetics on the Eminence... and it appears to have brought both to life and made both easier to play. Very peculiar! Will keep an eye on this space obviously, but just might do the job for now...

[Billleivers]

I use Spirocore Solos and tune to concert. Low tension, dead easy to play but still retain the Spirocore sound