New String from D'Addario and it's Good!

[Arnold Schnitzer]

At the recent ISB, D'Addario was showing off a new string which is close to coming to market. It did not hurt my feelings that my client Kurt Muroki was using his Ergonomic #4 as the Beta tester. Kurt is the professional who is consulting with D'Addario to create these strings. I've now heard/played them on two basses, and I have to say that I am impressed. To me they have a similar warmth and response to BelCantos, but with more bite. There are some minor issues they need to work out, and then they will hit the market, ostensibly under the "Kaplan" name. If they are successful, I for one will be happy to use strings made in the U.S.A. Stay tuned...

[Ken Smith]

At the recent ISB, D'Addario was showing off a new string which is close to coming to market. It did not hurt my feelings that my client Kurt Muroki was using his Ergonomic #4 as the Beta tester. Kurt is the professional who is consulting with D'Addario to create these strings. I've now heard/played them on two basses, and I have to say that I am impressed. To me they have a similar warmth and response to BelCantos, but with more bite. There are some minor issues they need to work out, and then they will hit the market, ostensibly under the "Kaplan" name. If they are successful, I for one will be happy to use strings made in the U.S.A. Stay tuned...

Sounds interesting. Hopefully they will be made more consistently than the current Helicore. This is not to say the Helicore's are bad. Just that you never know what to expect until you put them on a bass and play it. Maybe while they are at it, they can fix what they already have. Did that come up in discussion as well when you spoke with them?

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Sounds interesting. Hopefully they will be made more consistently then the current Helicore. This is not to say the Helicore's are bad. Just that you never know what to expect until you put them on a bass and play it. Maybe while they are at it, they can fix what they already have. Did that come up in discussion as well when you spoke with them?Yes it did. The rep said they are aware of inconsistencies with the Helicores and are addressing better quality control. Reading between the lines, it seems the Helicores are being relegated to the student market and the new strings are being aimed at professionals.

[Eric Hochberg]

Yes it did. The rep said they are aware of inconsistencies with the Helicores and are addressing better quality control.

This has been going on for many years now. I ended my endorsement of them as I never knew if a new set would be good. They were actually quite good when they first came out with a useable "jazz" string (before their hybrid and pizz line), but they seemed to decline in quality pretty rapidly. Passing inconsistent strings off to students doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

I played a Zyex strung bass at ISB and thought they felt and sounded good on that bass. I played and heard Kurt's bass and liked the strings and love the bass.