Sonic Differences

[Abe Gumroyan]

Hi guys,

I am a long time original flexocor user. I love the strings on my Prescott however I am toying with the idea of using original flatchromes. Is there a big difference in sound/playability between these two strings ?... Im also curious about using a permanent E for my extension ?... any suggestions

Abe

[Calvin Marks]

You should PM Ken Smith, this guy gives SOUND advice. Seriously, I took all of his information and I found that Flexocore 92's and Original Flexocores sounded best on my bass. I chose the Originals because I liked the more powerful and slightly brighter sound. Flat-chromes are brighter than Orig. Flexocores.

edit: flat-chromes = orig. flat-chromes.

[Ken Smith]

Calvin, do you mean FCs or Orig FCs. You have to be clear here on that because they are completely different.

The Original Flatchromes are the re-make (attempted) of the older Eudoxa steels where were packaged as Eudoxa 'flatchrome'. The other Eudoxa available then and still now (not sure if they are identical now) are the Eudoxa Gut Core.

For darkest to brightest, this is what I think they are to my ear at least will all that has been mentioned.

Flex 92s (the Stark E or E/C works better on some basses)
Original FCs (when the break in)
Orig Flex (maybe deeper when broken in but the E is thuddy)
Perms
FCs

On the Ext. choice with the Flex 92s, if you can't find the stark E, call me. I have some for sale. If not, the Orig FC would be a better tome match then the Perm. The Perms I tried one on the bottom after broken had more power than the 92s. Newer sets were too bright. This is a hit and miss in my book.

On my Martini I have 92s with a Stark E/C. On my Gilkes I have Orig Flex with the OLD Eudoxa/Flatchrome steel E/C. I had this old Eudoxa on the Martini as well for awhile but needed it to match the Orig Flexs (g-a) I took off another bass. My Hart had a straight set of 92s but after a year or so felt a little scratchy under the bow. The 92 reg E/C worked just fine on that bass bowed and fast response but Pizz felt a bit soft. Now I have Belcantos on the hart and the E/C although beefier than the regular E seems a bit too big. I would have liked to try the Bel E/C in the older gauge but that's not available as the feedback from the Luthiers that tested the strings caused Thomastic to make it bigger. The Evahs are another choice to consider. I had them on the Gilkes once. My friend had the bass out on trial awhile back and thought the the G and D were not ringing enough so he put 92s on top. I thought the set was just fine as-is. Same bass and strings and two different players with two different opinions.

This string business on double basses, You just can't win..:(