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Old 01-22-2009, 08:09 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Join Date: 01-18-2007
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Cool compared..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvin Marks View Post
Hey Ken. How did the FCS fair to the 92's?
They are thinner and brighter. The 92s are extremely smooth. The FCSs bowed well but I believe the lighter gauge helps in that.

For lighter, I would go with 92s Solo but use the normal gauge E if your Bass has problems with floppy Es.

I had 92s with a regular Ext. E/C on my Hart Bass for over a year and the E was just fine on that Bass. A few days ago I put a new set of Belcantos to try and the Ext. E/C is huge. About .110 or so as compared to about .105/stark 92 or .100/reg.92 ext. The non-ext 92 is about .97, lighter than the longer ones.

On my Hart, both the heavy E and the regular A of the Belcanto set seems a bit taught on that Bass. I guess that's good if you dig in real hard. I haven't had to on that Bass.

I find that some Basses can take almost any string and others are not so 'string-friendly'. When it comes to matching strings, value, cost or vintage of a Bass does not come into play as much as the individual bass itself.

With a new Bass which I think is what you are working with to match up, playing it in with a slightly heavier string for a year or two might be best to open it up. Some things take time to adjust within themelves.

I have to play this program next month. First I had to choose which Bass (Martini, Gilkes or Hart) of mine worked best for what I have to play. Then which bow for that Bass and just a few days ago, I put the Bel's on. The 92s were well over a year old so any new bowing string would sound smoother. I will leave the Bel's on for a bit but I was thinking of some kind of Solo set tuned Orchestra. Maybe not.. Choosing a bass was confusing enough. It took way too much time away from my practicing. After I made my final choice (and I mean FINAL as I picked each Bass once or more before), I covered up the other two because looking at them would make me want to switch every other day..

If you want a string that bows almost as good as the 92s but don't mind them a bit brighter and maybe thinner feeling under the fingers, then the FCSs are a very good quality string. What I like about them mose is the color at the ball end. Bright burgundy red over white silk.. Classy
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