Flat-Chrome/Flat-Chromesteel?

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

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

Thank you Ken, this was very helpful. I spoke with my luthier (bass maker) the other day and he said that most of his basses work best with higher tensioned strings because he uses a fairly thick bass-bar. He recommended Flexocore Originals and a very heavy E such as Spirocore.

I currently have VELVET Compass 180 Suites on...totally different concept to flexocore. These are great sounding strings for solo playing (which i do a lot of), but for orchestra you just don't get that fundamental.

My teacher LOVED the VELVETS and begged me not to get rid of them, but I want a string that produces a bit more sound.