Spirocore Red's, Orchestral ??

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer

I get it. When I was a classical bass student I also played jazz, lounge and wedding gigs, so I had reds on my bass. (Back then there were really only 2 or 3 metal string choices.) My arco teacher was constantly on my case to get those "chainsaws" off my bass. But I developed decent enough bow technique to pull a reasonable sound. However, compared to modern damped arco strings like BelCanto or Kaplan or Flexicor, Spiros can be very tricky for someone who did not start out with them.

When I had my old Czech/German bass in the early '70s, my friend Victor Venegas told me I needed Flexocors to Bow as I was using Red's. So, I got them (they were like the 92s, reddish/maroon silk) and they sounded dead on my bass with Pizz so, I took them off and stayed with Red's. My next bass and basses I got one after another, my WBW Wilfer from Juzek, Bernardel and Tirol, ALL with Red's and I learned the Dragonetti, Eccles and all my classical training with these basses. In 1973/4 I got my old Italian, selling off the other basses in the process one by one, the old Czech gone first, I put the Reds on the Italian and never looked back. I sometimes tried other strings later on like Rotosouns synthetic Orchestra strings, no longer made but similar in my mind to Obligatos and later the Labella steels for Orchestra which I helped in the testing developments but, always went back to Reds. Homer Mensch had a mix of Spiros on his Italian, with regular, weich and solos to make up his set when that bass came to sale. So, I did see at least one other bowing professional using Sriros.

My only concern here is how they will sound on my bass, the Hart. I have no problem bowing them but, the sound they have is what they have. That, I can't change. I do however want to find out if or how many people currently use then for Orchestra regardless of where they are in the world. For Pizz, I have been able to play Jazz on just about any of my basses with all sorts of Bowing strings. Maybe it's my set-up or my technique or what I like to hear but I am a one string per bass kinda guy. What ever is on the bass, I do everything with.