Spirocore Red's, Orchestral ??

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

The Kaplans are off! (sorry, used a Smilie - out of character)
Well, here's my dilema. I have EP weichs on and have a recording to do in about four weeks. The EPs will do the job nicely, but I also want to get a string that will bow faster. Ken, I was hoping that you'd be really happy with the Kaplans and, perhaps, suggest that they were also a reasonable pizz string. I don't have time to count on breaking in Reds - it takes about two weeks here to get strings from Lemur music and, because of the internet string thing, most music shops aren't carrying DB strings. There is a guy in Auckland but he charges an arm and a ley; anyway, it's almost as quick to get strings from the US of A.
So, how did you feel about the Kaplans overall? Do they handle fast bowing - say as in Monti's Czardas; and what is their pizz feel like?
I wait in anticipation.

Richard, I did Beethoven's 9th with the them, New World Symphony and a Pop's concert doing mostly Pizz and all the Amp work in the section while the other 3 basses just watched for a good part of the tunes I was amp'ed. Three concerts, three different orchestras, same bass (Hart) and same strings (Kaplans). Bows? Lipkins on the 9th but don't remember what I used on the others. Maybe the Mattei for the Pops that I hardly bowed on and probably but can't remember, the Lipkins on the New World.

I think I gave them a real good workout and test. Find a copy of the 9th and see how fast some of the parts are. I think the Kaplans did just fine. If not, they would have come off the bass as soon as they went on.