Good old Weichs!

[Terry McDougal]

I've just put Spiro Weichs back on my bass. I've tried Dominants, Bel Cantos and Evas lately and they're all good. Last weekend, for reasons I won't bore you with, I finished up playing a set with a borrowed ply strung with Weichs. Bowing and pizz were required. I noticed that, high up on the G, these strings seemed to have a nice sort of clarity that came with a sort of 'bite'. I was also reminded of their nice pizz sound. A couple of days later I put a slightly used set on my bass. They still sound a little 'new', but I'm liking their honest tone. Okay, a little more care is needed to avoid scratches, but I can handle that. I think that when these strings really settle I'll be happy for a long time.
I'm also thinking of the money I've put into other strings over the last year, only to finish up back where I started.

[Eddue Johnson]

I agree that Spirocore weichs are great hybrid string, as well as the entire Spirocore family of strings. I recently started using Spiro starks and feel like they are under rated as a hybrid string. My main bass has Dominants, which are also a good hybrid string but with a completely different sound and feel.

I think one reason weichs and most other Thomastik strings are overlooked as hybrids because to get the best out of them you need the proper setup, which will be different than the standard jazz or orchestra setup. In my area, most of the jazz bassists use Thomastiks and have their basses setup with the typical low bridge height and lower tension weichs, great for pizz but requiring a lot more effort to get a good arco tone. Somewhat the opposite for orchestra players but they rarely use Spirocores around here. And I have heard many guys say that it's too hard to play 3 or 4 jazz sets a night with a bridge set at the typical arco basist's height, even when using weichs or solos, not to mention mittles or starks!

But with the right setup, on the right bass, weichs can be great hybrids.

[Ken Smith]

I say it depends on the Bass as much as the player. I have Weichs on one of my modern Italian Basses currently (G.Lombardi, 1976) and it bows kinda good. Too good to change the strings actually. I had Weich Spiros on my Bohemian bass as well (which I just sold) but that was not as deep a bass for bowing and it didn't sound quite as good but it worked. It was my Jazz instrument so I didn't care how well it bowed.

Years ago when there were ONLY Spiro Reds or Rope Core Blues (can you remember that far back?.. maybe there were solo Spiros, not sure when they came out), I used the Reds on my old Italian Bass for every thing I did. Sure, I tried some other strings and my Bass was also with me in hand the test bass/player for the Labella steels back in 1978 or so. Rotosound even made an Orchestra string that for me, was lighter tension but more of a Jaegar feel string than a Spiro. The Reds were in the middle for me so that was my go-to string that I used the most. If I had a bowing job, same bass same strings. Jazz gig, same same. So, with the Weichs out now, they make it easier to bow on lesser basses than the old classics whihc can sometimes work and sound as good with anything from pure rope to barbed wire.

One thing though I want to mention. If the strings are too flexible on your bass, when you pizz like in jazz and you start to dig in harder, you might find yourself chasing the beat as they respond slower when played hard. For that, Reds are better.

[Eddue Johnson]

That is one of the reason why I prefer higher tensioned strings. Weichs are a lot easier to play but on the faster uptempo tunes I sometimes hear myself behind the beat. It's really noticeable at times when the band is playing a song faster than it should be played.

I used to think, like many others, that Spiros were hard to bow because most bassits I knew played them pizz but not arco. Then I heard how well they sound when played properly. Then I knew the strings weren't the problem.

[Bin Hire]

The first time I played Weichs I had only played old strings on school basses. I don't know what they were.
When I first put my bow on some strings with the purple and red ends, on someone else's bass, I thought,
"This is easy!"

[Thomas Erickson]

I don't know why so many people say that spiros are bad for bowing; IMO they bow fine - just takes a little different approach is all...

Which isn't to say that spiros sound good on every bass though!