Sonore strings

[Andreas Henningsson]

Hey, Joel! You can listen to the Sonore Corax here.

Gerlod was one of the founders of the Velvet string company. I think he took off to start his own business when they stopped making guts.

[Anselm Hauke]

Originally Posted by Joel Larsson

Ah, one of those... like a Stradivarius bass.

but, despite of being no nürnberger, its a good ca. 60 years old mittenwälder bow.
it was my main bow till i switched to my next main bow

[Anselm Hauke]

hey joel and andreas
so much time for posting on a saturday at 20:00, don´t you have a gig?


ooops, ok, what about me...

[Joel Larsson]

My motto is that time and money are no problems.

I guess I could apply for scholarships or something. But, nah.

Andreas; thanks. They sound like something you could use, considering your strange string preferences.
I am mostly interested in his Orchestrals and Red Labels. I hope he'll bring some of the latter to the course in March. Gut core is nice for orchestral playing but I have yet to play one that carries the power of a rope/steel/whatever all the way up above the FB.

[Anselm Hauke]

Originally Posted by Joel Larsson

...I have yet to play one that carries the power of a rope/steel/whatever all the way up above the FB.

have you tried oliv?

[Joel Larsson]

Yes, I had Oliv G and D and Eudoxa A and E for a while. Lovely orchestral strings, but I had to get other G and D's. The Olivs got all hoarse even before thumb position, and also had a tendency to stretch out when I played Koussevitzky, for instance. That is, they droppped in pitch, as much as a half note. But it was no idea to tune them on the run; if I'd let them be for a couple of minute they'd get back in tune. If I had made an attempt at tuning them up as the pitch went down, I'd end up one half note too high. VERY uncomfortable.
They could probably work for a classical concerto, for instance, but I soon got myself a couple of steel strings instead. I might get back to them the day I don't have to study any more.

[Andreas Henningsson]

Joel,
have you ever considered a full set of Eudoxas? But they really cost a fortune... And maybe they would behave similar to the Oliv?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Andreas Henningsson

Joel,
have you ever considered a full set of Eudoxas? But they really cost a fortune... And maybe they would behave similar to the Oliv?

I'm sorry but are these for Bowing or Pizz? Your usage I mean..

Both the Oliv's and Eudoxa's are Gut Core wrapped with flat metal. Silver or chrome steel doesn't matter. The fact remains that Gut stretched and metal does not. Also, the metal is wrapped around the string at an angle so when pulled over a bridge or nut, the windings can be pulled apart. This happens with all strings that I have seen but with Gut in the core, it is just a matter of time, sooner rather than later.

I have used a full set of Olivs as well as Oliv G/D withe Eudoxa A/E. They were shorter lived than any other string I can recall. The sound was fantastic and a dream to bow. The full set of Olivs on the bottom were not so easy to get a sound out of. I had them on my Martini which is a fairly dark sounding bass so not the best match there.

The Olivs are thicker in the Core than the Eudoxas and get to sounding a little choked in the upper positions. I do not recall ever playing the Eudoxa G or D. Maybe I should, you think? With an Extension E/C? Maybe my big old mystery bass will feel at home with them..

For me, in place of Guts or Gut wound string, I prefer the Evah's for durability and gut-like qualities, the good qualities of the Guts. They feel great under the fingers and pump out a nice sound with the Bow. The Belcantos are another good choice with slightly metallic sounding and less colorful. They do however bow fantastic and are quite loud and direct sounding.

[Andreas Henningsson]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I'm sorry but are these for Bowing or Pizz? Your usage I mean..

The Olivs are thicker in the Core than the Eudoxas and get to sounding a little choked in the upper positions. I do not recall ever playing the Eudoxa G or D. Maybe I should, you think? With an Extension E/C? Maybe my big old mystery bass will feel at home with them..

I'm talking arco here.

That's what I meant; the thinner core of the Eudoxa might have an advance in higher positions.

[Joel Larsson]

Yes, well, if somebody threw me an Eudoxa G I would be happy to try it. But I wouldn't buy them under the impression that they'd make great strings for solo arco playing. Someday I hope I'll be in a position where it's reasonable to focus on my orchestral sound, and where money is no issue any more, but for now, I'll stick to the cheaper stuff that actually sounds better for classical solo playing. I have a Bel Canto set that got stuck in the Norwegian customs... thought they'd be good for both solo and orchestra. But apparently I need a Norwegian ID number or something. This sucks.

Got to say, by the way, that the Eudoxas really do stay in tune, in case somebody ever doubted it. I get impressed from time to time, when my Orig Flats have dropped half a note but my A and E stay in tune just fine.

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Andreas Henningsson

I'm talking arco here.

That's what I meant; the thinner core of the Eudoxa might have an advance in higher positions.

I have an old set of Eudoxa's on my second instrument. They're wonderful strings that bow extremely well. The sound starts to get choked once you reach the 2nd octave D on the G string...So no, you most certainly cannot solo on these strings...They're purely orchestral or jazz strings, and they're marvelous.

[Joel Larsson]

Originally Posted by Anselm Hauke

but, despite of being no nürnberger, its a good ca. 60 years old mittenwälder bow.
it was my main bow till i switched to my next main bow

When I bought the F. Günter Hoyer bow from his son Matthias (and grandson, too, who had just taken up his ancestor's profession - love family businesses!) he (Matthias) told me that his father (the actual F. Günter) made bows for Nürnberger back in the day. The guy was born in 1926, so it might very well be a bow from before he inherited his father's workshop, or got the master's degree, or something. But perhaps you already knew this. Anyways, this F. Günter is still going strong, well past 80 as he is... and I love the bow I got, and, if the same guy did yours, I can see why you waited until now to get another.

Anyways, on the subject of Sonore, now that I've met Herr Genssler and seen him in action, I can see why you won't have to look any further after you've brought your bass to his shop and gotten a set. His Gut cores actually sound great in ALL position - fancy that!! - and the two year warranty makes it worth the money, considering the fact that a normal set of Eudoxas seem to last for, like, three months. He even almost succeeded in satisfying Thomas Martin, which according to Mr. Martin himself, is a very difficult thing to do. Too bad I don't live in Berlin...

[Andreas Henningsson]

So, did you purchase them?

[Nathan Parker]

So, do you have to bring him your bass to get strings from him? Or, can you just order them?

Not that I am going to. Good lord they are expensive. But, that two year warranty seems pretty sweet. Considering that I burn through 2 sets a year, typically, that might not be such a bad deal.

[Joel Larsson]

Andreas, dude, I'm BROKE!! I ain't getting a set of Sonores anytime in the foreseeable future... but someday...
Plus, I didn't bring my own bass to the course. And Nathan, well, he wants to custom make the strings for you. Maybe you can talk him into producing a set based on your bass' measurements, but while I have no doubt that his strings will nevertheless be the best you have ever played, I think you'll miss out the best part if you don't take your bass to him - which is, trying all his promo sets until finally settling for the best of the best, knowing that your own set will be even better.

Just thought I'd let folks know that I have had a set of Mr. Genssler's TWINE model strings on my bass for about 3 weeks now. They are all wound gut core strings. Not sure what the windings are - in fact they appear to be different for different strings.

First of all I'll say that dealing with Mr. Genssler has been fantastic. When I expressed interest in his strings, he searched out recordings of my playing and made recommendations to me based on what he heard and what he knew about my work. After going back and forth a few times, the TWINEs were the model he thought would be best for me, so I took the leap...

The strings are really really great. The arco sound is rich, warm and clear through the whole range of the bass. This is the first time I've used gut core strings, and I was surprised that they are quite thin (pretty similar dimension to spirocore weichs, for instance). They feel really nice under my fingers.

Pizz they are growly and have lots of sustain.

My only complaint is that arco the open strings don't want to start very cleanly. This has been improving as the strings settle in and as I get a better feel for how they respond to the bow.

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Brian Roessler

Just thought I'd let folks know that I have had a set of Mr. Genssler's TWINE model strings on my bass for about 3 weeks now. They are all wound gut core strings. Not sure what the windings are - in fact they appear to be different for different strings.

First of all I'll say that dealing with Mr. Genssler has been fantastic. When I expressed interest in his strings, he searched out recordings of my playing and made recommendations to me based on what he heard and what he knew about my work. After going back and forth a few times, the TWINEs were the model he thought would be best for me, so I took the leap...

The strings are really really great. The arco sound is rich, warm and clear through the whole range of the bass. This is the first time I've used gut core strings, and I was surprised that they are quite thin (pretty similar dimension to spirocore weichs, for instance). They feel really nice under my fingers.

Pizz they are growly and have lots of sustain.

My only complaint is that arco the open strings don't want to start very cleanly. This has been improving as the strings settle in and as I get a better feel for how they respond to the bow.

How's that second mortgage workin' for ya?

Oh, I just told him to send the bill to you. Hope that was ok?

[Calvin Marks]

So, what kind of strings does this man make? Are they for orchestra? I don't know of anyone in the U.S using these strings asides from a few soloists. I'm sure they're popular in Germany.

He makes about any kind of string you can imagine as they are all hand made to order. Here are two slightly different lists of his "standard models" that were posted over on the "other" forum:

1. sonores DRAGO SOLO modernes Solospiel (auch in Normalstimmung spielbar)
2. sonores DRAGO BASSO modernes Orchesterspiel
3. sonores TWINE alte Musik/(mod. Orchester)-
4. sonores HELIX Jazz pizz/arco, alte Musik
5. sonores CORAX Jazz pizz/arco, alte Musik


CORAX -thick black gut for Jazz (bowing easily)
HELIX -helix wound medium gut for Jazz (bowing easily)
TWINE -thin gut core, roundwound with metal for jazz and bowing
DRAGO solo -thin gut core, roundwound with metal for modern bowing
DRAGO basso -thin gut core, roundwound with metal for modern bowing
RED LABEL solo -man-made core roundwound with metal for modern bowing
RED LABEL basso -man-made core roundwound with metal for modern bowing

The only two players I know of using his strings off the top of my head are Christian Weber in Switzerland and François Rabbath in France, although clearly there are others.