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  #1  
Old 07-15-2009, 07:43 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Thumbs up Pirastro-Evah Pirazzi, Weichs and Regulars

Ok, this will be the official 'Orchestra' Evah Thread here on the 'Corner. We have one in the Hybrid section but in my opinion, it doesn't tell the whole story without playing in an Orchestra section.

I posted there a few times personally and basically I thought the tension was softer feeling on my Bass and thicker under the left hand fingers which for me is a plus. I used them mainly on my Gilkes but now have them on my Big Gamba and they work great on that Bass as well.

I just bought a few sets of the Weichs with the Extension E/C to try out. I had asked Pirastro several months ago but all I could get was a regular non-extension set. I put that to good use and first on my Big Gamba but when that went into the shop for an Extension, I put them on the Mougenot. I liked them so much that I asked around and finally found a distributor that had Extension E/Cs in the Weichs.

I just put a full set of Evah Weichs with the Ext. E/C on my Hart Bass. I used regular Flex 92s on that Bass for over a year and then recently put some Belcantos on it. They sounded good but felt a bit heavy for that Bass as compared to the 92s. The Weichs after a few minutes feel nice on the Hart and the clarity is as good as it's ever been. Time will tell how they work all around as I do recall these strings needing a week or two to settle in as well as the Bass it self adjusting internally to the change of tension.

Pizz wise they sound the best so far on the Hart but I need them as an Orchestra string. This may be the set that makes this Bass its best. Time will tell..
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Old 08-01-2009, 02:50 PM
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Thumbs up Evah Pirazzi Weichs

Ok, now that I've had some time with these strings on several of my basses (all only briefly) I can comment on them with more experience in the tests I did.

I used the Weichs on 2 of my basses for a short time. These were some good basses as well. One was the Mougenot and the other my Big Gamba. I put them on the Mougenot after I brought the Gamba in for a C-extension. When the Ext. was completed I brought the Mougenot in for restoration and took the strings with me. Afterwords, I didn't have an Ext. E/C for the Weich set so I put a regular set of Evah's that had been on my Gilkes earlier. The only 'new' set tested was on the Gamba for a few weeks before it went in the shop.

I had heard from one of the string distributors I met while at the ISB that there was now a Weich E/C string available. So a few weeks after returning from the show I called and ordered a few sets. I put that set on my Hart which had a fairly newish set of Belcantos on it. While doing this I layed out my Martini on another bench and pulled off the 92s putting the Belcantos on the Martini while putting the new Ext. Weichs on the Hart, one string at a time.

When it was all done I actually liked the Martini with the Belcantos better than the Hart with the Weichs as far as improvements go. The Hart being an older flatter arched Top with numerous repairs as compared to the Martini, half the age of the Hart, with a high arch and only a fraction of the repairs.

As time went on, because of the shoulders mainly of the Martini as compared to the wider Maggini model Hart, I stuck with playing only the Martini. I went back and forth between all 4 of my Basses here for a period of about 4 weeks, each time ending back with the Martini for comfort reasons mainly.

I had thought to myself over and over 'how would the Martini sound and react with the lighter tensioned Weichs on it being that it has such a strong Top. Switching strings between two basses and tuning them back up (both with bow quivers attached) takes me about 2 hours in total from start to finish. The Extension string taking the time of 2 strings on and off per bass. It's tight up in there.

So last night while working late I said, 'maybe I can try this now', looking up at the clock..10:30pm.. So.. I did it and switched the Belcantos back to the Hart and the bass actually thanked me.. I think.. smooth Bel's sing on that bass and the Weichs on the Martini feels like I have an improved bass.

Ok, orchestra bowing wise, you can 'hammer' Bel's and Flexocor's all day long but the Evah's are half way between gut and steel in playability. The Pizz on the martini for jazz is the best it's ever been in the 5 years I've had the bass. The string response being softer is no less powerful than the heavier Bel's. The feel under the left hand I must say is about as good as it gets for me.

So, Evah Weich's with the Ext. E/C has just given new life to the Martini. Also, I will be using mainly this one bass through out the season so I will have a lot more to report back about once the Orchestra season starts. All I have to do now is fit my pickup into the bridge wings so I can take it out on the few Jazz gigs I do during the year. That's if the venue is safe for an expensive bass on the gig location..
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Old 01-15-2010, 02:39 AM
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Lightbulb well..

A couple of months ago I got called for a Big Band Jazz Gig and brought the Martini newly fitted for my Pickup earlier that same week. Sound wise I have no complaints at all. Feel wise is where I had a problem. As things got 'hot' and I started digging in, the Strings could not quite keep up forcing me to play harder as I would do naturally in that situation. Around the 2nd tune or so the Amp seemed to cut off for some reason. In those few moments I was playing quite hard. I felt the Bass shaking on the floor as I played (the Martini does that, it shakes the floor) but I couldn't hear the notes all that well with a screaming 18 piece band. Like in the old days when you mainly only felt the Bass. Well, a minute or less into this 'Amp-out' moment I realized that the Plug into the wall had been pulled out just enough to loose the signal. A little push and I was back in business.

However, the damage was done. I was pulling the strings so hard that I ended up with a blister on one of my fingers half way through the set.

For smaller venues and lighter playing these strings worked just wonderful. For light to medium Orchestra playing (depending on the tension of the individual bass) the strings were fine.

Playing hard core Orchestra Rep. with digging in with the Bow or just digging in hard playing Jazz, these Weichs were just to slow to respond tonally or with the Bow.

I had a few Orchestra players try the Martini while these strings were on and they all mentioned they would prefer something more traditional like a Flexicor or something similar.

So, I love these strings regardless of all that I went through as mentioned above. I just need the right venue for them to work. I have that set saved and ready to go on the next Bass with a C-Extension that comes out of restoration needing a slightly lighter tensioned string.

The Martini next got a new set of Flexocor Starks but after a few weeks I pulled them off as the felt too tight (having loved the Weichs so much) and tried to go back to the Weichs and give them a second chance. The Top Silk colors are the same and it was after midnight when I did it. After the Strings were on the Bass I turned and looks and said.. OOPS.. Those are Flexocor 92s.. Yikes.. I didn't even notice the green/black silk bottoms were missing. I was playing the bass feeling relieved I had put the Weichs back on only to realize I had put an old set of 92s on it that came of the Hart bass about 6 months earlier.

Before the Weichs I had Belcantos on the Martini for a few days and felt at that time that the Hart needed them more after putting the Weichs on the Hart which didn't work at all so I switched the two sets around, Hart/Bels, Martini/W.Evahs.

Today I put it all back. The same Bel's back on the Martini and the old 92s (2 yrs old) back on the Hart. The Evah Weichs waiting for a suitable instrument.

You guys following all this? Quiz on Monday!
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Old 01-20-2010, 03:04 PM
Joel Larsson Joel Larsson is offline
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Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith View Post
I have that set saved and ready to go on the next Bass with a C-Extension that comes out of restoration needing a slightly lighter tensioned string.
Well, how long do we have to wait?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith View Post
You guys following all this? Quiz on Monday!
Can we play in teams?? I sure lost track of all the string switching...

A friend of mine has a c:a 100 years old Czech bass, fairly good, but it got a bit tight down in the low end, so I told him to get a set of the Weichs. He said that downwards, this was what the instrument needed—he simply had more BASS than with Perms, which in their turn worked better for him than Orig Flex. He complained, though, not being all finished with his studies, that they didn't answer the way he wanted up in thumb positions. Apparently got a bit weak, he couldn't dig into the string for those loud solo passages. He admitted that if he paid extra attention to the bow placement, speed, and weight, he could work around the problem—but there was still a problem. Otherwise, he really liked them, as a genuinely good, all round string.
A couple of days ago, I sent him my one year old set of Bels to try. After a boiling they should work just fine; they had actually stood the test of time fairly well, I realised when I put on a new set. Sure, there's a difference, but not a huge one... maybe he'll send me his Evahs so I can make a proper comarison myself.
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