String Information

Yes believe it or not these are all the different strings I've experimented with. Some of them I only tried for a short while - in many cases they were on basses I bought or someone sent me the strings to use for testing. In fact I've tried a lot more strings too including Pirastro Obligatos, Velvet Animas, and Picato Innovation 140H, but only began to maintain this chart later on. The highlighted strings are the ones I am using right now. All string diameter measurements are in inches and are taken by me using a caliper. Descriptions of materials may have been provided by the manufacturer or may be the result of guesswork

Please keep in mind that my comments about the strings are based on my subjective analysis of the strings on my bass as played by me. Your results may differ.

I have the following used strings for sale: Superflexible E, Flexocore Solo A, Helicore Hybrid (heavy gauge) A and E, Spirocore C extension, VariCor C extension. Most of these strings have had very little use. Contact me if you're interested in any of them.

Last updated on October 3, 2006.

Manufacturer	String	Core	Winding/Jacket	G	D	A	E	C extension	Comments
Efrano	Gut	Gut	No winding for G	0.075					Low cost gut. After using the Chorda with the varnished surface, I found this string very hard to maintain and very harsh-sounding with the bow.
Eurosonic	Medium	Silk and Steel	Other metals, Silk and then Polyamide	0.075	0.10	0.12	0.15		These strings are made of a really bizarre construction. Ridiculously thick and pretty much impossible to bow.
Eurosonic	Light	Silk and Steel	Other metals, Silk and then Polyamide	0.07	0.09	0.105	0.13		Ditto
D'Addario	Helicore Hybrid Heavy	Stranded steel	Nickel			0.075	0.10		Not a bad string for pizz and arco. Sounds quite good next to gut.
D'Addario	Helicore Orchestra Medium	Metal	Metal	0.045	0.05	0.07	0.09
Gamut	Lyon Light Varnished	Gut	No winding but varnished	0.075	0.10				The best gut strings I've used. Really clear in pitch with a beautiful tone.
Kolstein	VariCor Excel	Steel	Chrome Steel			0.09		0.10	I didn't even bother trying the A string. I tried the extension string and found the arco volume to be severely lacking compared to a Spirocore. There seems to be a lot dampening material (silk I believe) in these strings.
Pirastro	Chorda	Gut	No winding for G & D although has some kind of varnish Silver for A & E	0.08	0.11	0.10	0.14		Second best guts I've tried. The G is beautiful but the D is very dead-sounding and hard to pizz and very thick.
Pirastro	Eudoxa	Gut	Silver			0.08	0.10		Beautiful strings in every way but the windings kept coming off the strings especially if the strings had to be re-installed.
Pirastro	Oliv	Gut	Chrome Steel	0.07	0.085	0.095			Ditto. The Oliv G is one of the most beautiful G strings ever.
Pirastro	Original Flat-Chrome	Braided steel "rope"	Steel			0.08	0.10		Useless for pizz. Way too much dampening material results in very little sustain.
Pirastro	Permanent	Carbon ropecore	Steel ?			0.08		0.10	Very gut-like tone and sustain. Great for both arco and pizz.
Pirastro	Pizzicato	Gut	Silver-plated Copper	0.06	0.07	0.085	0.10
Pirastro	Pizzicato	Gut	Nylon	0.09	N/A	N/A	N/A
Thomastik	Dominant	Nylon	Chrome Steel			0.08			A good match for gut with a reasonably warm sound.
Thomastik	Spirocore Mittel	Braided steel "rope"	Steel	0.05	0.07	0.09	0.105	0.11
Thomastik	Spirocore Weich	Braided steel "rope"	Steel				0.10
Thomastik	Superflexible	Braided steel "rope"	Steel			0.07	0.10		Basically like a Spirocore but not as bright and easier to bow.
Velvet	Compas 180	Silk	May be Silver on G, D & A and Chrome Steel on E	0.05	0.06	0.07	0.09		A very nice string for both pizz and arco. However I wanted a fuller tone and I couldn't deal with the very thin gauge.