Contact

Email: jake@thebassspa.com

Telephone: 604-812-7271

Bass Spa Logo              created by Tim Eccles

Double Bass Strings


Innovation Bass Strings

The Bass Spa is very pleased to represent Innovation Strings in Canada.
These finely crafted strings are hand made in England to meet the needs of players everywhere.
We are stocking the Innovation Honey, Rockabilly, Ultra Black, Super Silver & the all new Psycho Slap strings.


           Medium-high Tension Strings

Innovation 'Ultra Black' are black tape wound over a stranded nylon core and sound great for jazz and rockabilly


         Medium Tension Strings

Innovation 'Rockabilly' are black tape wound over a stranded nylon core and are designed for rockabilly and slap

Innovation 140SS 'Super Silver' has a clear nylon wrap over a braided synthetic core and sound great for bluegrass

Innovation 140H has a solid nylon core with a very smooth stainless steel wrap and works well for pizzicato and arco

Innovation 140B has a braided nylon core with the stainless steel wrap and is intended for primarily arco use


         Light Tension Strings

Innovation 'Super Silver Slap' are a lighter version of the 140SS for those who need a softer string

Innovation 'Psycho Slap' are clear nylon over steel on a stranded core and are designed for mega slapping


These strings are available at Long & McQuade in Vancouver and at The Bass Spa

For more information please email jake@thebassspa.com


Bass String Accessories

Lycon 'Tone Filters'






The Double Bass String Chant

Spirocore!
Flexocore!
Gut! Gut! Gut!

Velvet!
Presto!
String Height, Nut!

Weich, mittel, stark!
Fifths Tuning, Solo!
Chromstahl, Ropecore, Solid core, Nylon core,
Perlon core, Tynex, Nickel, Aluminium, Silver, Copper, Silk!


Hooray!



(Written by Reuben Radding - Arranged & adapted by Jake de Villiers)




Bass String Gauges   
 
Strings can have a huge effect on the sound and the feel of a bass. Some are designed primarily for arco
 play, some for pizzicato and there are also many strings that do both well.  Manufacturers websites tend to
 have tension data but not sizes, so with the help of many other bass players I've collected some size data.

Gauge and tension are not necessarily related - construction has much more influence on tension than
does size. The gut and gut-like strings have imposing size and need to be much higher off the fingerboard
in order to speak clearly but because they are looser they are just as easy on the hands as higher tension
strings set close to the fingerboard.
       

                            G              D             A             E

ARTONE
Gut                     .092           .110
Wound Gut                                            .110             .140


CORELLI 370
Forte                   .043            .055          .067            .089
Extra Forte           .044            .054          .071            .096


D’ADDARIO
        
Prelude
                                        Medium                    .050             .057          .078             .106
  

Helicore Hybrid
Light                                                    .082             .110
Medium                .049           .058          .082             .115

Helicore Pizzicato 
        Light                    .049           .060          .078            .110                                       
Medium                                                 .082            .120

Pro Arte
Nylon/Nickel/Al      .089           .084          .107             .146


DLUGOLECKI GUT
Maneri Custom      .088            .110         .106             .128
Kissell                   .086            .108         .106             .136


EUROSONIC
Ultra Light            .046            .060          .077            .104
Light Tension        .074            .098          .118            .149


FISOMA GUT 
Red gut/Silver                                        .095             .133


GAMUT GUT
Medium                .083            .114          .104            .127
Medium +             .085            .1165
Heavy                  .087            .118   
Heavy +               .089            .120         .110             .132

    
INNOVATION
140H Honey                .065           .073          .098             .117
   
Ultra Black                  .078           .088          .102             .124

Rockabilly                   .078           .087          .100             .124

Super Silver                .086            .093          .106             .126

Silver Slap                  .088            .095          .105             .125

Golden Slap                .088            .095          .105             .125
    
Psychobilly
                 .105            .115          .126             .148



JARGAR                                                .047



LA BELLA
 
Gut                             .086            .107         .114             .135


LYCON              NLA                             .049                           .077                      C - .135



PIRASTRO
Chorda                        .080            .110          .100            .140
‘Carlos Henriquez’             .085            .106          .100            .124

Eudoxa                        .071            .079          .090            .108
 
Evah Pirazzi                
        Regular                .059            .071          .089            .110
        Weich                  .057            .069          .086            .107   
 
Flat Chromstahl           .047            .055          .074            .098

Flexocor '92    
Regular                .047            .060          .076            .098
          Stark                 .050            .060                           .105
 
Jazzer                         .051           .069          .083             .111


Obligato
Solo                    .058           .063          .080             .106
Orchestra             .060           .069          .088             .111

Oliv                            .070           .085          .105             .135  

Original Flatchrome     .052           .063           .087            .109

Original Flexocore         .052           .062           .088            .109

Permanent                  .053           .064           .080            .106

Pizzicato                                                       .084            .120


THOMASTIK-INFELD 
 
Belcanto                      .050           .063          .080            .105

Dominant          
          Solo                                                    .075           .102   
          Orchestra            .055           .065          .085           .113

Spirocore         
Solo                    .044            .061         .076             .103
Weich                  .046            .063         .079             .107
Mittel                  .052            .070         .085             .111
Stark                   .054            .065         .095             .120
Red Mitchell 5ths   .044            .069         .092             .134

Superflexible
         
Solo                    .046           .064           .072             .096
Orchestra             .052           .074          .079             .107


VELVET    
Anima                         .078           .081           .095            .110
 
Compas 360                .065           .072           .086            .109

Garbo  Light                 .092           .093          .097             .111

Garbo Gut                    .085           .097          .100             .125

Blue                             .060           .068          .086             .105
        


Thanks to all those TalkBass Double Bass Forum members who posted string measurements in the Forum and a special thanks to
Francois Blais and Phil Manieri for their devotion to expanding the world's double bass string knowledge base.

As always, if you have more data to add or any corrections, I'd be happy to have them.  Send to: jake@thebassspa.com



Bass String Tensions


Velvet Garbo, Anima and Compas 360 all have the same tension, 25 kgs per string (55 lbs)

The Velvet Garbo Light have a tension of 23 kgs per string (51 lbs)

The Compas 180 and the Compas 180 solo have a tension of 26kgs per string (57 lbs)

The Compas 180 Suit and the Compas 180 Solo light have a tension of 24 kgs per string (53 lbs)

The Compas 180 V tuning also have a tension of 26 kgs per string (57 lbs)