Pirastro's Perpetual Bass Strings

We are extremely happy and impressed with Pirastro's new Perpetual double bass strings.  Our first immediate impression of these was that it would be another nice set of jazz strings, because we just happened to put them on a professional jazz player's bass.  He was very happy and we agreed:  Nice sustain (plucked), nice warmth and super quick responsive! As our friend in NYC always likes to say "What's not to like?!"

Then, several weeks later, another dear friend, (Jon Peterson in Buena Park, CA) whom is probably the BEST set up bass luthier in the world, told us that he started putting these on his "top orchestra bass set ups".  What?  How is it possible to have a good jazz string and a good classical string AT THE SAME TIME WITH THE SAME SET?  At first, we just couldn't (didn't) believe it, but then we had a 'persnickity' bass here that was really needing a quicker response and we tried Perpetual on one string (the problem one!) and there it was....perfect!  Warm, super QUICK response with the bow and the tone really quite nice overall.  Just when we were starting to think that only the cellists and violin players got all the great new innovations, here's this new string that sounds great for not just one genre, but both classical and jazz. 

So who buys these and why?  Still, the number one Jazz string in the world over, now for more than maybe 50 years, is Thomastik's Spirocore mediums.  These are the strings that Ray Brown used to play on all the time, as do many, many top jazz bass players now.  But with the Spirocores with a bow, do not always sound smooth, or warm and to be honest, just will not work in many orchestra basses or bass sections.  Very rarely are they played as a whole set (solos yes!), but mostly orchestra players will use a Spirocore E for more quick responsive and attack.  The risk with the Spirocores (for bowing) is that it will sound too bright or 'edgy' as a set, with most basses, other than the super dark sounding ones.

The Pertuals are not bright.  For bowing, they are very close to the Passione mediums in response and tone.  With Passiones being more on the 'darker' tone-side, the Perpetuals might appear a tad brighter, but they can and do sound just fine on the next string over from a Passione or Flexocor:  If you mix and match your strings, this will help.  Say you have a set of Passiones on your bass (orchestra playing) and one string might not be as quick or loud as the rest of the set.  You might really like how a Perpetual works there.

So these work for both Jazz and Classical players, not to mention that they also just came out with a Solo gauge set as well. 

The "Per-fect" Hybrid bass string???  Until the Perpetuals came out, we would always tell customers that call in (asking for advice), that the best hybrid bass string that will work for more than just classical or just jazz, is a set of Evah Pirazzi (usually Weich).  But now, with the Perpetual, these are even more impressive than the Evahs are.  The only drawback with the "Evahs" is that while they have nice sustain (for plucking) and warm bowing, the response on them not always quick for more demanding bowing (like a super fast spiccato), but with Perpetuals, they are almost quicker (easier response) than some of the best, most popular (strictly classical) strings!  These new Perpetuals are really a marvel and worth a try.  Of course here at String Emporium, you'll always find the best prices.

New Just Out: Perpetuals now come in Solo gauge too.  Click here for an explanation of what solo gauge strings are.

Perpetual Bass Our Price PER-100 Pirastro's Perpetual Bass strings set. Chromesteel/rope core E,A,D and G $204.00 PER-101 Perpetual set with C extension $212.65 PER-102 Perpetual G string $40.50 PER-102S Perpetual G Stark (heavy) gauge sorry, these cost more! $71.00 PER-103 Perpetual D string $44.45 PER-103S Perpetual D Stark (heavy) gauge $74.00 PER-104 Perpetual A string $51.60 PER-105 Perpetual E string $67.75 PER-106 Perpetual E string/C extension $76.40 PER-107 Perpetual low (5th) B string $110.00 Perpetual Bass SOLO Gauge Our Price PER-108 Pirastro's Perpetual Bass SOLO strings set. Chromesteel/rope core F#,B,E & A $204.00 PER-109 Perpetual Solo A (top) string $40.50 PER-110 Perpetual Solo E (normally the D string) $44.45 PER-111 Perpetual Solo B (normally the A string) $51.60 PER-112 Perpetual Solo F# (normally the E string) $67.75