After that, I went over to synthetics, specifically Velvet. I had Garbos first, now I have Animas. I love these strings. So much softer on your hands. Sounded great arco, like old gut strings. For Pizz, not so much sustain, but a big fat punch at the start of each note. I've literally played a set to death. They are roughly double the price of regular steel strings, but I think worth it. As I understand it, Velvet came out with a more affordable option that's very nearly as good. On a related note, these strings are for that oldschool 1940/50s sort of sound. You can playing everything except maybe jazz-fusion on them. They don't do the highly sustained (electric) sound like Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen. They're also a little harsh on your hands for heavy slapping, but then most guys doing hardcore slapping use weedwackers or tape their hands. I ended up doing the latter with Leukosilk tape. For relaxed, country or rock-a-billy slapping (ie. not Stray Cats) they're fine.
https://www.chemistwarehouse.com.au/buy ... -25cm-x-5m
I should probably explain about taping some time. Because if you start playing enough, you'll need to know how to do it whether you slap or not. My first teacher told me stories about sitting with his right hand in a cup of metho all day when he was gigging 5 nights a week. Upright does tear up your hands until you work up some proper callouses. Then it's ok. BTW, there's a guy selling bass-tape online. It's Leukosilk from everything I can see. Only Leukosilk is about $20 a roll cheaper.
