Thomastik Belcanto String Bass steel rope core strings have been designed for bowed work, but they have a very musical, warm pizz sound with a very sweet sustain. Their bowed feel and quick response is wonderful. The specially twisted steel rope core settles in quickly, intonates extremely well, with exceptional tuning stability. The tone is dark and warm with excellent resonance offering a wide range of tone colors, is easy to blend, and pizzicato is open and free. The sound offers outstanding projection with moderate effort and sustains better than most other arco (bowing) string brands. These great strings give a quick response to the bow, are soft under your fingers, with fantastic hybrid capability.