Noob Question

[Stumpy]

While I have been on here for a couple of years I have never been on the DB side of the forum. Hence the "noob" title.

I am just starting down this road of Double Bass. I was given a student bass: Upright, early 1960's.

What kind of strings do these use? Gut? ???

I primarily play MTD basses and am learning how to play the dbl bass. Pickups for that bass deal with magnetics, right? So how does one choose a pickup for an acoustic bass? Like one does for the MTDs?

Help please

[fdeck]

Welcome to the dark side. It's worth reading the newbie links, not to put you off, but because they really do contain a wealth of knowledge. And then you will probably be asked some questions, such as more details about your bass, and what kind of music you like to play. I'll bet that if you took some pictures, including around the nut and bridge, you'd get some helpful comments on the condition and playability of your bass.

If at all possible, get a teacher. One of the first things that will happen is that your teacher evaluates your bass and suggests how to get it into the best shape for learning to play without getting hurt or developing bad habits. Your other resource is to develop a relationship with your friendly neighborhood luthier. Bob Gollihur maintains a website with a huge number of links to luthier shops all over the place.

[Andrew McGregor]

+1 on the teacher... you can hurt your hands badly with DB if you do it wrong, and a few lessons can save you a lot of pain. Learn to use the bow, because that's the only way to learn to really play in tune, even if you never use it in a performance.

Strings will probably be some sort of metal. Gut is possible, but they're very expensive and don't last long. Which strings will depend on what styles you want to cover... although you can't really go too far wrong with Thomastic Spirocore Weich or Solo.

Pickups are ordinarily piezo or some kind of contact microphone, because although the strings usually contain some metal, they may be stainless, nickel or tungsten, and thus not magnetic enough.

[Stumpy]

You are the best.

I will take pix and then post them.

I am planning on playing jazz from a combo to a big band.

I looked on the web and some of the string sets are scary expensive. I saw a simple set of the Tomastic for 153 discounted. I was whining about the 80 for the MTD 135x steels.

I will do the things you ask and check back in pretty soon.

And thank you for the welcome to the Dark Side.

[AMJBASS]

Keep in mind that Double Bass strings can last for years. Bass Guitar strings sometimes need to be changed once every 1-2 months. So the price is relative. Thomastik Spirocores last for a very long time...

[Krispy]

If at all possible, get a teacher. One of the first things that will happen is that your teacher evaluates your bass and suggests how to get it into the best shape for learning to play without getting hurt or developing bad habits.

Some of the best advice you'll ever get right there. Take it and run. Welcome to the collective.