I wanted to share a recent discovery. I've recently built a semi-acoustic upright bass and I found a web site by some guy who used nylon"weed-wacker" cord for strings on a bass made out of a washtub. I figured the stuff was pretty cheap, and it would be a while before I could get to a big city to get some real strings, so I thought I'd try it.
The stuff works unbelievably well! It's no Roto-sound, but they work and cost less than 10 dollars for 15 meters of all four strings! That's about 1000 times cheaper!
By going to different farm supply stores I managed to find it in the gauges I needed.
E-4mm
A-3.3mm
D-2.4mm
G-1.8mm
Acoustically the strings are much quieter, but they are so light on the fingers! They're softer than gut strings and not abrasive at all. So they might be good for someone who's lost their calluses, (like me!).
I've had an underwood classic piezo pickup for about 20 years, but have never been very happy with it. I always found it a bit tinny sounding. With these "monster classical guitar stings I find I'm happier with it than when I use real strings.
I'm not trying to sell any of you professional snobs on weed-wacker cords, but for amateurs with a stringless bass sitting in the corner, this could be the idea you've been waiting for!
Mark Di Giuseppe
"The Straniero"
www.thestraniero.com
