strings for an upright bass

[roger winkler]

I have a friend who plays an upright bass with "catgut" strings on it and she.... yes..SHE... was complaining to me about how sore and blistered her plucking fingers get after she plays. Anyway, I know next to nothing about uprights and was wondering if there were other types of strings other than the "catgut" type that wouldn't be so hard on her fingers, say less tension, flatwound, tapewound, etc? I asked her how hard her attack was and she said very hard so she could her herself over the rest of the guitards in her bluegrass band. Any help would be much appreciated. THANKS.

[dgelting]

Usually gut strings are quite low tension already, in my experience. Maybe she could just lower the strings, but then that will probably sacrafice volume. One interesting thing is that the bass is probably louder to the rest of the band than it is to her, so she might not have to be playing so hard to begin with. But then hearing intonation...that's another story. You don't have to be in tune to play bluegrass bass, do you?
If she is just starting to play, I think she'll get blisters regardless of what strings she uses.
Otherwise, send her over to the doublebass side of talkbass and search the strings section under "low tension". I'm sure lots of good info is to be had there.

[greenboy]

You'd get better answers on the DB forum next door.

[fdeck]

There's even a bluegrass forum on the double bass side, and plenty of stickies full of links. In addition to string choice, there may be issues related to the quality and upkeep of the bass itself, and of course, the possibility that she may need some amplification.

[GeneralElectric]

Tell her to dip her fingertips in denatured alcohol.