weed whacker line

[klepto]

it seems that weed whacker line is pretty popular for strings amongst rockabilly players...
any of you ever tried this for jazz?

[anonymous0726]

Would it help for cutting contests? I wonder...

[BrandonEssex]

just don't get the ridged line.......

[Touch]

Haven't snorted coffee out my nose in a while!

You gotta be kidding right?

I heard that the Original '92 Toro is available again.

Clothesline is getting pretty big with the washtub bass crowd.

[klepto]

ok... this is what i expected from this forum and i should have known better when i mentioned this--weed whacker line for bass strings--to my wife and her reply was "but don't those guys (rockabilly bass players) suck anyways?"

i am not making this up

here's more information if anyone's curious...
http://www.rockabillybass.com/discus...tml?1108544757

[Touch]

Aw.... come on...... we're not that snooty!

Hard to beat the price though!

When was the last time that ANYONE got a set of URB strings for $15?

http://www.traditionmusic.com/main.html

(Click the music store logo on the left for the whole story!)

[Marcus Johnson]

Lots of the Hawaiian bassists use 'em. Gives 'em that thump they like.

[Alexi David]

Originally Posted by Ray Parker

Would it help for cutting contests? I wonder...

[scottmcstp]

I found that they didn't have enough mass to make a good string, except for the "G". I found that .100 has enough mass
to make a useable 1st string. I think it was better than your
average plain gut (more thump and projection) but not as good as the Velvet Garbo plain G.
They will take at least a week to stop stretching and hold
their pitch.
Bottom line...I still have one in my bass bag (pre-stretched)
just in case. Cheap insurance

[nicklloyd]

As a light-hearted experiment, I used a bright green string for the G and some red thing for the D on my plywood bass. My gigs are trad. jazz/boogie woogie/blues. I didn't measure the gauges; just looked through the hardware store for the line that looked about the size of a G and D string. Some weed-whacker line is ridged; not good for your fingers. You will also want to purchase some really small washers, or drill a hole through a dime (if you can afford it.) Then tie a knot at one end, string on the washer/dime, and you've got a secure end for the tailpiece.

If you already use gut, weed-whackers are a good solution for a sweaty-summer string. They sound okay, work with the Realist, but are a bit flabby. However, I think they sound better than Eurosonics.

Also, on set breaks, I did some landscaping. They sure are handy... and, you can get 50 feet of G string for about $2.50. Do the math!

[Chris Rhoades]

the weed wacker stuff came about cause of western swing guys i think in the 60's or 70's couldn't find a gut C string. Some guys whould leave of the E string and tune thier bass A D G C, so one guys said hey this .080 weedeater string is the size of a gut c and put it on and uded it.

you damn snobs! haha the

[JimmyM]

I've got whackers on my bass right now, and I have to play a jazz set on my gig tomorrow night. Would I rather play a steel string? Probably. But the whackers have a surprisingly good tone. You are right that the thicker gauges sound better, but I didn't think the .095 G sounded a whole lot better than the .080 G I made myself. My bass is strung with a .080 G (which sounds very good), .115 D (sounds really good too), .130 A (good but not great) and .170 E (flubbalicious acoustically but pretty good through an amp). Some have complained about the lack of growl, some complain about the loose feel, but the price is definitely right and they're really not bad sounding strings. Plus they can be bowed fairly easily, and since I'm a beginner, if I can get a bow sound out of them, anyone can. I probably won't stick with them forever, but until I can decide what I really want in a string, they'll be fine.

If you want to get an idea of what they sound like, I recorded a little sample that Barefoot Larry posted at www.traditionmusic.com. Enter, then click on the Tradition Music Store, then click on the FAQ and it's at the top of the page. Please excuse the couple mistakes during the slapping, though. Also, I only made the sample to hear what my recorded tone with the Revolution Solo was like and Barefoot posted it after the fact, so you mic purists will have to excuse me.

BTW, klepto, tell your wife to watch this video at the bottom of this page:

http://www.jrmusicsupply.com/strings.html

Then tell her to tell me all rockabilly players suck

[JimmyM]

OBTW, some you aren't that snooty, but some of you are

And Touch, Toro weed trimmers suck. They make great lawn mowers, but Echo rules the weed whacker world!

[thebeatcatcher]

I recently built a URB with a pine 2X4 as the neck/fingerboard and weed wacker line strings. You can use pine b/c of the low tension and the fact that it won't dig into the fingerboard. Very cheap, fun, and good experience, got the idea from Dennis Havlena:

http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/

He's got great plans and is all about making inexpensive instruments.

It sounds way cooler than my BG...

[JimmyM]

LOL, I saw that a few nights ago. I love stuff like that...really takes the starch out of the stuffed shirts

[Jeremy Allen]

JimmyM, I checked out the sound clip--I dig the bassline from Jethro Tull! I wish you would've continued on to the part with the double stops--one of my very very early bass inspirations...

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Lots of the Hawaiian bassists use 'em. Gives 'em that thump they like.

Aren't you a Hawaiian bassist? Are you getting the kind of thump you like? Between sets?

[Joe Boom]

Originally Posted by Alexi David

+1

[JimmyM]

Johono5, thanks! That was one of the first basslines I ever learned on electric. Would have done the double stops but I've only been playing upright a little over a month and it was all I could do to play the beginning part without clamming it! Wonder what happened to Glenn Cornick, btw...

[ninepointedsean]

these are the BOMB for salsa bass.