Weedwacker Strings?

[ToR-Tu-Ra]

not trying to hijack the post, but since you mentiones Eudoxas, Jimmy... Did you need to get any changes made after the plain guts to fit the eudoxas on your bass? I'm thinking on getting a set of those or maybe olivs (yeah, right! as soon as I rob a bank! ) But I have Guts and I was wondering about that... OK, back to the weedwacker stuff:

I've never tried them, but most of the people that have, love them... so there must be something to them. There are so many kinds of materials strings are made out of: Steel, Nylon, Silk, animal intestines... I don't see why plastic wouldn't work.

[lucas vigor]

Hi. I actually was very skeptical at first, because so many people had said they produced no sound at all. The only people talking highly of them were the RAB slappers. No one mentioned them as a choice for fingertstyle. I do some slap, but 98% of what I do is fingerstyle. I figured for the price, what the heck!

I always liked the mellow sound of a guittarone used in Mariachi music, and I realized those strings are mostly all vynyl and plastic, so I made the leap.

Last night, I had a few beers and practiced along with CD's. I went through several bossa nova CDs, then some western swing and finally I played through the entire Rat Pack live CD (yeah, Frank, Sammy, Dean) I was pleased to be able to get a jazz-like clarity on all the songs! In fact, I noticed that I had plenty of volume from my outfit, which I did not really expect. After all, I am using a KING DOUBLEBASS (which is very heavy and braced-not known for acoustic volume) and these weedwhackers. Regardless, the sound was excellent, even the E and A.

Some things I really like here are the feel. I was using Eurosonics for a while, after my guts, and even though they sounded great, they still had a metallic under-tone, and I could still feel the metal in these strings. These Weedwhackers have much more of a gut feel, as far as being soft and gentle on the hands. it really takes no effort to play on them at all.

I suppose I could buy spools of the stuff, but Barefoot larry already has them sized just right, and the putting the knot in would be a trick, unless you had two vices and pliers..so it;s good that they are ready to string. Probably these strings are not for everyone (Bop and classical purists) but for doing a wide variety of stuff, they are awesome! And don't believe the hype about no sound from the E or A...there is an audible pitch even right away. I am sure it will improve in time! My guts took much longer to set in, and the E and A were always sub-par..

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by ToR-Tu-Ra

not trying to hijack the post, but since you mentiones Eudoxas, Jimmy... Did you need to get any changes made after the plain guts to fit the eudoxas on your bass?

Nope. When I got the guts, all I did was file out the bridge slots and had my luthier file out the nut slots, and he was very careful not to cut the nut slots lower than they were. So putting Eudoxas on it wasn't a biggie. Had I an unlimited amount of money, I might have bought a new bridge and nut, but it doesn't seem to matter.

[lucas vigor]

I noticed someone asked about the E string, so I am bumping this thread:

After 6 months I could not be more pleased, and wierdly, they bow great! On my King DB, the action is perfect and the 170 E makes no contact with the FB, but on my strunal, the E requires a lighter touch, or it will clack. If I had to, I might use the Eurosonic on the E, but the other three are excellent sounding!

[airtight willie]

Hey I am thinking about trying the helicores on the E and A and the weedwhackers on the D and G for playing bluegrass with ocasional slapping. Has anybody tried this and have an opinion? I have heard there may be an issue with too great a diference in tension between the steal and plastic?

[mpoppitt]

I use a Corelli E&A, and a weedwhacker D&G, and it works real well for slapping.

A lot of slap players that use 'whackers use something else for at least the E, and sometimes the A too.

I'd like to try the Supersilvers on the E&A, I bet they would match up real nice.

[tomersg]

hello
does anyone tried those weedwacker strings on EUB? i have a Palatino EUB and would love to try them. does anyone have experience with them on EUB?

[ricobasso]

I tried to buy some Weedwackers online from the UK and got nowhere. The money went from my Paypal account pretty promptly then nothing. There was no order confirmation by email. I left it a couple of weeks but then over the next few months I sent emails and left phone messages and eventually I got back an email written in a very bad tempered sounding tone which said that these strings were hand made and refused to give even a rough estimate of a delivery date. At no stage was my order confirmed and it all ended with an offer of my money back, which I gratefully accepted. Not recommended .

[Gearhead43]

FYI - there is a seriously long wait on the "Hillbilly Slap Strings" right now. (No one seems to know why) For anyone looking to try out weedwacker strings as a plain gut substitute, I recommend the FMI (fantastic musical instruments) version. These are frequently on ebay. I got mine very quickly and after the very lengthy playing-in time they sound good.

Basically the same strings as the without the wait. I would have rather ordered the HBSS, but can't see waiting 4-6 months.

[tomersg]

i ordered the weedwackers strings fron ebay and got them two days ago and installed them on my Palatino EUB.
first impressions:
cons:
its tricky to install the E and A strings because they are too wide for the hole in the tuning post. need to melt some nylon with lighter and cut some stuff with cutter. hard work, but done it eventually.
need some time for the strings to get tuned and stay tune.
need to widen the slot on the bridge, because the E and A are wider than steel strings. didn't done it yet, and because its EUB and piezo pickup, i am not sure its really necessary.
to the pros:
they are really easy for the fingers - really easy to pluck and slap and to fingering on the left hand and the tension is really low.
the sound is nice, fat and thumpy. its really easy for walking bass lines, and i sure its will work great for Latin and Cuban and also for blues and jazz. i am not sure it will work very good on thump positions for solos, and didn't tried with a bow.
not great sustain.
that it for now.
hope to update after some time.

[lucas vigor]

3 year update:

I have had the same set on since I posted about this three years ago. Those strings cost about 20 bucks back then, and if anything, they sound better all the time. They don't go dead or break like other strings when they get old. My 3 extra sets are in storage, as I have never needed to replace even one! The bass has gone from rainy and foggy climates to desert climates. No change. I rarely have to even tune my bass anymore.

At first I thought they would only be good for roots music, but I have used them in pretty much all environments. Be cautioned, though. If the totally clacky, high end modern jazz tone is your thing, avoid these. I do use them for bop, and they sound good enough. For country, Rockabilly, Bluegrass, folk, ethnic, etc...these things are even better then guts, INMO.

[tomersg]

update:
i do like the fill of the A, D and G strings. the sound is nice. although sometimes i have weird finger noise. but the great fill is covering.
but i don't really like the E string. its too loose and wimpy..
what should i do?
i noticed the some people here, replaced the E string with something else. what are the suggestions?

[WJGreer]

In an interesting counter-story, I tried bass strings in my weedwhacker once. I thought the steel/nickel construction might have been a breakthrough in durability, and that I might have inadvertently stumbled upon a lucrative concept.

In fact, the bass strings lasted only a few seconds in the weedwhacker before coming apart completely and quickly. I am probably lucky not to have hurt myself.

[bassist1962]

Lucas, and John, I am wanting a gut string sound, but can't handle the cost or maintainence of real gut. After about four years now (original post being 2005), how are the weedwackers, or Hillbilly Slaps holding out? My bass was originally set up for guts, (so I just need to get the seam work done), but has been strung with steels for several years now (was never set up for steels by previous owner when he installed them, other than replacing the bridge, and I have the original bridge). How is the tuning, tone, etc. Still worth the investment?

[ejmbass]

I purchased a set and got an upgrade for free so I could try the enhanced version of the string. I had the modify the bass a bit (machine heads) to accept the thick strings. The short of it is that the strings never pitched correctly. The D was always flat. Customer service was great but we went through 5 sets before getting a set that worked. All was good for about 60 days. I played a few gigs...sound was killer fat, wall shaking lows but quickly stretched and I took them off. Went back to my workhores for many years Thomastik Spirocore Solo. I used the whackes on an Ampeg BB4 4/4.

[sevenyearsdown]

I'm a pretty new player (less than a year). I've been thinking about trying some whackers since I play a lot of rockabilly and swing type stuff.

How does the tension compare to steels?

Does anyone use these with a fishman full circle? Opinions?

[lucas vigor]

Originally Posted by bassist1962

Lucas, and John, I am wanting a gut string sound, but can't handle the cost or maintainence of real gut. After about four years now (original post being 2005), how are the weedwackers, or Hillbilly Slaps holding out? My bass was originally set up for guts, (so I just need to get the seam work done), but has been strung with steels for several years now (was never set up for steels by previous owner when he installed them, other than replacing the bridge, and I have the original bridge). How is the tuning, tone, etc. Still worth the investment?

The investment is great! 30 bucks is nothing!
These work for just about every type of music except classical and hard bop, bebop or really clean sounding contempory jazz. These give you the old bass sound, I believe. I have had my current set on since 05. That's 4 years and they sound great. I actually removed the metal E I was using a while ago, and have all whackers.

However, I must say over the years my ears have craved a different tone, and for developing hand strenght I now use Spirocore weichs on my main jazz bass. I still have the wackers on my King bass, though.

These are very easy strings to play. Low tension, big, fat, thumpy.
They don't do much for developing callouses, though. And the volume is not as good acoustically. (example, I just did an entire gig last weekend for 3 hours using my spirocore weichs, with NO amplication. The sound carried all over a paved backyard area, no problem. I doubt I would have been able to pull that off with the whackers)

[sevenyearsdown]

Originally Posted by sevenyearsdown

I'm a pretty new player (less than a year). I've been thinking about trying some whackers since I play a lot of rockabilly and swing type stuff.

How does the tension compare to steels?

Does anyone use these with a fishman full circle? Opinions?

bumping this - can anyone offer any input to me?

[sevenyearsdown]

One last bump for anyone that is interested. I just got a set of superior weed wackers that I'm going to get installed in the next week or so.

[tomersg]

the tension of my weedwackers is much less the steels.
sorry. no fishman. they are installed on my Palatino EUB with its on piezo pickup and the sound is very nice. but i don't play rockabilly.