Gut Strings: Are They Worth It To Try? (part II)

[JeffKissell]

[AndreasH]

Originally Posted by salcott

Anyone else want to chime in on bowing Garbos

Bowing Garbos is the reason I started to look for other options. But I quickly learned that I couldn't go back to anything thinner in gauge and higher in tension than the Garbos, so it was narrowed down to guts. Now that I have a whole set of Carlos Chordas, I'm longer embarassed to bring out the bow

[Will Kelly]

Well, installed my first real plain gut strings the other day, a Gamut Lyon medium G and a Dlugolecki Light D.

I was saving these for another bass I have being finished, but couldn't resist any longer and put them n my carved flat back.

Initial impressions... I love the tension and volume. Super easy to play. The gamut G sounds great and is a real winner. Jury is still out on the D. Sounds kinda tubby and a little too dark. I also need to find a good match for the E and A.

Question... does the D come into its own after some playing in, or will it get darker? Not sure if I like the tubbiness of the D.

[Marc Piane]

Originally Posted by Will Kelly

I also need to find a good match for the E and A.

Question... does the D come into its own after some playing in, or will it get darker? Not sure if I like the tubbiness of the D.

I find Velvets to be the best match both tension and tone. I've used both Animas and Garbos and they both have their merits. The Animas have a little more zing and are faster bot the Garbos are more 'gutlike' and have a deeper and louder fundamental on my bass. Both are good choice IMHO.

IME the D strings takes a LONG time to break in. Like a month before it really comes into it's own. I had the same feelings as you when I first put it on but was urged by fellow gutsters to wait it out and I'm glad I did. Patience.

[Will Kelly]

Thanks Marc!

[Kevin Hsieh]

Great to see this thread revived. As Marc said, it takes a while for the D to come to its full potential. Keep at it. I actually prefer my Gamut Lyon D's sound over the Gamut G. Love them both.

Again echoing what Marc said, velvets are incredibly compatible with plain gut for tone and tension. if string thickness for you (standard steel E and A strings are incredibly thin in comparison to gut G and Ds), just as it is for me, then again, Velvets are a great choice.

I just switched to Carlos Henriquez Chorda A and Es and it makes my bass sing and actually seems like it opened up a bit more.

[threetone]

It took my Carlos Chorda D string wel over a month to sound focused with a strong fundamental and now that it does, it just sounds and feels real good.

My Carlos E string is still not there yet, it lacks a real strong fundamental and seems to have very pronounced overtones, which distracts from a real solid E string sound.

Any of you Carlos gut users have the same problem?

[ElMon]

Ok, just got through all 50 some pages of Part I and then the rest of part II.....wow, tremendous amount of useful info here and some smoking players as well. I had a set of Gamuts with a Low B even for my Upton Standard 5'er, and I really think I didn't give them more time to break in before giving up on them. The tone was great and even the Low B was focused in the last 4 notes (if not much beyond that), but the tuning fluctuations were a little too much for me in the end. Ended up moving to Garbos and then recently tried some Spirocore Mittels in a moment of 'let's just hit the easy button and go with some steels'.

At first I was convinced entirely on the move to steel, and found as others have reported here that my time spent playing gut strings has made affected the way I play on any bass. Before I was on this side of the forum a lot, I was using a full set of unwound Lenzners on a 52' Kay and loved the sound I was getting. I even learned to pull some pitch and speed on the unwound E and A string above the 5th 'fret' for lack of a better term.

Even still, when I listened back to a recording I did with the Mittels recently and compared it to a recording I did with some Gamuts, I knew that I wouldn't be able to shake the gut bug. I'm very intrigued by the CH Chorda set, and it seems we have 3 or 4 guys here who have direct experience, including the man himself. I plan on pairing these with my Spiro Low B and am VERY curious to hear about the tuning stability of these CH Chordas. Lots of
encouraging info on the tone, and of course guys like Carlos and Ben Wolfe are just killing it with this setup.

Really glad I made it all the way through this thread. Priceless info.

[ctxbass]

Guts:
Lose your expectations and dig them for what they are.

[DC Bass]

Originally Posted by ctxbass

Guts:
Lose your expectations and dig them for what they are.

I think I understand what you mean- That some of the discussion of gut strings border on hyperbole at times-

But it's tough to "dig them for what they are" if you don't know what that is. Some folk put them on and take them off after a couple of days and think they know what's up.

Other people don't have their action high enough for the notes to bloom, or they might be locked into technique that was forged from years of playing steel strings.

Then there are the cats that try one gut string and think they are all the same.

IMHO- These people don't really get a chance to know what gut is really capable of...

It's too bad that every city doesn't have a top tier luthier- who just so happens to keep a couple dozen basses around with various set-ups for us to come in and try!

Joe

[ctxbass]

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the discussion.

What I really mean is: Gut strings (especially wound ones) will not achieve the tuning stability of steel strings. There is no perfect “D” string. The best sounding match for gut D&G are gut E&A. You either dig gut and live with this, or not.

I would guess that most bassists who become interested in gut strings do so because the sound speaks to them. There are plenty of recorded examples of the capabilities of gut (though it is really the capability of the player).
The double bass is quite inconvenient as instruments go, and gut strings do tend to complicate things further. I agree that if one is used to steel strings barely clearing the fingerboard, playing gut is a definite wake up call, but otherwise, technique should not be an obstacle to grasping the concept and proceeding. String quality varies greatly with steel as well as gut, no surprises there.

I like your idea about bass shops, or at least a very patient luthier.

[DC Bass]

Originally Posted by ctxbass

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for the discussion.

What I really mean is: Gut strings (especially wound ones) will not achieve the tuning stability of steel strings. There is no perfect “D” string. The best sounding match for gut D&G are gut E&A. You either dig gut and live with this, or not.

I would guess that most bassists who become interested in gut strings do so because the sound speaks to them. There are plenty of recorded examples of the capabilities of gut (though it is really the capability of the player).
The double bass is quite inconvenient as instruments go, and gut strings do tend to complicate things further. I agree that if one is used to steel strings barely clearing the fingerboard, playing gut is a definite wake up call, but otherwise, technique should not be an obstacle to grasping the concept and proceeding. String quality varies greatly with steel as well as gut, no surprises there.

I like your idea about bass shops, or at least a very patient luthier.

I didn't mean to imply that you weren't up for the discussion- sorry!
I infered that you might be trying to warn some of the interested readers that these string aren't "magic"- that they simply "are what they are" warts and all!
I totally agree with you on this, and most of the other points you raise as well.

Re: "Magic"- There is a lot of...shall we say, "exuberance" exhibited by some of us- and I am more guilty than most. One of the sages referred to it as "falling in love"- and with that feeling you kinda want to go on Oprah and jump up and down on the couch! So to speak...

As for "perfect" D strings- Gamut Pistoy Medium! Perfect for me, ymmv!!!

See what I mean about the "exuberance"?

Joe