Guts only for orchestral playing

[anonymous12251111]

Hi there, just curious why gut strings became less and less used in orchestras? Why the move to steel? Is it the maintenance issue? I personally find the tone of gut to be a lot warmer. Any info would be much appreciated.


Also do guts...ie Olivs/Eudoxa work well for solo playing..Bottesini, Koussevitzky etc?
Thanks

[Bobby King]

Originally Posted by Calvin Marks

Hi there, just curious why gut strings became less and less used in orchestras? Why the move to steel? Is it the maintenance issue? I personally find the tone of gut to be a lot warmer. Any info would be much appreciated.


Also do guts...ie Olivs/Eudoxa work well for solo playing..Bottesini, Koussevitzky etc?
Thanks

I'm hardly an expert on orchestral bass, but there's probably a lot of reasons. Steel is more stable for tuning, the action can be set lower, the tension is higher, notes start faster with the bow, rapid passages and staccato/spicatto are more easily executed. As far as tone, bowed gut has a more throaty midrangey sound (to my ears) steel can be smoother in timbre. This is a matter of taste. Also, I've heard that if most of the bassists in an orchestral section use steel, then someone using gut can stick out and not blend as well in the section. So as more players moved to steel, it came to be expected. I do understand that there are certain orchestral players still using gut however.

I'm not a great arco player but in my limited experience, a string like Oliv sounds beautiful for lyrical, solo type playing, but if you were in a bass section playing L'Arlésienne by Bizet or something with a lot of rapid passages, then you might prefer Flexocors or Corellis. In more skilled hands, they might be fine though.

[kontrabass]

I know that Jeremy McCoy, Assistant Principal bass of the Met Opera Orchestra, uses gut strings, with the exception of his extended-e string.

[dchan]

From what I heard from my teacher, unwound gut strings were very difficult to play. If you played them using a heavy handed bowing technique, you got an unpleasant sound from them; you had to have a very light touch with the bow to get a sound. In addition, you had to maintain the strings by rubbing tallow on them, and the strings themselves were quite rough with lots of imperfections.

Wound gut strings don't have the same headaches as unwound gut strings. Both do stretch quite a bit so that the string pitch can be a bit unstable.

So what are the advantages of steel strings? Well, they're cheaper, much cheaper. They're also more plentiful, thus you have more choices depending on your preferences. And they're much easier to play in general. With the bow, they can be very forgiving to bassists with imperfect technique. They also stay stable in regards to pitch.

Why do most orchestral bassists continue to use steel strings? Well, steel strings have become the popular choice since they were first introduced for the above reasons, and this popularity has given string manufacturers a reason to improve current strings and develop better strings.

Gut, on the other hand, saw a downfall in popularity, only to become more popular afterwards. Still, they are not even close to the popularity of steel strings. This is due a lot to their high cost. Without a low cost and good gut string, most bassists won't even attempt to try them. It's a bit of a Catch-22 for gut strings.

That said, orchestral bassists definitely have the technique to play gut strings. But in the end, it all comes down to their preference.

[anonymous12251111]

Oh wow, thank you all for your responses!