I'm trying to get this sound....

[DrBassie]

Hey everybody,

I'm trying to get the kind of sound in this sound clip:

http://home.cfl.rr.com/drbassie/bass.mp3

Were there any other kind of strings besides gut back in the 30's, when this recording was made? How about metal-wound gut?

I'm going to try and go for this sound on my Cleveland and I'm assuming that they played all unwound gut back then. Is that assumption correct?

Thanks for any and all input!

Kyle

[Chasarms]

That sound is as much how the player is playing as it is what the player is playing.

The slap sound of the strings hitting the fb does suggest raw gut strings. Metal stings have a different sound altogether when they clank on the fb.

[A. Munk]

That's Louis Vola with Django. 1937 I think.
He used gut.
I wish I knew the history of strings a little better.



From what I understand is that they did have wound guts at that time and that some players would use wound E's and A's and plain gut D's andG's. Probably for the some of the same reasons contemporary players have that same set-up.
Trying to find a good plain gut E is imposible and a Plain gut A is something I have had a hard time with as have alot of other folks. Thus some of the other threads.
Maybe someone here has some string history info they can share.
Good luck with your quest.
Ari

[DrBassie]

Originally Posted by A. Munk

That's Louis Vola with Django. 1937 I think.
He used gut.
I wish I knew the history of strings a little better.



From what I understand is that they did have wound guts at that time and that some players would use wound E's and A's and plain gut D's andG's. Probably for the some of the same reasons contemporary players have that same set-up.
Trying to find a good plain gut E is imposible and a Plain gut A is something I have had a hard time with as have alot of other folks. Thus some of the other threads.
Maybe someone here has some string history info they can share.
Good luck with your quest.
Ari

Close enough! Jan '38.
Yeah, it sounds pretty even so I don't know if he used wound gut. I don't have much experience with gut, just the "gut-like" synthetics.