Lenzner Guts for arco and pizz?

[ablumley]

I need new strings and love the sound of gut. But as I am just in the process of buying a bass, I won't be able to afford a set of the expensive gut strings. Are the Lenzners that Bob Gollihur is selling any good for pizzicato AND arco applications? I play about 50/50 each way. Thanks,

Aaron

[Bobby King]

Originally Posted by ablumley

I need new strings and love the sound of gut. But as I am just in the process of buying a bass, I won't be able to afford a set of the expensive gut strings. Are the Lenzners that Bob Gollihur is selling any good for pizzicato AND arco applications? I play about 50/50 each way. Thanks,

Aaron

IMO, bowing on plain gut is always a challenge, even with more expensive brands. But the higher quality guts are definitely superior for arco.

For pizz, I thought that the Lenzner G&D were OK, the A so-so, and the E poor. Arco was so-so on all. You'd be better off to buy the Lenzner D&G and mix them with Obligato, Permanent, Dominant, etc. on the bottom.

If you play a lot of arco, I think that the gut-core, steel flatwounds like Olive and Eudoxa are best. A mixed set of Oliv D&G and Eudoxa E&A is great, but will run you around $400.

If you really want the traditional plain gut D&G with roundwound E&A, save up and get Gamuts or Dlugoleckis -- really worth the extra money, IMO. Also around $400 for the full set. But the Lenzners are what, around $200? It's worth the extra and you'll get a year or more's use out of them.


Good luck!

[ablumley]

Thanks for the input. I'll probably wait and switch to gut when I have the money to buy a good set.

Aaron

[gor-gy]

hello from france , in europe we have 2 lenzner gut set.we have a supersolo classic ( for arco and...slap) like bob gollihur and we have as supersolo jazz gut ( specially for big pizz and arco ) set with different gauge, different manufacture. it's E & A silver plate / D nylon on gut / G plain gut but I don't try this. go to

http://alienorlutherie.com/fr/boutiq...6_28_0_18.html

but if you want a true gut string try pirastro gut string

[Steve Swan]

The customer that purchased my Kolstein Baker model a couple of weeks ago really liked the response of Lenzner gut strings on his 3/4 Paesold. We put a set of Lenzner strings on the Baker model and it was like magic for him with pizz playing. The supple feel of the Lenzner strings was a nice benefit with the longer string length of the Baker model. He doesn't play much arco, so he wasn't that picky about the bow response when he's practicing scales. The Lenzner strings sounded nice and warm to me when bowed on this particular bass.

My favorite gut strings for arco and pizz have been those made by Dlugolecki. They bow so easily and have the best definition of any gut strings that I've tried. Having said that, I usually use gut strings from Gotz with a plain A for pizz. The plain A isn't for everyone or every bass!

Steve swan