Olives,Gamut's, or Velvets

[Brennan]

Thanks for helping with my quandry. I'm kind of a lurker and have been keeping up with the Olive/Gamut posts (thanks Toad and Adrian). I' have an 75 year old 7/8 German with a full circle and a Focus/wizzy rig.I kind of like an aggressive sound that cuts. I'm thinking of switching strings again. I'm currently using Animas but they kind of wimp out up high and I kind of miss the guts I used to have as well as the Garbo's (the early formula Garbos were great). The thing is my bass is kind of dark and I like a little more bite in the A and E. I was thinking of a combination Olives or Gamuts on the G and D and permanents on the bottom. My string length is huge as well so the new Garbo lights have caught my eye. The price of the mixed sets to the Velvets seem comperable. Thanks, Geoff

[Michael Case]

Well, the Olivs are gut with a little zing like a steel string. They are a nice match for steel E&A strings as most steel G&D strings are a little twangy and thin sounding. I like them personally, but plain gut guys aren't so fond of them. The really big drawback is the fact that the steel windings are prone to unwind. I've already replaced my Oliv G after only 3 months, it still sounded good except for the buzz that appeared on the open G.

[Adrian Cho]

Olivs are better for arco than the Gamuts but the windings are a pain in the butt and they are quite dark. You may want to think about Eudoxas on the top instead of Olivs. They are brighter and will cut through better.

[Brennan]

Are the Eudoxas really thin? I don't hear about many peple using them on top. I love the fundemental of gut but I want to retian the upper transients of a more modern tone. BTW I went through a similar experience with the Vector thing (loved the sound but kind of impractical).

[Adrian Cho]

I think they are a little thinner. I must admit, I can't remember anyone using Eudoxas on top and steel on the bottom but I do know some people like to use a full set of Eudoxas.

[ctxbass]

I don't know if they are still available, but Pirastro Pizzicato strings were the most "modern sounding" gut strings I ever had.
I usually think gut = old school, but these were different.

I also rember that Innovation Hybrid strings had a very gut-like attack with a more complex decay to the sound. Relatively inexpensive too.

[Aaron Cohn]

I'm not using them anymore since the windings and I weren't getting along--to be fair I'm probably not the most gentle to my strings--but the Eudoxa top strings are very nice. A nice compromise without feeling like a compromise, if you know what I mean. They may be thinner than other gut options, but they're significantly thicker than steel strings.

[Uncletoad]

I think it depends on how dark the bass is.

How do spirocore mittels or weichs sound on it? Are they a candidate for E/A? You mentioned more bite on the E/A. If Spiros are to bright Dominants may be good. Pemanents are a pretty dark string, when I think bite I think bright.

What gut strings did you try and were they to dark or just right? I would think some dark bases would swallow plain gut right up. Although if the Animas were getting lost in the upper register the only thing I can think of would be the Gamut D/G.

Olivs were dark and boomy on my brighter bass. I got more kick in the upper register on my bass with Belcantos rather than Animas. Ray Brown used spiros all around on his dark bass and sounded fantastic.

[Jeremy Allen]

Originally Posted by Adrian Cho

I must admit, I can't remember anyone using Eudoxas on top and steel on the bottom but I do know some people like to use a full set of Eudoxas.

I'm surprised to hear you guys say you haven't heard of people using Eudoxa on top too much; I've known plenty of people who used 'em for the D and G with steel on the bottom (myself included, briefly), and in fact it was many years before I ever saw a Eudoxa A and E (used to match up with plain gut on the top, which was a great sounding combination).

If one wants a little "zing," I'd have to say Eudoxa over Oliv. (That word doesn't come to mind with the latter.) I think Eudoxas are really great strings, and with everyone throwing money around like crazy these days (it seems) they deserve to be in the mix. Their problems are well-noted, though; I stopped using them because of the winding problem, and because when I played in a humid bar the tuning drove me insane. I'm much better equipped to deal with the latter problem these days, though--one simply has to pay attention and stop thinking like a Spirocore user.

[Michael Case]

I don't wanna change the way I think, just sound good.

I've never used Eudoxas in any set-up, but I've been curious. How do they blend with Olivs on the top? And if anybody has an old Oliv E&A they wouldn't mind lending out I'd be very great full.

Mike

[Adrian Cho]

I used Olivs on top and Eudoxas on the bottom for years. They are the not suprisingly an excellent match given that they have the same core but just different metal for the windings. For me however, Gamuts + Permanents are a much more effective combinaion unless I was playing mostly arco in a steel string section (as opposed to an early music group playing all gut).

Olivs + Eudoxas are still overall very dark sounding. Gamuts cut through more than you would expect them to. They have a very distinct articulation for pizz not to mention distinct for arco too (but not necessarily in a way most people would like).

[Michael Case]

I think for me dark=better since my bass can be a bit on the bright side. Funny thing is, my Spiro weich E&A match my Oliv D&G pretty nice (to my ear anyway). I tried my Anima E&A with the Olivs, and it seemed to be a good match, but the Animas on the bottom always seemed a bit unfocused to me and I took them off after one day.

Ahh string fever.

[Brennan]

Spiros are cool on the bottom. I just dont dig that Sitar G string. I was thinking more in terms of a match for the guts in tension and relative timbre. I'm kind of intrigued by the Domanants, I'm thinking of giving a set a try although, now that I have a kid I have to limit my expensive experiments (you dig Phil). I love to play with the bow but I'm a Jazzer so I've sacrificed before (garbo G). I can't recall the gut brand I used to use on the G. I think my guy had it lying around the shop. Anyway, I kind of liked that bright gut sound of the Garbo G but I want the low end to speak a little better with even tension, exellent bowablity and no durabity, unravelling or other technical issues. Thats all. I'm joking of course but you get the drift.

[Andy Allen]

As I mentioned in the Oliv thread, I am using Oliv D&G with Spiro mittel/red E&A.

I found the Olivs to be higher tension than I expected, but a great thick, punchy sound.

They didn't match the weichs on my bass; which were too thin and low tension to match in feel, and did not have the punch and volume of the Olivs, so they were being overpowered.

The mittels are just right, however - and match very well in all respects. They are well used already, so they are not zingy at all, with a nice growl if I need it.

Now I just have to hope that the Olivs last me a decent amount of time. If they last a year or more then their cost will be worth it, but if they don't I'll be trying Dominants again. The Doms give me almost all that I like about the Olivs (volume, snap, tone), but at an affordable price (and with the advantage of better tuning stability.

Andy

[Michael Case]

I hate to say this, but here it goes. I was disappointed by the short lifespan of my Oliv G and tried my Dominant and Spiro mix again. I kept them on for a little over a week, but could never get into the sound. In the end I shelled out the bread for a new oliv G and put them back on with Spiro Weichs for now. The Weichs do seem a bit lower tension than the Olivs, but I don't know about Mittles. I don't think my bass likes them so much.

The moral of the story is, once you put a gut D&G on your bass you'll never go back!