Olivs care

**Francois Blais** · #1 03-08-2005, 02:28 PM

Hi.
I seem to remember I read a post in the last weeks, where the poster mentioned he was tuning his guts flat between practices, and tuning them up when practicing.
Was it Olivs?
Is it a recommended usage?
If so, how much detuning? A half step?
I'll be getting a special, shorter, Oliv G for my EUB in two months from Pirastro.

TIA,
François

David Kaczorowski · #2 03-08-2005, 04:25 PM

Pirastro recommends that. I did it for awhile and imo it actually shortened the life of the strings. I've had a set of eudoxas on for nearly 14 months (installed 1/04), played well over a hundred, close to 200 gigs on them, plus practice time and they're still in decent shape. There was a time when the weather broke near the end of last summer when they sounded a little dead, but that changed. The only tuning up and down I've done is whatevers needed before playing.

**Francois Blais** · #3 03-08-2005, 08:15 PM

Hi David!
Glad to hear from you!

Thanks for the comments.
I have a set of Eudoxas too, but they have some kind of sticky feeling under my left hand fingers. As if the strings were preventing the fingers from free sliding over them... Kind of...
Do you have the same feeling?

hirort · #4 03-09-2005, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francois

I seem to remember I read a post in the last weeks, where the poster mentioned he was tuning his guts flat between practices, and tuning them up when practicing.
Was it Olivs?
Is it a recommended usage?
If so, how much detuning? A half step?

I am the poster. My teacher, who has a set of Eudoxa, recommended that. I usually detune a half step after use. I practice the bass almost everyday. I find out they are sometimes almost in tune, sometimes a whole note lower when I tune them.
I'm not sure if it shortens their life or not. They've been on my bass for about 15 months.

olivier · #5 03-09-2005, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hirort

I am the poster. My teacher, who has a set of Eudoxa, recommended that. I usually detune a half step after use. I practice the bass almost everyday. I find out they are sometimes almost in tune, sometimes a whole note lower when I tune them.
I'm not sure if it shortens their life or not. They've been on my bass for about 15 months.

I think that releasing the tension of gut strings after playing is something you should do to take care of THE BASS: if the weather turns dryer over a short span, you may very well find your strings tuned a whole tone up or more, and as humidity lowers, wood gets more brittle...

**Francois Blais** · #6 03-09-2005, 09:22 AM

Thanks for the feedback, guys.
Since the EUB isn't very sensitive to weather changes, and since I'll be using only one gut string, I don't think I should worry about that and detune the string.
I'll just keep it at pitch and follow it's tuning from day to day, particularly in the fall when the humidity decreases and the pitch will go higher.

David Kaczorowski · #7 03-09-2005, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francois

Hi David!
Thanks for the comments.
I have a set of Eudoxas too, but they have some kind of sticky feeling under my left hand fingers. As if the strings were preventing the fingers from free sliding over them... Kind of...
Do you have the same feeling?

I remember when I first started using eudoxas noticing they felt a little different. I don't notice it anymore. I never had a problem with it though.

hirort · #8 03-09-2005, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olivier

I think that releasing the tension of gut strings after playing is something you should do to take care of THE BASS: if the weather turns dryer over a short span, you may very well find your strings tuned a whole tone up or more, and as humidity lowers, wood gets more brittle...

As far as I understand, detuning strings is mainly for string itself. Because gut strings have much lower tension than steel strings, detuning won't help a lot for the bass.
Because Olivs and Eudoxas have steel/silver windings on gut core, temparature and humidity change affects their elasticity (or stretcing ratio) a lot, and as a result it is easy to have loose winding (i.e. windings come off from core). If the tension is lower, it less likely happens. I guess that's why Pirastro recommended detuning when not in use.
However, it is important to put some lubricant on nut and bridge. Because their windings easily come off, smooth surface on nut and bridge grooves are necessary. As I mentioned in the former post, I put a lot of soft pencil marks on nut grooves and small pieces of Timpani skin on bridge grooves.
Gut strings need some TLC, but I really love the sound.

**Francois Blais** · #9 03-10-2005, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hirort

Gut strings need some TLC, but I really love the sound.

TLC?

hirort · #10 03-10-2005, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by francois

TLC?

TLC = Tender Loving Care