Opinions on different brands of plain gut.

[Bobby King]

I received my Larson G&D strings today and they're excellent! I ordered varnished Lyon Gut in Light+ for the G and and Light for the D. I recently bought some German-made "new old stock" E&A strings and put them on my Strunal Hybrid along with the Larsons. It's really a first-class gut setup. The pizz is great and I'm definitely getting more pitch clarity on the Larsons going up the neck.

Arco-wise, they aren't radically different than other guts I've had, bowing on plain gut is still a different technique. There's things I like about it though, it's very expressive. But you have to work not to get a scratchy tone -- more speed, less pressure from the bow.

I'll have to see if I keep them on my Strunal. I've had an Obligato/Olive combo on that bass that I like, and those bow very well but damn, that gut is so addictive! It just "pops" for pizz and my Strunal is nice and resonant. But if the arco becomes an issue, I'll move them over to my King bass.

Although quite expensive, I'd say they are worth the money.
If I had to do it over again, I'd probably go to medium gauge on the G. The Light+ is still fairly thin, but I like it and it has decent tension. The light D is perfect for me.

Next time I have a million bucks, I'd like to try Larson's silver wound lower strings.

[kwd]

Thank you for reporting back on the Larsons. How do you think the Larsons would do with the Obligato A and E?

Boutique Brands Forever!

[Adrian Cho]

Now you see what I mean about high quality gut strings. There is a big difference and one of the ways it shows is in being able to play higher up but definitely the tone and pitch is clearer in all registers than crappy gut strings.

I think I looked at Dan's wound gut and decided not to go with them since they are roundwound. I think he told me could polish them a bit and them a bit flatter but after my experiences with the Animas I think I'll stay clear of anything with a winding that isn't completely flat and smooth.

I can see my Gamut guts lasting for a very long time. The only reason I foresee having to replace them is once they wear down around the area where the right hand makes pizz contact.

[Uncletoad]

So you folks are saying the Larson Guts speak well in the upper register. One of my worries with Guts is loosing pitch center and low end with them as I move through mid board and into thumb.

I don't want super long notes like I prefer downstairs but something enough to sing a little when pitzing would be nice.

So far the cheaper guts I've tried don't do either of those things well at all.

Bobby, keep writing about your experiences with those as your gigs go by. I get quite a bit out of peoples ongoing journaling about their strings.

[Bobby King]

kwd - They'd be fine with Obligatos. I put the Larsons on first and played them with the Obligatos and it was fine. Still, after all my experimenting, I prefer using the roundwound gut lower strings when using plain gut for the uppers. (and you really have to look to find good ones - LaBella, Efrano, Lenzner, all leave a lot to be desired) In particular, when amplified I notice a lot of difference in the timbres of the E&A when I use Superflex or Obligato. Even Pizzicato or Olive/Eudoxa don't match up as well as roundwound gut, for me anyway. I play lots of gigs that are blues, country, swing and bluegrass, and I just like that bottom that the roundwound guts give.

My solution is to have two basses (of course right now I have gut on both ) and keep an arco friendly string on one.

Adrian - the Larsons are truly a cut above, especially the D string. I've had fairly OK Gs from Goetz or Efrano but the Larson D is way superior. Thanks!

Uncletoad - even with the Larsons (for me) there's not the same clarity you'd get going up the neck using steel or Obligato, etc. (on the D in particular. maybe if I had a fine carved bass it would be different but..), but it's the nature of the beast. The Larsons are way superior to most. If you really do a lot of playing in the upper/thumb positions, I don't know about gut. Maybe Adrian will disagree! I tend to stay more down in the "money zone"

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by Bobby King

Uncletoad - even with the Larsons (for me) there's not the same clarity you'd get going up the neck using steel or Obligato, etc. (on the D in particular. maybe if I had a fine carved bass it would be different but..), but it's the nature of the beast. The Larsons are way superior to most. If you really do a lot of playing in the upper/thumb positions, I don't know about gut. Maybe Adrian will disagree! I tend to stay more down in the "money zone"

Yea I'm a money zone guy too. I use the upper register to add dimension to a walk. I prefer it have some bottom end up there so I don't loose the momentum. I'm most used to Animas, Dominants and Spirocores. Animas work the best up there so far.