review of Lenzner wound gut A & E strings

[samriley]

hey guys. my kurschner wound A & E's have both started unwinding so i need to replace them.
i was thinking about trying the lenzner wound gut A & E strings...
has anyone tried these and can give them a bit of a review??

im tempted to try the dlugolecki polished flat A & E as i have the plain gut dlugolecki G & D strings, but the DD strings are expensive and not really an option at the moment.

any help is appreciated.

i've tried a bunch of gut strings....DD, kurschner, chordas, eudoxa, oliv, labella, golden spiral (possibly lenzner but i cant remember) on my bass, and various other guts on other peoples basses. i think the DD plain G & D are the best i've tried, and the kurschner A & E are awesome too.

only reason im thinking about the lenzners is cos they are my cheapest and quickest available option.

also i was thinking about sending the old kurschners to dan at gamut strings who said he can rewind them for me.....this option is only slightly cheaper than the new lenzners though.

anyone had any experience with having your A & E strings rewound with new silver windings?

[Bobby King]

The E was the usual crappy wound E. The A was proportionately too skinny next to the E, and it was sort of lumpy looking. Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend them. If you're going to use roundwound Es and As, buy the good ones.

[samriley]

Originally Posted by Bobby King

The E was the usual crappy wound E. The A was proportionately too skinny next to the E, and it was sort of lumpy looking. Sorry, but I wouldn't recommend them. If you're going to use roundwound Es and As, buy the good ones.

thanks bobby.

i had a feeling i was going to hear something like that...

i havent read about many people using the wound A & E lenzners, and they are near the cheaper end of the gut string scale.
ah well, might look into the DD's then...

anyone had experience with having their A or E guts re-wound? i might consider doing this, so i have some spares. hell, they may even sound good enough to become my first choice.... i've heard some good things about gamut strings, so my gut feeling (haha sorry couldnt help it) is that my old kurschner A & E rewound by dan at gamut, may well result in some good strings...

[AndreasH]

Here's little discussion about this in the gamut guts thread. I think Bobby King here has some personal experience of this.

[Bobby King]

I will say that the Lenzner G was perfectly usable. I have one as a spare.

Lenzner is about par with Efrano and Labella. They'd be OK if you were primarily a slapper or a non-discriminating bluegrasser (hate mail coming my way). It seems that you can never find the Götz brand anymore. They were a little better than the other "cheap" guts. But if you're looking to get more tone and pitch definition out of the strings, you really need to go with the good stuff.

[AndreasH]

Originally Posted by Bobby King

It seems that you can never find the Götz brand anymore. They were a little better than the other "cheap" guts.

Matthew Rybicki said that David Gage and Upton Bass might stock full sets of Götz. I haven't looked into it myself but it could be worth a try. If your'e looking for plain Götz, Kagan and Gaines has plain E, A, D, G and C strings. No wound guts. Also, Nahrmann bass shop has plain Götz D and G's.

[Francois Blais]

Lemur Music offers "European gut".
IOW, it can be anything, it seems.

[Francois Blais]

Originally Posted by AndreasH

Matthew Rybicki said that David Gage and Upton Bass might stock full sets of Götz.

Upton sells "Clef" guts (or the like).
How are they?

[AndreasH]

Originally Posted by Francois Blais

Lemur Music offers "European gut".
IOW, it can be anything, it seems.

I think that's Efrano.

[samriley]

Originally Posted by Francois Blais

Upton sells "Clef" guts (or the like).
How are they?

thanks for the replies guys.


from what i've read and heard, clef guts are not very good. cheap in price, cheap in quality.

im right for plain G & D's, currently using DD plain guts and have some spare's (A & E's with the windings removed - they actually sound and feel pretty good as G & D's) so im right for plain G & D's.

its a lasting wound A & E that im after, with a tone like the kurschners. they sound great on my bass. i love the p.c, early mingus, sam jones, doug watkins sound but the kurschners on my new-to-me bass sounds similar to george joyner/jamil nasser on the early red garland/coltrane quintet stuff. raw and growly, very fat. i love it. but im not prepared to pay thru the nose to get more kurschners when they may only last 6 months or so before the windings go again.

any more opinions on having them rewound by dan at gamut??

im slowly working my way through a 45 page long thread on here, to find some opinions on this.

[Eric Rene Roy]

Originally Posted by samriley

from what i've read and heard, clef guts are not very good. cheap in price, cheap in quality.

But this is not your experience? Just what you have read and heard?

It's funny how you can take Item A and item B...both items being the same...and have people give different opinions of each.

Kinda makes me snicker...

[AndreasH]

Hey Eroy,

Do you have any full sets of Götz guts at Upton bass?

[samriley]

Originally Posted by eroy

But this is not your experience? Just what you have read and heard?

It's funny how you can take Item A and item B...both items being the same...and have people give different opinions of each.

Kinda makes me snicker...

but i listen to a whole bunch of people who have tried something before me. sure, they might be the greatest string on earth on my bass....but i very much doubt so. im here to learn. and yes what i mentioned about the clef guts was what i've heard and not my own experience.....i thought i made that quite clear

sharing information and learning from others......i thought thats what this site is about?
i do have an ever growing drawer full of various old gut strings, but i'd like to add to it as slowly as possible. so if other peoples opinions can help me choose what to restring my bass with, then i will consider that useful information.

back to the re-winding of A & E strings....anyone share some experience of this??

[Bobby King]

Originally Posted by samriley

back to the re-winding of A & E strings....anyone share some experience of this??

I had an E rewound by Dan Larson and it was as good as new. I think it was around $50. A new string was maybe $100? Some people have said that if the gut core has been broken in and the string sounds good, then rewinding can be preferable. I don't have enough experience to comment. Ask TBer "Superman", he's the "old gut" guru around here.

[samriley]

Originally Posted by Bobby King

I had an E rewound by Dan Larson and it was as good as new. I think it was around $50. A new string was maybe $100? Some people have said that if the gut core has been broken in and the string sounds good, then rewinding can be preferable. I don't have enough experience to comment. Ask TBer "Superman", he's the "old gut" guru around here.

thanks bobby.
how long did the rewound string last?
i read on the gamut site that a used gut core/broken in string can be preferable in tone.
perhaps i'll give it a go.
did you have your winding polished smooth? i think he can do this also....
and was the diameter of the rewound string the same as the original? what was the original string you sent to him?

[superman]

As far as the Lenzners go I bought a A string a few months ago and it is the same as the Gotz ,I think they are just packaged different,They are ok strings the A is a bit too small gage for me but it works good on one of my basses,,the E is much bigger ,but works better with a bigger A,I really like the Lenzner plain G&D,,to me they are about as good as any other new gut out there,as long as you take care of them.
I used to get Larson to rewrap A&Es for me , but he started useing a smaller gage wire which made the string much smaller then the original,ended up about the same gage as Lenzners,and I also had 2 rewrapped A strings put up ,and when I went to get them out the wrap had already got loose.
so no more rewraps for me,Labellas are still junk,unless you get some old ones.I have never seen any Kushners,,so I cant comment on those I recently got a couple sets of old stock Artones and am really in gut heaven right now,,Kent

[samriley]

yeh i've played a friends bass with the artones. they sound great!
looks as though i wont get my kurschners rewound then. they are the medium ones and Larson replied saying he cant guarantee if he rewinds them, that they'll be tighter or thicker
i've decided to go for the heavy gauge kurschner wound A. it will be slightly tighter and thicker than the A im using now, which is exactly what im looking for.
they really have that fat, round growly tone on my bass. kinda like the george joyner sound on the red garland quintet stuff with coltrane.
im still deciding on whether to get the heavy E tho. i've got a pizzicato E on my bass now that feels and sounds good, so i may not risk it with the matching E just now, but i rekon the kurschner A is the best string i've played. tried the dlugolecki wound A & E on my bass the other day. kurschners have a better tone.
maybe one day i'll try the lenzner plain D & G, but i dont see how they can sound better than the DD's that i've got on there now. they sound awesome

[Bobby King]

I always found that standard roundwound gut A strings like Gotz or Lenzner sounded OK, but it was the Es that were problematic. Sometimes totally pitchless, or lots of choked notes and bad response. But I have had a few that were good so I know that it's possible to make one I guess Gamut is probably the best bet for buying a new one, what do you all think?

[superman]

I have never tried a new Gamut made A&E, I do like his strings even if they are a little pricey I have had a A once but it was quite old,it was about like the ones I had rewraped,if I could get one with winding gage the same as a Labella it would be perfect.as far as E strings I have a pile of nos E's of all makes and most are really big but sound great,I did have a couple of Es rewrapped and those seem to hold up better than the As and while still being a bit smaller work fine for me.I would like to see the Kurshner string that Sam is talking about,,they may be the ticket.
On another note I got to visit with the great Bob Moore last night at the Opry,he talked about how hard it is to get a good D string that matches the G,,and he told me he was going to donate his old 200yr old+ Italian bass to the Country music hall of fame,
I can't wait too see it again,, on top of being one of the greatest players he is quite a man,,God bless Bob Moore,,

[Bobby King]

Originally Posted by superman

On another note I got to visit with the great Bob Moore last night at the Opry,he talked about how hard it is to get a good D string that matches the G

And Bob should know,too! Well, I guess I'm in good company then. I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels that way.

Right now I've got two Gamuts and two Pizzicatos on again and I love it, but that D is the weak link (and it's a Gamut Lyon medium). Any note above a G is thud-city, and even the ones below are not as clear as the other strings. But, I still like the sound and feel, so you just have to deal with it.

I've always said that it's the D and E that are the problems in gut sets. Even with cheaper sets, the G and A are usually fine but the D and E are crappy sounding. My theory is that the thicker the plain gut string or core, the harder it is to make a string that sings and responds. A wound A string has a core about like a plain G, and an E is about like a plain D, so it corresponds.