Has anybody tried an actual gut tail gut?

[Michael Case]

If so, what has it done for the tone of your bass? Is it better than the steal cable or the synthetic "gut-like" tail guts? I was looking at the Gamut Gut string website and got curious about this.

Mike

[Thomas Stone]

I'm guessing a complete nightmare (note i speak from a position of complete ignorance on this).

But well done for raising this as I bet all the early music/baroque folks are now racing to their luthiers to get their instruments just that bit more authentic

I'd imagine you'd suffer all the instability of a gut string, but across the whole 4. Although presumably they would all detune by the same amount?

Back to your question. I'd love to believe it would impact on tone in a good way.

[Michael Case]

Yeah, I'd like to also. I'm mostly just curious about this, always interested in finding new voodoo to improve the sound of the bass.

[kurt muroki]

i would only worry about the tailpiece wire breaking and having the tailpiece fly up... but maybe with lower tension gut strings it would work ok?

[Michael Case]

Originally Posted by kurt muroki

i would only worry about the tailpiece wire breaking and having the tailpiece fly up...

That could be useful if a singer wants to sit in on a gig. You just need good aim.

[Bob Branstetter]

I had some basses with real gut tailpiece hangers in my shop back in the late 1960's. However, I eventually converted them all to wire cable. I was worried about breakage, but did not actually experience this happening. I did find the (gut) tailgut was not as stable as wire cable and pitch seemed to change more during weather changes than with wire cable. As far as tone is concerned, I didn't notice any difference what-so-ever between gut and wire cable.

[Schoolhouse]

I've used it a few times. It takes a while to settle, but in my opinion is similar to the nylon tailpiece hangers.

[dragonetti11]

"tailpiece hangers"

[Mudfuzz]

My bass originally had a gut tail gut, after about a year and a half, it stretched and started to pull my bass's top off. The guys at the Hammond Ashley shop fixed up my bass and put a wire cable one on.