The Perfect Strings .... Act Two

[MT Spaces]

My Troubles .... All Started ..... When Troy (Say "Hey" to Kirsten, Del, and Give Nancy a belly-scratch and dog-biscuit) .... Damn You AnyHow .... Posted This ...
I found the perfect strings ....

Which eventually lead to this .....
How Many PacNW Bassists Does it Take to...

And This (at the end of thread) ...
http://www.bluegrassbassplace.com/ph...pic.php?t=1775

And then this .... Sorry for being a bluegrassnerd .... grovell ... grovell ... Where's my bones to chew ?? ....
http://www.bluegrassbassplace.com/ph...pic.php?t=1786 ....

It has only a few days since I got the bass back from Seattle ..... The Anima A was dang-banjoey at first .... But Now .... I sure-do like it ..... Low-C is Great. I am as pleased as (And the bass has) Punch. I've used Garbos before (and will again) but now I think the Animas are where-it's-at on A & E ... Thanks Sir Few-Quaw from NYC, Mike Ramsey, SuperMan, (and whoever else I forgot to Thank) for heading me to try Animas !!

I know Jake and Maiken are Mostly-hating ... Most of this crap I crank-out .... Since they are low-key Conservative Canadian Folks that think I am "over the top" Most of the time . But Hey ... Someone has to Quack over The Top Huh ? Jake is a Damn-Fine Luthier Resource for us Upper-Left-Coasters.

I have an "M'n'D" type-personality and the "M" is ruling right now with our Montana SpringTime green and flowers . I played The Epi for about 3 hours yesterday in a Jam outdoor under an open-air gazebow ...

I had the prime-time musician-spot ..... Looking out at the still-snow-topped Tobacco Root Mountains, antelope, and sandhill cranes in the Madison River Valley ..... I didn't even look at my "rookie-cheater-dots" on the edge of the FB (for a change).

In November, the "D" will take over and I will hate my basses and then give Jake "some big-troubles". He can deal with my complaints then.

The "gut-like" Epi is sounding so-good right now and when I get back the "steel-like" '40 Kay I left with him to do some-majik-on ... I will have Options . Right now the set of Pistoy G / D / Big-Ass Plain A plus Garbo-E on the Kay is Endangered .... Time to go with SomeThing Diff.

[Gearhead43]

How ya doin' Bob?

I am gonna have to try some Garbos here eventually. How does the tension of Garbos compare to guts?

[TroyK]

That's quite the oddessy, Bob! It was great to have you out and I agree about how great it was to play different basses. Especially different basses set up by the same luthier, all of which sounded differently.

[wineaux]

Gearhead,

Not sure what Bob's take will be, but on my Kay, the tension of my E and A Garbos is very similar the tension of the D and G guts -- and the Garbos have a clearer sound than the guts and don't feel as big around as telephone poles (as some E and A guts do.)

[bonaventura]

Bob, thanks for the pix and your detailed description of really good over the top stuff. Really really interesting to read and see...

I've often wanted to get more of the Anima string in the afterlength below the bridge, so I am curious about the dowells/barrels Jake used to string up the Anima E and A:

How do the strings attach to the dowells? Do they just loop around them? No cutting of the yellow stocking?

What kind of wood are the dowells made of?

Can you tune or adjust the Anima string afterlength by turning the dowell, or how does that work?

Best regards

Bill

[MT Spaces]

Originally Posted by Gearhead43

How ya doin' Bob? I am gonna have to try some Garbos here eventually. How does the tension of Garbos compare to guts?

I'm just ducky GearHead . E Tu ?? Like my Pal Wino said ..... The Garbos A & E I had on the '40 Kay matched up real-well with the Pistoy guts ... feel / tension-wise and sound-wise. I think they would be OK for slapping even though I don't do much. I had tried other A & E strings (Dominants, Innov SS, Spiro Weichs) but the Garbos were definitely the best. I think that the silk cores of the Velvets match-up better with the guts .... organic materials.

On the Epi I just got back, I decided to try the Velvet Anima A & E instead of Garbo. Even though they are pretty-new and I've maybe only logged 6 to 7 hours on them, they are settling in nicely and I think I like them better than Garbos. I really don't know the exact differences in construction compared to the Garbos. The Anima A & E are similar diameter and tension but they seem a bit less floppy, give tighter, more defined notes, and are more growly. Plus I believe that Jake The Luthier's afterlength tuning routine doesn't hurt the sound of the Animas either .

Originally Posted by bonaventura

.... I've often wanted to get more of the Anima string in the afterlength below the bridge, so I am curious about the dowells/barrels Jake used to string up the Anima E and A:

How do the strings attach to the dowells? Do they just loop around them? No cutting of the yellow stocking?

What kind of wood are the dowells made of?

Can you tune or adjust the Anima string afterlength by turning the dowell, or how does that work? ....

The yellow loop-de-loops are not cut .... they just attach to the dowel barrels the same way they attach to a tailpiece hole. Not sure what kind of wood the dowels are. Maybe just standard pine dowels .... If Jake is lissening he can tell you.

The afterlengths are not tuned by turning the dowel .... it's stationary. I believe that Jake gets the string afterlength "close enough" with the diameter of the dowel and then fine-tunes it with a stained shim under the string on the outboard-side of the tailpiece. The Velvet tailpiece attachment loop isn't ideal for the afterlength tuning routine ... But Jake is good at "MacGyvering" stuff . If I break or wear-out one of the Animas, I should be able to change it out myself and keep the afterlength tuning. I'm starting to think that this afterlength tuning deal isn't just voo-doo .

[Jake deVilliers]

Hey Bill, you can see how I dealt with the Animas in 2 pix in Bob's Bluegrass Bass Place post.

I put slices of dowel under the tailpiece to loop the yellow part around, essentially making my own giant 'ball ends'.

Then I made little T-shaped maple 'adjusters' to move the take-off point downward and lower the note of the afterlengths. Not very sophisticated, but it worked without altering the appearance of the original Epi tailpiece.

I'll post full size versions of these pix at www.thebassspa.com so you can more clearly see what I did. They're at the bottom of the 'Tailpieces' page.

[MT Spaces]

Hey BV .... It looks like Jake'n'Me were typing-away at the same time !

[juuzek]

Jake,
Have you noticed, over time, that the yellow ends of the Velvet Strings stretch out? Would this affect the afterlength tuning?

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by Bob Knebel

Hey BV .... It looks like Jake'n'Me were typing-away at the same time !

Bob, you can't really call what I do with a keyboard 'typing' - that would be an insult to all those who CAN type!

[MT Spaces]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Bob, you can't really call what I do with a keyboard 'typing' - that would be an insult to all those who CAN type!

Yep .... Yer Lame-Ass typing skills aside ... My Canadian Buddy ... We Must Forge On (and see if anyone is listening and really gives a ratz-ass ! )

[bonaventura]

Originally Posted by Bob Knebel

.. I'm starting to think that this afterlength tuning deal isn't just voo-doo

But Bob, Jake made so many -- no doubt really great --adjustments to your Ol Red, it must be difficult to tell which one of them did what in terms of sound. I mean, you didn't get to hear the impact of each change, get used to that sound, then on to the next change and compare. Must've been quite an experience to get them all at once like that.

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

...I put slices of dowel under the tailpiece to loop the yellow part around, essentially making my own giant 'ball ends'.

Then I made little T-shaped maple 'adjusters' to move the take-off point downward and lower the note of the afterlengths. Not very sophisticated, but it worked without altering the appearance of the original Epi tailpiece.

I'll post full size versions of these pix at www.thebassspa.com so you can more clearly see what I did. They're at the bottom of the 'Tailpieces' page.

I had a look, Jake. Could you use a slice of sound post for this? Looks like you use different diameters. And it seems you wrapped the yellow stocking around it several times before looping the loop, is that right? Does the Anima string need all that yellow string really? (I always thought the color was useful when I was walking down the road on a rainy night, you know, visibility... ) I guess my question is: Wouldn't shortening the yellow stocking diminish the Anima's ability to vibrate? Maybe not...