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Double Bass Sonores Gut Strings by Gerold Genssler

Dr Rod

Dr Rod

Aug 19, 2005
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#1
A friend of mine from Germany (16fuss from talkbass) just got a hold of a set of new strings called TWINE.

From what he told me they are flat wound gut and they are made by one of the original partners from Velvet. Apparently there was a dispute and Mr Schertler kept running Velvet, while this other fellow is now making his own strings.

Well, the report from my friend is that the strings are just incredible, far better than Velvets in his opinion, and alas, about twice the price.

There you have it, I don't play gut but I thought you would enjoy.
 
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#3
I guess you are talking about Gerold Genßler from Berlin. I once played on a 5th tuned bass with Gerold's string, and the sound and feel was great. He prefers you to meet him with your bass to find out what strings your instrument exactly needs. You can contact him via geroldgenssler<at>gmx.de
 
#5
I found his string patent http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6677511.html

and his phone number is 011-49-30-9279 1464

apparently the price is about 500 euros per set, custom made for your bass

they have a 2 year warranty, and some people have used them for many years

some people don't even need an amp anymore with these strings

he has different types of strings, I just learned, perhaps the name "twine" refers to the type rather than brand (?), another type is called Corax, and another apparently called "Standardsaiten" (translated: standard strings)
 
#9
I'll get the TWINE megathread Sticky ready.

Does Gerold Genssler have a brother who makes bass transducers, by any chance? And they cost about $3K USD and you have to send him your bass measurements and your body mass index and the details of your three most common recurring dreams before he can make them? And the pickup doesn't even need to be installed, you just leave it at home and go to the gig and it's like "your bass, only louder?"

Sorry...Baby-Induced Sleep Deprivation (BISD) is a serious condition.
 
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#11
smiley_puke.gif
 
#15
more info: the shop is called SONORES


Gerold Genßler
Bizetstraße 121
13088 Berlin
t 030 927 91 465
[email protected]




here is a description of th string types that he makes, it's in German, I will translate it at a later date:

1. sonores DRAGO SOLO modernes Solospiel (auch in Normalstimmung spielbar)
2. sonores DRAGO BASSO modernes Orchesterspiel
3. sonores TWINE alte Musik/(mod. Orchester)-
4. sonores HELIX Jazz pizz/arco, alte Musik
5. sonores CORAX Jazz pizz/arco, alte Musik
CORAX hat den dicksten Darmkern, Helix ist etwas schlanker und die anderen haben dünne Darmkerne.
Alle Saiten sind in Einzelfertigung hergestellt, stimmstabil und reagieren nicht auf Feuchtigkeitsänderungen.
Ich gebe 2Jahre Garantie.
Preis liegt bei ca. 500€.
 

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#17
The Google translation engine gave me:

CORAX has the thickest intestinal core, Helix is a bit slimmer and the others have thin intestinal nuclei.
All strings are produced in individual, and stimmstabil not respond to humidity changes.
I admit 2 years guarantee.
Price is around € 500.
 
#18
francois said:
The Google translation engine gave me:

CORAX has the thickest intestinal core, Helix is a bit slimmer and the others have thin intestinal nuclei.
All strings are produced in individual, and stimmstabil not respond to humidity changes.
I admit 2 years guarantee.
Price is around € 500.
Click to expand...

500 Euros? Wow (E1=$1.44+, $720.). Even at $500 dollars that's expensive. I am glad I like Flexocors. They cost much less, stay in tune, last a long time and are easy to get.

I just bought an Italian Bass and the Flexocors on it are 10 years old. They actually sound good after a quick basic cleaning. They weren't played all that much in that time but were tuned to tension all along.
 
#20
I used Gerold's strings many years ago when Velvet just started and they made real gut core metal roundwound strings which sounded fabulous but had a tendency to break. were maybe the best strings I tried (certainly at the time ...)

Now he is doing his own thing after a break from Velvet / Schertler so we gather

I haven't tried any yet but I would be confident in what he says - I'm sure he won't mind here is the list he sent me to look at:

After 4 years time-out I startet once more to develop a very new generation of strings.
And now I hold them in my hands.
My decision to work as an "artistical strings maker" means that I make strings only on demand in small piece production, therefore no serial production for getting and saving an optimal quality.
My program is to produce custom made strings especially for the particular desire of the musicians. So I make strings for all tunings one can imagine like Low B, High C, Quint (CGDA), Bassetto (GDAE), Violone etc.

My focus is attended on making gut strings in an unique quality. The strings are really easy to bow and have a great bowed and pizzed sound. The roundwound gut strings are stable in tune and long-living so that I can give 2 years of warranty for it.
The other thing is to make a "steelstring" without any steel inside but with a similar steelstrings' playability.
This gives the player a familiar feeling to the material he knows.
The sets I make like "standard" are:
CORAX -thick black gut for Jazz (bowing easily)
HELIX -helix wound medium gut for Jazz (bowing easily)
TWINE -thin gut core, roundwound with metal for jazz and bowing
DRAGO solo -thin gut core, roundwound with metal for modern bowing
DRAGO basso -thin gut core, roundwound with metal for modern bowing
RED LABEL solo -man-made core roundwound with metal for modern bowing
RED LABEL basso -man-made core roundwound with metal for modern bowing
The 4 string set of gut strings costs about 500, the RED about 350euro.
 

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