/ Register

Dominant E & A with gut D & G

Discussion in 'Strings [DB]' started by bassfiddlesteve, Apr 16, 2012.

  1. Apr 16, 2012 #1
    bassfiddlesteve

    bassfiddlesteve Your first second choice™ Supporting Member

    Dec 3, 2003
    I was going though my string drawer and I was wondering how a Dominant E & A would work with Red-O-Ray plain gut D & G. Has anyone tried mixing gut strings with with Dominants?

    - Steve
     
  2. Apr 16, 2012 #2
    Monkey

    Monkey Supporting Member

    Mar 8, 2000
    Ohio, USA
    I used Dom E & A with Lenzner gut D & G for a while. I liked the sound, but the difference in tension was hard to deal with for me. I always liked the bow-ability of the Doms, but it took a very different touch than the guts. I am now using Anima E & A and I find the sound, feel and arco response to be more similar to the guts.

    I really love Doms, though. My other bass has Spiro Weichs now, but I sometimes miss the Doms.
     
  3. Apr 16, 2012 #3
    KUNGfuSHERIFF

    KUNGfuSHERIFF

    Feb 8, 2002
    Upstate NY
    I haven't tried Doms yet, but recently had Red-O-Rays over dead Spiros on a Kay. The Reds paired nicely with the Mittels in terms of tone and tension, and they didn't look bad together either. The Weichs lacked beef and felt flimsy. The Reds were fairly high-tension gut strings in my experience. I did not like the Reds on my carved bass.
     
  4. Apr 16, 2012 #4
    bassfiddlesteve

    bassfiddlesteve Your first second choice™ Supporting Member

    Dec 3, 2003
    Right now the Dominants are the only E & A strings I have handy besides Obligatos which don't seem to pair well with gut strings. It was just a thought.

    - Steve
     
  5. Apr 20, 2012 #5
    bassfiddlesteve

    bassfiddlesteve Your first second choice™ Supporting Member

    Dec 3, 2003
    For the record it was not a good match. The Dominant A was too stiff and growly next to the gut. I found that the Obligatos matched in terms of tension but not sound. I wound up using the wound gut A string and leaving the Dominant E on as it's pretty thumpy. I don't have the wound gut E string from this set.

    I'm begining to think that the best match for a gut D & G is a gut E & A.

    - Steve
     
  6. Apr 20, 2012 #6
    Phil Rowan

    Phil Rowan Supporting Member

    Mar 2, 2005
    Brooklyn, NY
    That or gut A and steel E. I used a medium Helicore orchestra E along with either a Gamut heavy A or Pirastro Chorda A, Pistoy D and different NOS plain Gs and found it to be a nice match (the Helicore was sent for free from Gearhead along with another deal from a few years back.. it was very old when I got it). Right now I have a D'addario Kaplan orchestra E on there and it sounds warm/big and dark along with the Gamut heavy A and the rest. E strings are generally lower in tension anyway, so it's just a matter of finding one that matches guts in terms of sound output, character and tension.

    That all said, I wouldn't be against eventually trying a Gamut heavy or heavy+ E sometime in the distant future, after all my student loans have been paid off.