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Double Bass Gamut String info needed

lrhbass

Supporting Member
Apr 20, 2009
508
236
Dallas,Tx.
I am thinking of trying the Pistoy Gamut strings on one of my Basses. I have enjoyed reading all the posts concerning guts etc. My question is what would be similar to the Velvet Anima G &D, that are on them at the present them.I am planning on keeping the A &E Velvets although a posible change to Pistoy A, is not out of the question. Could you recommend size ,varnished unvarnished etc., and any other info I should be aware of...thanks...:)
 
while ive never tried velvets, i have had gamuts on one bass for several months now, and am trying different guts on another bass. i have pistoy's and i have a medium G and a light D. this is the setup i would recommend. even with the lighter gauge D string it still seems extra huge compared to the G string. its bigger than my steel A string. i can only imagine how huge a medium D string would be, and im not sure how useful it would be in the upper registers. as it is, the light D string perfroms well in the upper register, but you can hear where it gets a hint of thuddyness. i imagine it would get worse with thicker string. the D string is notorious for being the difficult one. if you look at the carlos chorda set, the gauges match the gauges of the medium pistoy G and the light D. also, there is a thread somewhere that mentions the ideal gauges for each string to get a good balance, and they very closely match the medium G and light D pistoy gauge.
 
I have Garbos on the E and A, Gamut Lyon Med D and Heavy G. I started with a Med G but it was a little too light for my hands. The Heavy is a little stiffer feeling. I got them varnished. I actually don't know that it makes a huge difference. I broke the G after about 15 months due to my caustic sweat and the varnish didn't protect it.
 
I also have Garbos on the E and A. My D and G are Pirastro Chorda (Carlos Henriquez edition) and they match perfectly with the Garbos imho. Not only soundwise but also tensionwise. I like it even better than the full Garbos set.

Ya man. I'm really diggin it. I had Animas on for about 15 months before I put these on a month and a half ago. I think I like the Garbos better. A deeper, 'guttier' sound and LOUD.
 
Ya man. I'm really diggin it. I had Animas on for about 15 months before I put these on a month and a half ago. I think I like the Garbos better. A deeper, 'guttier' sound and LOUD.

Yeah. For now I haven't found any better E and A string than the Garbos. They sound great and they stay in tune. Now you got me curious about the Gamuts on the G and D. I'll probably try them when the Chordas need to be replaced. I'm also very curious about the Olive G. Soo many strings, not enough $$ :D

Ciao,

KN
 
Norre said:
I'm also very curious about the Olive G.

Olive smolive! I wasted 120$ novelty lasted 3 weeks then I put my Mittel G back. If you spend money mate, spend it on a Gamut G of your choice. To me most string makers can close down apart from spirocore and gamuts, although when I used Gamut D & G the ONLY E & A I found to be good match were Innovation Super Silvers.
 
Ya man. I'm really diggin it. I had Animas on for about 15 months before I put these on a month and a half ago. I think I like the Garbos better. A deeper, 'guttier' sound and LOUD.

Garbo does sound like a great string,but I hear it is not a usable string for the Bow, that is why I thought keeping the Anima strings E-A would work better.
 
Olive smolive! I wasted 120$ novelty lasted 3 weeks then I put my Mittel G back

Mmmm ... I haven't played any of these strings before, but it seems to me that an Olive G and a Spirocore Mittel G are the exact opposite of each other. Why did you decide to try the Olive comming from a Spirocore? I'm not looking for a modern sounding, much sustaining spirocore kind of thing. I prefer the vintage-vibe thing like in the old dixieland and traditional jazz or old-school blues. The Carlos Henriquez Chordas are great for what I'm doing, but unfortunately you can only buy them in a full set so that's why I'll probably replace them by Gamuts when they're dead. Haven't tried the Super Silvers on E and A. Maybe I'll try them too in the future, but for now the Garbos are my prefered E and A strings ;)
 
while ive never tried velvets, i have had gamuts on one bass for several months now, and am trying different guts on another bass. i have pistoy's and i have a medium G and a light D. this is the setup i would recommend. even with the lighter gauge D string it still seems extra huge compared to the G string. its bigger than my steel A string. i can only imagine how huge a medium D string would be, and im not sure how useful it would be in the upper registers. as it is, the light D string perfroms well in the upper register, but you can hear where it gets a hint of thuddyness. i imagine it would get worse with thicker string. the D string is notorious for being the difficult one. if you look at the carlos chorda set, the gauges match the gauges of the medium pistoy G and the light D. also, there is a thread somewhere that mentions the ideal gauges for each string to get a good balance, and they very closely match the medium G and light D pistoy gauge.

Enjoyed the tracks.great playing also! You said those were the Pistoy and could you tell us what E-A strings you were using,sure sounded good!!
 
Enjoyed the tracks.great playing also! You said those were the Pistoy and could you tell us what E-A strings you were using,sure sounded good!!

wow thanks for the compliments, but if you're talking about the tracks on my myspace page, none of them have guts on them. i only started using guts this fall. those tracks are all older.
i did have some sound clips of the guts that i posted in another thread, just to give people an idea. i have since taken them down though. i can see if i still have them if you're interested
 
Norre said:
Mmmm ... I haven't played any of these strings before, but it seems to me that an Olive G and a Spirocore Mittel G are the exact opposite of each other. Why did you decide to try the Olive comming from a Spirocore? I'm not looking for a modern sounding, much sustaining spirocore kind of thing. I prefer the vintage-vibe thing like in the old dixieland and traditional jazz or old-school blues. The Carlos Henriquez Chordas are great for what I'm doing, but unfortunately you can only buy them in a full set so that's why I'll probably replace them by Gamuts when they're dead. Haven't tried the Super Silvers on E and A. Maybe I'll try them too in the future, but for now the Garbos are my prefered E and A strings ;)

Super Silvers are so cheap perhaps somewhat underestimated, I used Anima E and Garbo A with my Gamuts but not liked the Gamut D being fatter than Garbo A so I got SS and that was a dream match.
I bought the Olive beacause I wanted to see what ppl on about! Great string but lacks the spiro attitude as well as the gut gorgeousness, bit like Garbo G accept it's good to bow. Dunno! :)
By the way Olive G is not dissimilar at all that is why it goes well with Spiros, I honestly think that Olive G would go with any set on the planet. I stick with Spiros and Gamuts. When I had two DBs I realised that gut strings will never be outdone by any other strings.
 
wow thanks for the compliments, but if you're talking about the tracks on my myspace page, none of them have guts on them. i only started using guts this fall. those tracks are all older.
i did have some sound clips of the guts that i posted in another thread, just to give people an idea. i have since taken them down though. i can see if i still have them if you're interested

Would be great to hear them,if not to much trouble...