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Has anyone tried the Aquila Thunderblacks on a GT23? Curious how they compare to the Thunderguts/Reds/Pahoehoe's...
Per aquila when I asked them, thunder blacks are just black and fyi thunder reds d and g are just red. The only difference in any of them is red a and e other than color.
Huh? I'm completely confused by this.
The Reds I've used are slightly smoother than the Thunderguts, but still nowhere near the Pahoehoe. I tried to use powder on the Reds, which worked better than on the Thunderguts, but dissipated after only a couple of sessions.
I talked to aquila and they said that the d and g are just colored red thunderguts. The a and e are modified to be thinner at the same frequency as the thunderguts. And they said some people asked for black strings for aesthetic reasons so they made the blacks
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What’s there to clean? I haven’t noticed that anything sticks to them. Mine are 5 years old and pristine. Probably worth mentioning that I play fretless. I know they can develop gnarly fret bumps over time.
I finally gave in and bought a fretless 23” GT MB this weekend. The store also had a fretted one, a Kala (not sure which model but was fretted with Pahoehoe's), and some other smaller ABG’s (23” Taylor and 25” fretless Ibanez). The fretless GT had the sound/size/feel I liked the most, and was the least expensive of the bunch.
Before playing it, I anticipated wanting to switch to the Silverback strings (having never played a micro/U-bass or synthetic strings before), but I actually liked the Thundergut strings more than expected. Yes they are “high friction” vs most string materials, so you will not be doing big glissandos up and down the neck (esp on the E and A string, the G string is still fairly slide-able). They have a great tone as well if you are willing to work around this.
One thing I like about the Thunderguts is plucking dynamics. Eg - you can pluck heavy, or with just a light touch near the bridge, and the friction on your fingertip still gives the string lots of amplitude. I am curious to compare to the other Aquila synthetic strings, and maybe the Pahoehoe’s (wasn’t a huge fan of their sound on the Kala, but it was a fretted model and shorter scale).
The MB's stock onboard preamp works fine, as long as you keep the treble control below the “0” mark (as I’ve read from other posters). Above that it basically goes into "oversensitive piezo" mode, which picks up a lot of unwanted sounds.
Before playing it, I anticipated wanting to switch to the Silverback strings (having never played a micro/U-bass or synthetic strings before), but I actually liked the Thundergut strings more than expected. Yes they are “high friction” vs most string materials, so you will not be doing big glissandos up and down the neck (esp on the E and A string, the G string is still fairly slide-able). They have a great tone as well if you are willing to work around this.
One thing I like about the Thunderguts is plucking dynamics. Eg - you can pluck heavy, or with just a light touch near the bridge, and the friction on your fingertip still gives the string lots of amplitude. I am curious to compare to the other Aquila synthetic strings, and maybe the Pahoehoe’s (wasn’t a huge fan of their sound on the Kala, but it was a fretted model and shorter scale).
The MB's stock onboard preamp works fine, as long as you keep the treble control below the “0” mark (as I’ve read from other posters). Above that it basically goes into "oversensitive piezo" mode, which picks up a lot of unwanted sounds.
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I too have a 23” fretless GT and have liked the T-Guts from the first pluck - no need for me to hunt around. I do guess that with frets they might get a little “bumpy”, but am not sure how that would affect playability. I know there are a lot of negative comments back down this thread.
Interesting that the 20" Thunder Reds fit the 23" GT, despite Aquila's warning not to use on scales longer than 20"... They do make the "Shortbass-One" strings (92U and 93U) that seem to be the same thing made for 23" & 26" scale.
Not sure if anyone can confirm the smaller gauge of the Thunder Reds E and A strings work fine in the stock GT MB nut?
Looking at the specs, the Red E is same gauge as the Thundergut A.
They list the Thunderblack gauges being identical to the Thundergut, so maybe they are the same string in different colour. If so, its strange how they describe the T-black as "bright and warm", and T-gut as just "warm". I'm curious if the texture is very different between the two as well...
I had the reds on my microbass for at-least a year before I sold it. I never a had any problems using them and no problems with them rattling around in the nut slots or anything. From what I remember there was a good about of space around the string in the nut slot, but again no problems. If you are gigging with it you might want to replace the nut just to be safe. Personally I think the reds are by far the best strings available for this instrument, but there still definitely not perfect. Also I think it is a total joke how weird they are about what strings you use on it. But I have always experimented with my instruments done my own setups, pickups and de-fret jobs. So I am very comfortable with that sort of thing and the manufacturer saying no no no, is not going to stop me.
I use their "exclusive" LaBella 25" steel flatwound strings on a bunch of different basses, even though they say they're made only for the ME bass.
I've tried the Thunderguts, Thunder Reds and Pahoehoe, I prefer the very smooth Pahoehoe, even though they're tougher to install and take a longer time to settle in.
Got a story and a question:
Couldn't help myself... in January a 5 string fretless acoustic Washburn was stolen from my house and there's a big gear hole in my heart. That Washburn can't really be replaced.
So I started with a cheapo Amazon ("UKDream") fretted uke bass for fun which has great tone but not great intonation so it's going back up for sale. (The fretless GAS is being satisfied with an Ibanez Parlor bass, the upmodel one, really enjoying it. My Ashbory hasn't been played for years, too short a scale to intonate even with good ears.)
Yesterday I bought a used acoustic Microbass. Intonation is better than the cheapo but NOT perfect, octaves played together sound like poo (if poo had a sound), and the 12th fret is slightly off. The difference is not the same on each string it seems.
There is a bit of a concave bow in the neck from top to bottom. So what's going on here? Any suggestions? I'll start with the truss rod. Maybe I should send it to Gold Tone. Seems like intonation is not a strong point on these. I played a Kala not long ago that had the saddle placed maybe 1/2" off and the intonation was even worse than my $130 bass, so maybe it's endemic among these instruments. If I'm going to sound like poo, I want it to be my fault, not the instrument's!
Couldn't help myself... in January a 5 string fretless acoustic Washburn was stolen from my house and there's a big gear hole in my heart. That Washburn can't really be replaced.
So I started with a cheapo Amazon ("UKDream") fretted uke bass for fun which has great tone but not great intonation so it's going back up for sale. (The fretless GAS is being satisfied with an Ibanez Parlor bass, the upmodel one, really enjoying it. My Ashbory hasn't been played for years, too short a scale to intonate even with good ears.)
Yesterday I bought a used acoustic Microbass. Intonation is better than the cheapo but NOT perfect, octaves played together sound like poo (if poo had a sound), and the 12th fret is slightly off. The difference is not the same on each string it seems.
There is a bit of a concave bow in the neck from top to bottom. So what's going on here? Any suggestions? I'll start with the truss rod. Maybe I should send it to Gold Tone. Seems like intonation is not a strong point on these. I played a Kala not long ago that had the saddle placed maybe 1/2" off and the intonation was even worse than my $130 bass, so maybe it's endemic among these instruments. If I'm going to sound like poo, I want it to be my fault, not the instrument's!
It has a two way truss. I find mine spot on. Take it to any reputable guitar shop. $25 or less for a setup probably
I struggled a bit with intonation on my fretted GT, and I didn’t like the way the frets dented the strings. I swapped mine for a fretless (yes, lost a few bucks on it). Problems solved!
So far so good. Brought it to rehearsal last night, and i think it sounded great, was also easy to play fast with the right hand, not quite as easy with the left. I'm not going to swap out the strings though I like the Pahs on the other bass... will see about getting used to them.
Now I wonder if I'm ever going back to full scale... I was starting to get a bit of tendinitis in the left hand from some of the stretches. I do miss the 5 string though.
Will try adjusting the truss rod and see if that does it.
Now I wonder if I'm ever going back to full scale... I was starting to get a bit of tendinitis in the left hand from some of the stretches. I do miss the 5 string though.
Will try adjusting the truss rod and see if that does it.
