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Double Bass Golden Spiral alternatives from... Ecoosa Strings (India!)??

#4
I don't want to give an exact number, but let's say they're quite affordable. They say they've upped the quality, I'll let you know my thoughts when they are installed. (I had to give them a try. How wrong could I go?) Here's a pic they sent of them making a test run of the Tynex. thumbnail_IMG_20200225_213405_HHT.jpg
 
#8
DangYankeeBass said:
Not a scam site. I emailed them to make me this set as a custom order. Wouldn't be on their website (at least not yet).
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Cool - please let us know how they come out. I’ve contacted D’Addario and inquired as to whether or not Golden Spirals would come back and they said they have no plans to make them anymore. I even asked them if they were going to possibly try to recreate them with their Zyex core, but they don’t have any plans to make a synthetic gut Golden Spiral string either. It’s sad they’ve discontinued one of the most legendary gut strings on the planet.
 
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#9
Keith Rawlings said:
I can’t figure out which string is the Tynex wrapped set. The descriptions under every string gauge say “plain unwound gut string now available”. Weird. Maybe it’s a scam site.
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I've no idea if this is a scam site, but when I googled 'Ecoosa double bass strings', the 2 top links to their website prompted a warning from my safari browser, stating 'this server identity cannot be verified'. I chose to heed the warning, and did not enter their site. Just a heads up... might be legit; might not.
 
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#12
Nah.. Look, I paid $200 for one set. Nuthin' fishy here, I just got tired of trying to find new old stock Spirals online, and didn't want to pay over $600 for an approximate re-created set of Spirals. Just wanted to find some working-mans' nylon/nickel-over-guts. I'm sure they won't be extra-fancy.

As far as Gamut Red's, I didn't find their gauges to my liking, otherwise they seem like nice strings.

I already paid for TWO sets, so I'll let everybody know if something's up. Am just letting fans of Spirals know that there MIGHT be some potential for an alternative.

Anyway, it's all my risk. I will post photos and a video once they arrive.
 
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#13
DangYankeeBass said:
Nah.. Look, I paid $200 for one set. Nuthin' fishy here, I just got tired of trying to find new old stock Spirals online, and didn't want to pay over $600 for an approximate re-created set of Spirals. Just wanted to find some working-mans' nylon/nickel-over-guts. I'm sure they won't be extra-fancy.

As far as Gamut Red's, I didn't find their gauges to my liking, otherwise they seem like nice strings.

I already paid for TWO sets, so I'll let everybody know if something's up. Am just letting fans of Spirals know that there MIGHT be some potential for an alternative.

Anyway, it's all my risk. I will post photos and a video once they arrive.
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Heck yeah - I hope they work out. I’ve been researching for about a year for strings to recreate that sound and they just are not to be found. Nothing sounds like Golden Spirals; and now I have a bunch of strings I’ve wasted money on in the process of trial and error.
 
#14
I hope they work out too. I hear you on the trial and error thing! At this point in time, I won't really be too picky about guts anymore. I just need something that I won't have to worry about if someone spills a beer on my strings at a bar gig! I was using Supernil's (once in a while) and I LIKED them, but when amplified, they didn't have the depth of tone of guts.
 
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#15
DangYankeeBass said:
I hope they work out too. I hear you on the trial and error thing! At this point in time, I won't really be too picky about guts anymore. I just need something that I won't have to worry about if someone spills a beer on my strings at a bar gig! I was using Supernil's (once in a while) and I LIKED them, but when amplified, they didn't have the depth of tone of guts.
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I used Supernils for many years as they are very reliable as a road string, but you’re right - they need lots of extra help to amplify well. Back in the 90’s I was looking for mostly “loud” so it was an SVT 810 stack with an Underwood pickup and a Shure 57 near the fingerboard to get the slap tone I was wanting with those strings to keep up with our loud guitarist and drummer; and I needed lots of EQ and a BBE Sonic Maximizer to shape that live sound. I used La Bella wound gut E and A paired with plain gut D and G for about a year around ‘98-ish; and while amazing for recording purposes and tone with mics alone, I was unable to get those strings to last playing outside frequently and on a mini-tour we did near the end of that year. I broke the plain G string once; replaced it and broke it again. I think the combination of sweat and the extreme temperature changes in the American Southwest (we did Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and back that year) did me in with plain gut; so I just went back to Supernils.

I’ve been using a mixed set for the last year or so with Evah Pirazzi Slap flatwound E and A strings with an Oliv D and G wrapped gut and they’ve worked well. They stay in tune for the most part, pizz and slap well and do fine with my limited bowing skills; but if I could find some Golden Spirals...all of my bass playing heroes played them - Mingus, Scott LaFaro, just to name a few - and what an amazing recorded tone those geniuses were able to get! Of course I will never be as good as those greats, but if I could just get that “pluck” tone. Nowadays with a combination of piezo pickups and a dynamic mic one could get close to that sound in a live setting - but only if those Golden Spirals were still available. I’ve seen sets go for ridiculous prices on EBay and individual strings go for hundreds of dollars here on Talkbass and I’m either late to the game or not in a position to pay that much for those strings at the time they come available; and it’s not cost effective with playing only a handful of shows every couple of months now that I’m a family man to spend that much on strings.
 
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#20
Nylon/tynex wound guts are always interesting! When I use plain gut I always miss that subtle brightness and mild sustain you get with a nylon/tynex-wound gut string.

ANYHOW.... Gerold Genssler (Sonores strings) also makes a similar construction in his WRAP set. He stopped using gut as core material, though... So now it's some kind of nylon wound on silk core.
 
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