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Double Bass Gut string oil

threetone

threetone

Sep 27, 2011
115
80
Europe
#1
Hi TB,

I read just about every gut thread here on the forum but can't seem to find an awnser to this simple question;

What kind of oil do you guys use for your gut strings. Does someone have a brand name or some insight on were to get it or a link to an online shop perhaps?

Also, and here is the real gut newbie question;

I just fitted my bass with Chorda C. H. Strings, awesome sound!
But, are my G & D strings varnished or unvarnished ? :-) do they need oiling right from day one, or only for periodic maintenance?

Thanks TB - this place rocks.
 
#4
I read in a double bass forum (don't remember which one) that almond oil is the best (at least better than olive oil) and a good and (relatively) cheap source for it is baby oil (but better check the declared content).

Personally I would use it only on unvarnished strings (or varnished strings when the varnish has completly remove due to heavy damage of the varnish). I doubt the oil will get through the varnish, but maybe someone has personal experience with that?
If the varnish is damaged at a few areas the oil may get in there and the result is a string with varying mass over the length. That might result in some slightly out of tune notes on the string.
 
#10
I would add... you don't need much. I only ever oil my strings when I'm sanding/clipping hairs and it's not often.
I use plain, unscented mineral oil and then isopropyl alcohol (70%) to clean off rosin and/or oil between the end of the board and the bridge.
-Jeff
 
#14
Marcus Johnson said:
At the risk of sinking this thread entirely... it was P Dub that originally mentioned the nut rubbing technique for gut strings in these forums ... (a Brazil nut, in his case, I think).
Click to expand...

Ya, 'twas myownslf who used a Brazil nut in the old days of playing on Artone guts.
Everything down Brazil way is great....the music, the chicks, the nuts, everything but the politics. :eek:
 
#17
JeffKissell said:
Hey Paul,
Did players back in the days of gut strings obsess as much as we do about gear, especially strings? (Maybe it's the overwhelming amount choices available on the interwebz?)
-Jeff
Click to expand...

We dint use amps and PU's, Jeff, so that simplified that part, and no adjustable bridges up until around the mid 50's. No bow quivers. Yep, no where near the amount of choices of today. Very few jazz bassists used stools. No adjustable endpins or bent endpins as well. Guys used to carry around different lengths of wooden shafts for other guys to sit in with even. No fingered low C extenstions, just those terrible Horst mechanical extensions :eek: that required mutilating some beautiful scrolls and volutes and rattled like a muther. You could hear four or five bassists in an 8 bass section pop the open low C latch with a loud bang that sounded like a gun shot. Not as much to obsess about.
Cave man city, pretty much.

I turned 70 a coupla' days ago and after reading this post I feel like it. :atoz:

Marcus, I hope this dint sink this thread entirely..
 

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