• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Gut Strings: Are They Worth It To Try? (part I)

Status
Not open for further replies.
#761
Uncletoad said:
Yea I think I tried to say that in my post. We were listening to a Johnny Hartman record from the 50's in my van on the way home from tonights gig and I was thinking there's no way I could do that justice with spirocores. The breath of guts leaves space that you can't get from steel. Steel notes are way to long and the envelope is wrong. The proper tone for that gig is a poof with a tuned note that is vapor almost as fast as it appears. The space in between leaves room for the beautiful music that steel would otherwise clog up. I wish people wanted me to do those gigs. I can't get em.
Click to expand...

That is a great way of describing it. Love Johnny Hartman, BTW.

That sound is really what got me going on the bass at first... developing the sound in my head when I was just a little kid, listening to vinyl at home. Not just jazz classics, but most of the pop records of that time featured gut strung basses.... the Sinatra stuff, Nat Cole was huge for me...everything, really. I was still a few years from even playing a bass, but that sound stuck in my head. I was just a toddler, so it just got ingrained in me that this was how the bass sounds. Now I can reproduce it if I want to.

Thing is; with these Gamuts on this bass (in combination with the Evahs on the bottom), I can also get a more modern, singing thing going as well. So it appears that a lot of my fears of the bass turning into a one trick pony were largely unfounded. They're a lot more versatile on my bass than I expected.

Sorry for all the blather... it's a bit of a time of (re)discovery for me.
 
#762
fingers said:
I also think many pickups make the aggressive nature of Spiros even more pronounced. I'm a Spiro guy. I've been doing some gigs lately with just a mic and the sound I get is much more 'old school'.
Click to expand...


I've noticed the same thing about the Phil Jones Flightcase amp I've been using. Much more "lo-fi" and "old school", which kind of helps compensate for the high tension synthetic thing on the strings.
 
#763
One, maybe two bands of parametric eq with adjustable bandwidth. With that you should be able to make any basic setup sound "old school" or "new school".

But tension.....metal/synthetic strings will never give the old school bounce that the guts do.
 
#764
Marcus Johnson said:
.... with these Gamuts on this bass (in combination with the Evahs on the bottom), I can also get a more modern, singing thing going as well. So it appears that a lot of my fears of the bass turning into a one trick pony were largely unfounded. They're a lot more versatile on my bass than I expected ....
Click to expand...
I'm tryin' to catch-up here Folks :D .... Damn Sweet Marcus .... Glad you are a Junky now also :p .

Yes Sirree Folks .... The Gamuts G & D with some "matching" A & E strings can do any deed .... On any style. Of Course .... It don't hurt that you installed them strings on an New Standard La Scala and know how to play all kinda-Stuff ;) .

I am still majorly-in-love with my Pistoys G & D and Animas A & E on the Epiphone and the bass sounds equally good'n'stout .... Acootsick or ampped-up thru the FC / Coda / Wizzy M-Line. Good Clean Fun .... In my case .... bluegrass, old country, and blues. Carry On.
 
#766
You guys are really starting to drive me crazy. "Just when I thought I was out, you pull me back in". Note to self: Keep repeating until cured, It's not the strings, it's not the strings, it's not the strings..........AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................:eek::eek::eek::D:D:D:D
 
#770
fingers said:
Trey. Listen to this or this or this

Cured?

Works for me every time.
Click to expand...

That's great stuff. Dave is iconic and Drew is amazing but it is the sound I'm trying to get away from (even Patitucci doesn't sound like that anymore; he uses all hybrid strings Oliv G and EV A (not sure of the D and E)).

THIS is the sound I'm trying to get closer to:



And you can't even get close to it unless you have strings that once bleated.

mark
 
#772
drew gress could play killerdiller bass on a friggin' ukelele ...

calivox said:
That's great stuff. Dave is iconic and Drew is amazing but it is the sound I'm trying to get away from (even Patitucci doesn't sound like that anymore; he uses all hybrid strings Oliv G and EV A (not sure of the D and E)).

THIS is the sound I'm trying to get closer to:



And you can't even get close to it unless you have strings that once bleated.

mark
Click to expand...
 
#774
Marc, Marcus and Mark,

You guys have hit all my buttons. Scott La Faro has always been my go to guy for the whole trip. For me, His sound, soloing and time keeping have always been the Gold Standard. John Patitucci is one of my favorite modern players and Drew Gress is a savant with time (someone to truly study). Dave Holland is and always will be a classic. One thing about them all is that they all sound like themselves regardless of their strings IMHO.

Regardless of strings I have so much work to do to get even close to where I want to be as a player that I'm not sure a string fetish will solve many of the secrets of double bass. On the other hand, Christmas and my Birthday are just around the corner, a Gamut G & D for just under 2 bills and I'm not playing my old Czech/German bass too much these days.........:hiding:

Thanks all for the great input.
 
#775
Treyzer said:
not sure a string fetish will solve many of the secrets of double bass.
Click to expand...

That's probably true... but the interface between mind and bass is a fluid thing. You have to be strong enough in your own musical pursuits to not start aping the music that's already been recorded, on gut strings or steel or whatever. To put it in guitar terms... it's hard to pick up a Strat without playing at least a few bars of "The Wind Cries Mary". :smug: I wouldn't know much about gut strings on my bass if a couple of guys hadn't been really generous recently.

My personal bass listening habits, the things that really float my boat, are all kind of.. old. Most of my biggest influences on the bass have passed away. Yet, I hear the actual music in my head with an ear to the future.

The Gamuts made sense on my bass almost immediately after I brought them up to pitch. They seem to connect everything I learned over the years to where I'd like it to end up.

Treyzer.... fly over and play my bass sometime if you like. We'll fire up the grill.
 
#777
Marcus Johnson said:
...The Gamuts made sense on my bass almost immediately after I brought them up to pitch. They seem to connect everything I learned over the years to where I'd like it to end up.
Click to expand...

Marcus, glad to hear you're a junky now too. we can now start a Gamut club... i've had the Gamuts on close to a year now and they really do grow on you, esp. the G and D. the wound A is very nice, too...

btw, how are you amplifying your sound these days? with the guts i don't use a pu anymore, just a mic.

cheers, Bill
 
#779
as long as fingers and mark are posting good string sounds, here's one for y'all (if you haven't seen it).

so what strings? any guesses? anybody know?



sounds like gut to me. and what timing. elvin could go have a cup of coffee and the timekeeper would still be right on when he got back! wow! go jimmy go!
 
#780
That's smokin'. Elvin loves his job. :D

It's reaalllly humid here right now. It hasn't created any problems for the Gamuts so far. Maybe the varnish is helping, along with the fact that the weather is always pretty stable here... no big swings in temp or humidity. I love my job too.

I do have baby powder in the gig bag....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back