• 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.
#142
It was cool to meet Kevin at last night's Kennedy Center show. That guy can play and the gut strings really cut through the mediocre acoustics of the Millenium Stage, which is actually a big hallway with a stage set up at one end. If you listen to the link Kevin posted to the Wednesday night show, you'll hear him bowing on one number. I'm scared to death to touch the bow with gut strings on my bass but Kevin nailed it.

I'm going to try to catch the Friday night concert, too, when Kevin's band is playing one of his compositions.
 
#144
Menacewarf said:
Your right Chris. Ask and you shall....

Here is a link to an afterwork snip of my practice session just so you can hear the strings. Forgive the sloppy playing please. The mic came built into the computer so :hmm:

Link Removed

In the music player you will see which track is for TalkBass!
Click to expand...

Don't apologize for the playing - you sound much better with the bow than I do. :)

How do the guts compare in your opinion to any steels you may have had on the same bass?
 
#145
Chris Fitzgerald said:
Don't apologize for the playing - you sound much better with the bow than I do. :)

How do the guts compare in your opinion to any steels you may have had on the same bass?
Click to expand...

I appreciate the words Chirs.

What a loaded question. It's been up and down. Most of the general things I would say are all well established on here. It additionaly complicates that I have been mixing and matching with mostly hybrid guts (75% on that clip-25% Garbo).

But I'm sure youve heard both the praise and knocks as compared with steel. Big and organic, though with low tension and high action. A more wholesome, unique, but finicky, and physicly difficult experience. With an Oliv G on now I feel like i have actually tipped the scales to hybrid strings so I'm not super qualified to say now.

It's been up and down. On the plus side I was well heard acousticly with 7 other amplified instruments (mostly guitar, violin, chromatic harp) at a gypsy jazz jam which felt great all night. Just feels good to know if the power suddenly went out how it would sound... =)

On the other hand today I played with a piano and guitar player today and on my drive home was ready to immidiatly put spiros back on when I got home! :atoz:

I just could not get the bass to sound in tune. I don't know if it was the air in the room but the pitch was moving on the strings quickly (retunes) and to make matters worse the strings were sounding different when played open as compared to harmonics and I just couldn't make both sound in tune. It was a bit frustrating but I cooled off and left the strings alone and came home and practiced all afternoon and it all felt fine pizz and arco. :confused:

I knew what I was getting into though. Iv'e read a thread or two :)
 
#148
I have to agree. I just recently started playing arco again and I find bowing gut easier than bowing on Spiro Mittels. It squeaks a little easier so I have to watch bow pressure but it starts really easily and has a nice singing tone that I didn't expect.

mark
 
#149
Having played gut strings for many years and now looking at the topic of this thread and no longer playing gut strings, I have to say that the answer for me is: no, gut strings are not worth it.

I do love gut and if I had a second bass to play certain kinds of gigs then I would have guts on it but with one bass trying to do lots of different things, guts - at least unwound guts on top, are too much trouble. I have Animas on right now with a Garbo D and they have a lot of the punch of gut if not more, much of the warmth, yet they are more easily heard in a wide variety of situations, stay more in tune, are easier on my hands, and are easier to bow.
 
#150
Adrian Cho said:
I have Animas on right now with a Gamut D and they have a lot of the punch of gut if not more, much of the warmth, yet they are more easily heard in a wide variety of situations, stay more in tune, are easier on my hands, and are easier to bow.
Click to expand...

Did you mean to say 'Garbo D'?
 
#151
Yes I did! I have edited my posted. I'm pretty sure it's not a Freudian slip! It interesting that I did feel the need to use a Garbo D (started to type "Gamut" again just there!) because after playing the Gamuts, I got used to having a meaty D string.

I really am happier overall with the Velvet combination. They are really great strings.
 
#152
Progress:

I replaced my medium D with a Gamut light D. The light D has a little less "meat" to the sound but it is more focussed and sounds more like a lower pitched version of Gamut medium G. Adrian's buzzkill post aside;), I'm having the time of my life with gut strings. I use a fairly low action (8-12 mm) G-E and after about 3 weeks of playing, the bass is just singing. The bass has become adjusted to the lower tension and has just opened up.

In an earlier post, I discussed how I was trying to get the speed I had with steel onto gut and had mentioned playing just with the fingertips of both hands. After 3 weeks, I've rejected it. I've found that if I play "wrong" I can play faster and more cleanly. I've been keeping my left hand fingers mostly straight and fingering with the pads of my fingers. Right hand, I'm also using quite a bit of the pad of my finger. It's still more work to play fast eighth notes but it is much easier now than it was. So much of it is in the touch which is lighter with the left hand than steel but heavier with the right. The string tension is very low so the left hand doesn't have to work as hard. It takes more energy to get the string moving and it's movement is wider so the right hand has to hit it harder than with steel. I've got it down well enough now to play bebop heads at tempo with pretty good accuracy. I was blowing through the head to Au Privave and can play it at the same tempo I did with steel. The difference is it sounds so much better with gut. It is absolutely worth all of the work to get it up to speed.

I just love the sound of gut. I love the way that it speaks under the band instead of trying to blast through it. The sound is so great, I can't put the bass down. I'm practicing constantly. More than I have in years. I have a pile of gigs coming up in the next 3 weeks in a bunch of different venues from lousy to good acoustics. Those will be the real test.

I haven't taken the steel strings off of my main bass yet but I'm getting closer to calling Dan Larson every day. He has my old E and A and is re-winding them now. I have a new medium G sitting on the shelf. All I would need would be a new light D and I'm ready to go.

mark
 
#153
I like that Garbo D string too. A plain gut D is a frustrating string to deal with -- it seduces you with that gut punch and feel, but quickly pisses you off with it's thud factor and lack of clarity, especially up the neck. A plain gut G however, is quite usable in many combinations. But I think the Garbo D is the best "gut-like" alternative (bring on the "Velvets are NOTHING LIKE GUT STRINGS" posts).

I'd suggest Anima E, either Anima or Garbo A, Garbo D and plain gut G, as a combination for anyone looking to go in the gut direction.

As for myself, I'm down to one bass with Spirocore Mittels, and I haven't been missing using other strings.
 
#154
I was a bit frustrated with the medium D but the light D (all by Gamut; I haven't tried anyone else's strings) really started to sound good as soon as it stretched out (after about 3 days of serious playing). I find it useable all of the way up the neck. I can get the thumb position F on the D string to sing. Not quite as good as the F on the G string but reasonably close. All pizz.

Of course, I've only tried gut on one bass and have no idea if my result is because of the bass or the string. It might be the bass. I don't have any trouble playing the A all of the way up the neck into thumb position either. And the E isn't too far behind. I haven't played the E much in thumb position but the E sounds great up to at least the C.

mark
 
#156
Interesting. This must be my lack of experience but I don't find the tension to be that much different. It's definitely a little thinner. The biggest difference on my bass is the sound is a little more focussed and doesn't have quite as much thunk although it's still pretty thunky overall. It is much more useable up the neck into thumb position. I went from Spiro Mittels to gut with about the same action a little over 3 weeks ago. I don't think I'm going to notice a tiny lessening of tension in a gut string yet. My hands haven't been sufficiently calibrated to notice small changes yet.

The real deal though is I'm getting the sound I've always heard in my head and what I always strove for with metal strings but never got.

They are absolutely harder to play. They are harder to keep in tune. But they sound so glorious that it's worth the trade off. At least so far. We'll see what I say in the heart of the summer when I'm trying to play Cherokee outside in 100 degree heat and 100% humidity. Or in the middle of winter when the wrappings are stripping off of the E and A from the lack of humidity and all I'm getting is a wimpy, buzzy nothing on them. I've been thinking about that. I might put Evahs on the A and E in the winter. I already have them sitting in the string drawer. They won't be as nice but they won't be as jarring a change as Mittels on there.

mark
 
#159
I'm too chicken (price and longevity mainly, but also, I'm such a noob, and probably not up to the task yet) and doubt I will ever try them. If I were a serious bassist like some of you guys here, it might be a little different.

But I really, really dig the sound you're getting from them, and have been following this thread avidly and your experience vicariously.

So I am very satisfied with having guts on your bass, and don't intend for you to switch back anytime soon. :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back