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

#221
bassadder said:
I'm having a set of Chorda CH's put on my bass as we speak, I've chickened for 2 years but I now finally biting the bullet

I'm a little concerned after reading this that I'm going to have trouble with the wrapped A and E. Now I live in the UK and don't the same humidity issues and temperature fluctuations most of you guys do. However I'm playing a couple of festivals (August 1st being the first) and have a very exacting band leader with huge ears what any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards

Laurence
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Keep a tuner plugged into the effects out of your amp. Leave it on. Look at it and tune frequently. When the strings are new, you'll be tuning between every tune. When they stretch out, every couple of tunes. When are really stretched out, between sets.

In relatively temperate climates, wrapped gut is great. When I first switched to gut, it was in the Spring and it was a mild Spring at that and I had very few problems. I had to tune frequently but you get used to that pretty quickly. I didn't have the problem of having to detune 2 steps until Winter when I'd take the bass out of my 70 degree, humidity regulated house to a cold club through minus 10 degree weather and 20% humidity. The bass was just a mess. It got to be a real drag. When the weather was mild, it was an amazing experience and I put up with the bad ones to get good ones. You probably won't have such problems or they'll be minor.

mark
 
#226
Thanks, guys. That confirms what I've heard elsewhere about Garbos. I hate like hell to give up on the Gamuts, but a guy's got to make a living. Just to be absolutely clear, though-Gamuts are by far the best gut strings I've ever used, and Dan Larson has been totally cool with questions and comments through this whole process. He really stands by his product.
 
#227
Thanks for the advice Mark I have one of those intellitouch clip on tuners which I keep on the bridge which was great for the Olives, I'll try first, but I may use your suggestion.

I've been watching some youtubes of both Carlos Henriquez and Ben Wolfe and both their basses sound fantastic (they are fantastic musicians of course and they'd sound great on anything) but it's that natural sound I'm chasing.

Cheers

Laurence
 
#228
Gut strings can be a wonderful thing, depending on the bass and player. But I've had the experience several times when I heard a bass player with a big, dark, popping kind of sound; I assumed they were using gut strings, only to find it was old Spirocores or some other steel string. I know it's a cliche, but people will tend to produce the sound that they hear in their head, and the type of string isn't as important as I used to think.
 
#229
Bobby King said:
Gut strings can be a wonderful thing, depending on the bass and player. But I've had the experience several times when I heard a bass player with a big, dark, popping kind of sound; I assumed they were using gut strings, only to find it was old Spirocores or some other steel string. I know it's a cliche, but people will tend to produce the sound that they hear in their head, and the type of string isn't as important as I used to think.
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Confessions of a former string addict.

Well said.

I agree.
 
#232
Bobby King said:
Gut strings can be a wonderful thing, depending on the bass and player. But I've had the experience several times when I heard a bass player with a big, dark, popping kind of sound; I assumed they were using gut strings, only to find it was old Spirocores or some other steel string. I know it's a cliche, but people will tend to produce the sound that they hear in their head, and the type of string isn't as important as I used to think.
Click to expand...

+1

I am, however, addicted to the tension and feel of playing gut...
-J
 
#234
JeffKissell said:
+1

I am, however, addicted to the tension and feel of playing gut...
-J
Click to expand...

Me too. I just love that feel. I know that literally nobody in the crowd knows or cares what strings I have on there.

Well, that's not exactly true... I do have to warn bassists ahead of time that there are guts on there if they ask to sit in. Most are happy to try it anyway. One young lady played my bass with guts, (very nicely, I might add) and she seemed ready to go bust out the checkbook and order Gamuts. She really dug 'em. On the flip side, Brian Bromberg played my bass a couple of months ago, and he was not as convinced... :D. Brian likes his bass the way it is! He still managed to play the crap out of my bass, of course.
 
#236
Yes, Brian's pretty set in his ways, and deservedly so. It was a most excellent sound nevertheless.

We actually got to talking about Carlos Henriquez, and I mentioned CH's approach; guts, no pickups, etc. Brian just laughed & shook his head, and said... "Man, I don't know why you guys do that!" It's definitely not on his wish list to go that route. LOL

Vive le diff...

PS... just checked out the clips, Jeff... that's killer stuff. The bass sounds beautiful.
 
#237
JeffKissell said:
+1

I am, however, addicted to the tension and feel of playing gut...
-J
Click to expand...

Yeah. I can't imagine going back to steel. I love the low tension, the pliability of the string and huge front end of the note. I've been bitten hard by the gut bug and it's coming up on a year and a half since I made the switch and, while I'm always looking to improve on things, going back to Spiros or any other kind of steel string isn't on the horizon.

I like sliding around in thumb position on them. When I slid around on the upper end of a Spiro G it was too much like playing a big fretless but sliding on a Gamut Pistoy G has this incredible vocal quality to it. I also like the way playing fast triplets up and down the neck sounds. It is very percussive. Again, done on Spiros, it sounds too much like Jaco for me (and there's nothing wrong with that either but it's not what I'm going for on DB). On gut, it has this Scott LaFaro-like quality. Walking lines sit under the band in a way that you just can't do with Spiros.

There are some compromises as well. I think I like playing latin slightly better on Spiros although gut isn't bad and I definitely like playing any kind of folk/rock/pop etc. on Spiros more. The more powerful mids help drive that kind of music better; at least that's what I feel when I'm playing it. I play jazz 95% of the time though so I just suck it up when I have to or I bring my Kolstein Travel bass which is still strung with Spiros.

mark
 
#239
Freddels said:
I just put the Gamut Lyon D & G on my NS Cleveland hybrid (paired with the Garbo E & A) and all I can say is . . . WOW!

The Garbo D & G sound dull in comparison to these.
Click to expand...

It's pretty exciting isn't it? Just wait, it only gets better. They take a couple of weeks to fully stretch out and as they stretch, they'll get more defined. If you like them now, in 2-3 weeks, they'll really be great.

mark
 
#240
Mmm good times.

The Evahs E&A are really starting to pale a little now, in comparison to the Gamuts on top. Up til now the balance was pretty good, but I think the Evahs might be fading a bit, especially the A. They've served well, and it's still okay, I just work them a little harder. The Gamuts, OTOH, seem like they're not even breaking a sweat. They're louder, deeper, bigger, wider, just plain better. Better music.

IMHO
 

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