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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!

#341
I wish all you guys could try my full Gamut set. Yeah, I know I live in Maui, and wound guts are a pain when the temps/humidity changes. Mine moved around a lot at first. i still spend a little more time grabbing the tuners than I would have with steels or hybrids. But boy... if there's a better balanced set than the full gut set I have, I can't imagine what they could be. The bass has vanished again. It's not there when I play, and if what comes out isn't really good music, it's my own fault. The strings have eliminated any sonic limitations.

Ken Smith told me that I needed to go full gut to really get it. I think he's right. YMMV
 
#344
I live in NE Tennessee and have been playing full Gamuts (minus A Chorda) for about a month. They're stable and really great. Amazing actually.

I've been following this thread and I'm a little confused. When exactly do guts have serious tuning issues? Mine seem really stable.

FWIW... I used an Anima E for a while and really liked it until I got Dan to make me a light Gamut silver E (as small as Anima, .110 I think).
 
#346
drasticDUB said:
Mine have been completely stable as well. The only downside I've seen, is they get really hairy with extreme amounts of humidity and become even spongier feeling and more difficult to play.
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That is a nightmare!! I am loving my gut strings and just can't stop playing since I put them on, I live in Melbourne Australia and humidity 55-65% but I am moving north where humidity is constantly very high I mean if you don't have a drier a towel never ever dries! That could put an end to my gut adventure for a while! Thank God for Spiros!
 
#347
It's been a week since the last post here. Everybody has been in the 'Spirocores are so much fun' thread..........
I had a nice big band gig last night with many of the ringers in town. The guts got me through it in a 'compromising' kind of way. For the first set I was missing spirocores because there wasn't much definition-thud, thud, thud. Due to a tight space, the amp went right under the drummer and he was also getting tired of the gut punch upsetting his internal organs, but that didn't bother me so much. :rolleyes:
However, between sets and afterwards I got several compliments on how the bass pushed the band. The pulse was popular last night.
I knew that guts fit me for combo work, but a big band gig like that was a real test.
The Pistoy D did sprout a hairy stubble up to the G, to the point that I was getting worried about it. A flame, bit of sanding with 600 grit and some almond oil took care of it no problem. It's weird that it just sprouted like a Chia Pet, but I was probably sweating just enough.
So, the guts stay.
 
#349
Interesting Greg. The one big band gig I did was one of the ones I felt guts really shone. I try really hard to not think 'old school' vs 'new school' because it is really the player that determines the school but man is it cool to play big band, or one of my main gigs right now is rat pack, with gut. You can just drive that **** without even trying.

My strings have been getting a little furry. I am famous for the caustic acid that oozes from my pores. I've been just oiling these babies up each night and everything seems cool. I think I had to break out the nail clipper twice.
 
#350
A month or so ago, I was having a problem with my end pin. The crutch end was starting to wear out and it was squeaking whenever I shifted the bass. I bought a new crutch end and that took care of the problem but I also ordered a new end pin from Johnny Atomic. He makes them by hand. It came at the beginning of the week. It is about a quarter of the weight of my old end pin. I put it in and the bass was immediately louder and more focused. Go figure.

Anyway, I got to test it out on Saturday. I had two gigs. The first one, I played with just a microphone through the PA. The bass was almost loud enough to not even need the mic. The guts just boomed out there. I used an amp on the second gig but probably didn't need it. The second gig was a concert with an open jam afterwards. I brought my trombone to play if any bass players showed up to sit in. Someone did and played my bass. I forgot to turn the amp back on and only realized near the end of the first song. The bass was easily loud enough without it. I was standing well out in front of the band working on my "cool horn player standing around waiting for a solo pose" and the bass was just booming out there.

It was exceedingly cool.
 
#358
William Hoffman said:
It is really a thrill to hear your own bass from out front. Say, Mark, you still got the Pistoy G on there?
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Pistoy G,D Anima A,E. I am in love with this combination. If I weren't already married and there weren't a law in Pennsylvania against marrying processed sheep innards, I'd marry it.

+1 on hearing your own bass. It didn't hurt that the person playing it was really good. Her name is Ava Lintz. She can't be more than 20 or 21 and she's gonna be a monster in a couple of years. She's used to a 41.5 inch steel string bass and she sat in on my 43.5 inch gut string and made it sing like a bird. Going from longer scale to shorter is easy, going the other way is hard and she ate it up. And learning to deal with gut strings in public while playing with some top notch players is something I wouldn't want to do. She pulled it off.

mark
 

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