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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!

#441
D**n!!!!! I showed up to my gig and immediately broke a sweat, as I was wheeling the bass into the room. Midway through the first set, the guts got sticky and grew some stubble which was a real drag.
I pulled them and put the Olive G back on with spiro weich E, A and D. Don't exactly hate them but prolly will about 10:00 tonight. Because the strings were hairless and well oiled when I left for the gig it may be they just don't like me as much as I like them.
It's gonna be tough to leave them in the drawer but I don't know what else to do.
 
#442
clink said:
D**n!!!!! I showed up to my gig and immediately broke a sweat, as I was wheeling the bass into the room. Midway through the first set, the guts got sticky and grew some stubble which was a real drag.
I pulled them and put the Olive G back on with spiro weich E, A and D. Don't exactly hate them but prolly will about 10:00 tonight. Because the strings were hairless and well oiled when I left for the gig it may be they just don't like me as much as I like them.
It's gonna be tough to leave them in the drawer but I don't know what else to do.
Click to expand...
That's why I walked away from them.
 
#443
I made two recordings when I got my last guts...one Gut, one Spiro. I prefer the sound of the gut for pizz, Spiro for arco. But one thing became clear this last round...I like to dig in, it's part of my sound and concept. I couldn't make it all work, the strings would have to be very high for my pizz attack which would be limiting for a lot of music and styles. I used to have that set up when I started, to get that old school boom. But I grew as a player and changed. I'm with you gut folks in spirit but most of you seem like you are constantly babysitting your strings! I've got a kid. I don't need to do anymore babysitting. On a side note, my bass is really sounding great now that I've played it in a bit, the wolfs aren't too much and the sound with the Spiros is very malleable. I can get so many things happening with this set up that it makes those guts seem totally unnecessary.
 
#444
I don't know why but I have absolutely no trouble with my gut strings. I pound the crap out of them and I don't do anything to maintain them. I pull the bass out of the case, check the tuning and play. And then I put it back in it's case. I don't even wipe the strings down afterward. And they sound glorious. I pull out the Spiro strung bass and, acoustically, it sounds puny in comparison and since it is virtually identical to the gut strung bass, I know it isn't the bass that's the problem. I can't take it and have to put it away.

I've been through a number of gut strings in my experiments and I've never had any trouble with any of them so I don't think I just have a lucky set.

People talk about the Spiros being low maintenance but, for me, guts are equally low maintenance. The only negative difference I've found between guts and Spiros is I have to tune the guts once a day and the Spiros needed tuning monthly. The guts certainly sound about a bazillion times better and are easier to play so tuning once a day really isn't much of a hardship.

mark
 
#445
For me it is a bit of how I attack them. I am a sweaty mf and my sweat is caustic. I do get hairs and they do get sticky. I've found though that, when things get sticky, I have to resist the urge to power through it with brute force. They actually respond better if I play a little lighter. I've also found that a dose of almond oil helps quite a bit. It gets the hairs to lay down and helps with the stickiness. Tuning-wise I've had the same experience as Mark.
 
#448
Jason Sypher said:
When I removed them my bandmate said just the opposite of what you guys experienced "I can't believe how much better that bass sounds, it's totally unbelievable".... go figure.
Click to expand...

A lot of people are still conditioned to hearing that bippity-boing giant fretless mwahhh thing that you can get from non-gut strings, I think. I have a set of Spiros in the drawer in case someone who's hiring me for a recording asks for it. So far, nobody has... To me, that's the sound that seems dated. The Gamut guts seem seem more "hi-fi".... wider, more focused and balanced, more character, more dimension, more volume. They are probably not the gut choice for bassists who are looking for "old school thump", because they go way beyond that.
 
#452
as a gut newbie with sweaty hands, i'm going through this b.s. right now.
played 2 gigs thursday, 2 gigs last night.
lot of hairing going on.

i oiled them with almond oil, then walnut, i friday. i couldn't decide, so i used both. did the same this morning. sanding the hairs both times.

i don't know if sanding them is really working for me. i starting to think it just further disintegrates the strings, no matter how you try.

for me, it's not about the maintenance, as i'm loving the sound of the two guts i got, it's about whether i'm going sweat these suckas out in less than a year. i don't think i could go back to hybrid synthetics. nor do i want to use anima g/d strings (i broke them once a year anyway). i guess as long as the lil' one and the mrs. have food on the table i'll splurge for sheep intestine.

i'm loving the arco, the slap, the pizz. my dynamic range seems much much wider, too. i think with my bass, low tension is key. all the sound guys i know regularly have been commenting on the projection and bloom of my twice as loud low tension bass (mic'd of course). and i don't get shoulder pain from playing 3-5 set nights.
 
#454
What I can't figger is why the wear is mostly on the Pistoy D only up to the F. The right hand isn't disturbing them one bit.
I missed them dearly last night. As Marcus said, the guts have it all, volume, character, dimension. Spirocores had all the character of the 80 year old leader I worked with. There was just enough of it but I didn't much care for it.
Gonna plow through.
 
#455
I'm playing on a 1928 Juzek. It's a great bass and rubberbands would sound good on it but the guts are extra special.

I'm really lucky in that I have a thyroid condition. Specifically, hypothyroidism. One of the symptoms is dry skin.

For those of you unlucky enough not to have hypothyroidism and have sweaty hands, why don't you use a very small amount of baby powder on your fingers? It should keep your hands dry and as long as you don't over do it, it shouldn't make a mess.

mark
 
#457
Jason Sypher said:
I'm curious to hear the sound you're pulling out of that bass Mark. Any recordings of it you can lead me to? Never mind, myspace, duh.

Nice stuff Mark. I'll listen with headphones tomorrow to zero in on your sound.... cool.
Click to expand...

That stuff on myspace is 2 years old and it was done on my backup bass. It's a '74 Juzek. It's a nice bass but not as good as the '28. I was also a newb on guts back then. I'll film something on my iPhone and post it on YouTube. Give me a day or two.
 
#459
I feel fortunate to have pretty dry hands.. I've had the same guts (except the Chorda A's.. I have 2 of those which I alternate, depending on how bad the buzz gets and if the lime juice doesn't do the trick) for over a year, and have used them busking in Central Park in direct sunlight (not too fun, but it didn't mess 'em up either). The G is maybe starting to lose some pitch center, but nothing terrible. Search Youtube for "Old Time Musketry" if you'd like to hear this same set played on a tour last summer.
 

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