I believe the term is "Gateway drug"
I dunno, I'm a jazz bassist, what could I possibly know about drug terminology?
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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!
- Thread starter Marc Piane
- Start date
I dunno, I'm a jazz bassist, what could I possibly know about drug terminology?
Not fer nuttin', but... one of the things that's fun when playing guts is thinking like a good drummer. Think about Jo Jones, or Blakey, or Elvin, or Roy Haynes, or whoever you like ... you can get a lot of information about how to play gut strings from great drummers. There's really something true about that connection between drums and a bass with guts.
Oh.. and especially Max Roach. I think you can learn more about bass playing from him than any drummer that ever lived.
hmmm.. It looks like I have something to save forI'm going to go for the Plain E and A for now then replace the D and G later next year
DAMN
.... BassGreaser is my new Hero ! He is going for the plain A and E Gamuts before he thinks about the G and D. That takes Big Frijoles (and a lot of cash). Dan Larson only makes those big-azz Plain Guts in the Pistoy model ... Sweet.Please report back-in about the Plain E after you have played it. I am interested.
I own a plain Gamut Pistoy (light) A and have played it on my old Kay along with Pistoys G and D. The plain A is an Awesome string. I avoided the wrapped Gamuts A and E since I live in cold / dry climate. I have used Velvet Anima and Garbo A and E with great success.
IMHO ... The 3-plex twisty and more-spendy Pistoys are way-better than the 1-plex Lyons. I own 6 different Pistoys (and one Lyon D) .
Back-when .... I posted this ... http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f17/gamut-guts-286803/index36.html#post5536650 ... Wow ... Was I full of crap and still am
.But I maintain .... If you want old-time Joe Zinkan / Huskey Family sound on bass ... Plain guts are the way to go if you can handle the big-ropes .... A and E.
Greaser
.... Please report back in when you get those Plains from Gamut Dan .... I talked to him about 2 years ago about the Plain E. He said he can make them but "you may not be pleased". I think he was just puffing a line to say that I may not be able to handle a gut string as big as a #2 pencil . I'm sure he does not want to build a beautiful 3-Ply plain gut string that sells for Big Money and have an unhappy player.So far ... IMHO ... The Gamut Pistoys that I own are "legacy" strings and will last decades and won't bust because of crappy bridge and nut slots. Best of All ... I won't have to deal with windings of any kind in my MT climate.
NOW ... What I would really like to see from Gamut Dan is a Plain Low B Pistoy Extension (not that I need one on my old American 4-string bluegrass plywoodys)
. BUT ... He could do it ... I have faith in Minnesotans .. I have known my share. That "thing" would really be-scary and I would love to hear a good arco-player play Pistoy Plain Guts all-across a nice 5-string carved bass ... G, D, A, E, B ... God HerSelf would arrive to take donations .
Bob, why not order the plain B string and give a review yourself.... it sounds like it could be a terrible waste of good sheep intestines to me though. I guess if it didn't work out as a musical instrument, you could use the Mondo Gamut for a tie line on the outhouse, in case it has any kind of tendency to tip over as the snow melts in your parts.....
I guess if it didn't work out as a musical instrument, you could use the Mondo Gamut for a tie line on the outhouse, in case it has any kind of tendency to tip over as the snow melts in your parts.....
Bob, why not order the plain B string and give a review yourself.... it sounds like it could be a terrible waste of good sheep intestines to me though.
Mister Politically Correct ... That is your initials ... Right
?? I only own three 4-string Old American PlyWoodys ... Kay, Epiphone, American Standard .. I have no earthly-use for a Plain Low B sheep-gut.Come and visit sometime and I will personally sacrifice my Gamut Pistoy High-Tensile Strength Plain A to drag and tip over one of my favorite outhouses as long as you are sitting on The Pot at the time
! You do know that I love you Mr. PC .... Right
??? Just Like The Guys on "Due Date" ... Great Twisted Movie.You got three basses over there... instead of being just another Tom Sawyer with a fancy collection of doghouses, you could branch out a little and try a B string on one of your own...... And that would be a terrible waste of a beautiful A string.........
And that would be a terrible waste of a beautiful A string.........
Well... the mailman arrived early and they're on. Put them on last night and this morning jacked the string heights way way way way up to get the tension I wanted. What to say. Wow.
Downsides first: Strings are wide so took a little time widening the slots. Even with it real high, there's alot of elasticity to string (only to be expected). I dont' think it'll be hard to get used to.
Upsides: G through A are amazing. Loud, not dark, well balanced, super awesome thump. Even the G makes the floor rattle. Especially love the Med+ A. Heavy E will hopefully catch up in quality of sound. Arco is passible. Slapping... one of my complaints with trying to learn to slap with metal wrap was that the clack was just way too loud. This puts out a nice gentle click that is a lot more musical. Gonna have to put some serious time into slapping now Milt Hinton style.
So just for having it on and initial impression: Thumbs up!
EDIT: Just discovered something really surprising. Guts don't respond to tension the way steel or synthetic strings do. Compared to those, you can string them high and low and the sound doesn't change drasticly. I'm running them super low now and the right hand tension doesn't feel that different than when I had them sky high. Now they're down to super low heights making much easier to get around playing bebop heads. Still full sounding, thumpy (tho there was more thump with higher strings). Me likey!
Downsides first: Strings are wide so took a little time widening the slots. Even with it real high, there's alot of elasticity to string (only to be expected). I dont' think it'll be hard to get used to.
Upsides: G through A are amazing. Loud, not dark, well balanced, super awesome thump. Even the G makes the floor rattle. Especially love the Med+ A. Heavy E will hopefully catch up in quality of sound. Arco is passible. Slapping... one of my complaints with trying to learn to slap with metal wrap was that the clack was just way too loud. This puts out a nice gentle click that is a lot more musical. Gonna have to put some serious time into slapping now Milt Hinton style.
So just for having it on and initial impression: Thumbs up!
EDIT: Just discovered something really surprising. Guts don't respond to tension the way steel or synthetic strings do. Compared to those, you can string them high and low and the sound doesn't change drasticly. I'm running them super low now and the right hand tension doesn't feel that different than when I had them sky high. Now they're down to super low heights making much easier to get around playing bebop heads. Still full sounding, thumpy (tho there was more thump with higher strings). Me likey!
As a recent convert 3 things P Diddy.
1) Those strings are going to change a ton over the coming weeks (or even months) as they stretch and break in.
2) At gigs resist the urge to play harder as the band gets louder. There is the strange zen thing with guts where the flowing like water thing just thumps on through all the other **** that is going on.
3) Really take your time getting used to them. Unlike any other strings it takes months to get used to guts (at least it did for me). The urge to rip them off and go back to spiros will come. Resist.
1) Those strings are going to change a ton over the coming weeks (or even months) as they stretch and break in.
2) At gigs resist the urge to play harder as the band gets louder. There is the strange zen thing with guts where the flowing like water thing just thumps on through all the other **** that is going on.
3) Really take your time getting used to them. Unlike any other strings it takes months to get used to guts (at least it did for me). The urge to rip them off and go back to spiros will come. Resist.
Totally agree on all counts. ALL counts. I agree so much I had to check that I didn't write this.
mark
The time line for these Gamuts is really different. Mine were well used by two different bassists when I got them, and now I've played them for quite some time, at gigging level, most nights of every week. They aren't even breathing hard. I guess the bass probably needs to adjust a little.... and it's also true that there is some adjustment on the part of the player. I felt comfortable on the Gamuts right away, but I'd spent time already on Pirastro Olivs and the rather gutlike Velvet Animas, so maybe my mindset was already in place. The phrase "like a duck to water" pops into my head. That sound on the bandstand and in the studio... that's a great motivator.
I always get a little concerned when people suggest that they might give up on the guts early in the game (not you, hdiddy). It takes some time.
That sound on the bandstand and in the studio... that's a great motivator.I always get a little concerned when people suggest that they might give up on the guts early in the game (not you, hdiddy). It takes some time.
Mark Twain (PC) with Tom Sawyer "creds" his-self has checked-in
. Thanks for That Comment .Mister PC .... Do you actually play any (past or present) Gamut Pistoy gut-strings to add a real-comment here
or are you just blowing-smoke in our Ears ?? ... Visa-vee tipping over an outhouse with my Gamut Plain A Pistoy with Paul Chambers Himself sitting-on the cold-steel ring and grunting-away ...
Well ... Sure Thing ... That would be a terrible waste of a beautiful Gamut Pistoy A string ....
. AND ... My apologies to The Real .... Paul Chambers .... For dicking-around with his name.
BUT ... If "Mister PC" was grunting-away ..... I know-of Several 4-wheel drives that I could enlist to drag that out-house away way-out to "The Boonies".
Even-though ... blue-grass and old-time are my favorities .... I have listened-up. The real "PC" was great with Miles Davis and many-other jazz-mofo's and I smile every-time I listen to those albums. I will hit 60 years-old real-soon ... May 24
. I'm so-happy I started-up on upright-bass 5-years-ago ... . Others are not So Happy ... But F'Em Anyhow ... . .
It's official: Gamut Gut is fun.
The E is definitely working up and starting to sound good. Should be great in a month. Other than stretching/tuning the sound hasn't changed that much over the past few days. Strings all sound pretty balanced overall. A & G are the best. There's a bit of an overtone in the upper register on the D but my luthier tells me this is typical. He rounded the string slots for me this morning.
Decided to focus on adding slap (ala Milt Hinton) to the arsenal. Fun fun fun!
The E is definitely working up and starting to sound good. Should be great in a month. Other than stretching/tuning the sound hasn't changed that much over the past few days. Strings all sound pretty balanced overall. A & G are the best. There's a bit of an overtone in the upper register on the D but my luthier tells me this is typical. He rounded the string slots for me this morning.
Decided to focus on adding slap (ala Milt Hinton) to the arsenal. Fun fun fun!
MollyKay
Supporting Member
I have an observation about my Gamut Guts.
I had my bass (1940 Epiphone B1) at an outdoor bluegrass festival last week where it was damp and drizzling rain. Basically I held the bass for about 20 minutes, did not play it, and decided to put it away and wait for better weather to jam outside. I wiped the strings down out of habit and put it back in the case.
When I got the bass out of the case last night to jam my goodness the Gamut G&D grew hairs! I guess the dampish weather made them soft and gummy and me wiping the strings roughed them up. I was really surprised, it looked like I had being playing 100 hours on the strings. No worries though, a quick rub down with a worn out piece of fine grit sand paper and they will look like new again.
This set of Gamuts has four years of playing with hardly any concerns. I had the E string re-wound for $50 to cure a tuning issue, the string came back looking and sounding like brand new. I am still very satisfied with my full set of Gamuts after four years of continuous use.
I had my bass (1940 Epiphone B1) at an outdoor bluegrass festival last week where it was damp and drizzling rain. Basically I held the bass for about 20 minutes, did not play it, and decided to put it away and wait for better weather to jam outside. I wiped the strings down out of habit and put it back in the case.
When I got the bass out of the case last night to jam my goodness the Gamut G&D grew hairs! I guess the dampish weather made them soft and gummy and me wiping the strings roughed them up. I was really surprised, it looked like I had being playing 100 hours on the strings. No worries though, a quick rub down with a worn out piece of fine grit sand paper and they will look like new again.
This set of Gamuts has four years of playing with hardly any concerns. I had the E string re-wound for $50 to cure a tuning issue, the string came back looking and sounding like brand new. I am still very satisfied with my full set of Gamuts after four years of continuous use.
