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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!

#701
arseniotall said:
OLIV G.....where have you been all my life?
Just got one in the mail. I have read this entire thread. Thanks to all for their reviews. Im going to order the D just to see how it feels. I'm scared its going to be a little dead to me, but I want to atleast try two up top before going in another direction. Whats a good set to use if only a OLIV on top?
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Beware the Oliv D. True, the G is a wonderful string, but many have then ordered a D only to be disappointed. The D is often substantially thuddier than the G. Some people have better luck than others, depending on the bass. I've found the Eudoxa D to be a better choice. Still, many folks will just use the G, nothing wrong with that :)
 
#702
arseniotall said:
OLIV G.....where have you been all my life?
Just got one in the mail. I have read this entire thread. Thanks to all for their reviews. Im going to order the D just to see how it feels. I'm scared its going to be a little dead to me, but I want to atleast try two up top before going in another direction. Whats a good set to use if only a OLIV on top?
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Evah Pirazzi Weichs.

And Bobby's right... the Oliv D is a nice string, but it is a tad thuddy, and it is not really a good match to the truly spectacular Oliv G IMHO. God I loved that string. I think the Evah Weich D might be a better transition to the Oliv on top. Better price point for the set, too.
 
#705
Marcus Johnson said:
Evah Pirazzi Weichs.

And Bobby's right... the Oliv D is a nice string, but it is a tad thuddy, and it is not really a good match to the truly spectacular Oliv G IMHO. God I loved that string. I think the Evah Weich D might be a better transition to the Oliv on top. Better price point for the set, too.
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waiting on a set of evah weichs in the classifieds. I have spiro weichs on now with the OLIV G. Doesnt feel to bad, but the D is really a twangy whiny mess sounding next to that OLIV G. I think the OLIV D might work for me.
 
#706
I played at the Starvey Creek Bluegrass festival in the Ozarks with Donna Ulisse this past weekend. Boy, was it humid and hot! The Gamuts definitely needed some extra settle-in time before going on stage, but they more or less stabalized :) I didn't use an amp, just the little clip-on Sennheiser mic that the sound guys had. I got lots of compliments on the sound. Bluegrass festivals are kind of scary. 'fraid of banjos!
 
#708
I am definitely not what you'd call a "Bluegrasser", but there are some very talented people in that field of music, both players and singers, and I enjoy working with Donna. She's a really fine singer and songwriter. The bluegrass bass players seem to use a variety of strings, but the majority use - you guessed it - Spirocores. Many will use those rolling mutes or put dampening behind the tailpiece to get more thump. Some use amps, some just mic. I can definitely see the advantage of using Spiros outdoors in the hot and humid summertime. But still, whenever someone gets up there with guts on their bass, it seems like you can always hear and feel those notes more! I was definitely doing lots of tuning this weekend though. One must suffer for thump!
 
#715
Bobby King said:
I am definitely not what you'd call a "Bluegrasser"...The bluegrass bass players seem to use a variety of strings, but the majority use - you guessed it - Spirocores...advantage of using Spiros outdoors in the hot and humid summertime. But still, whenever someone gets up there with guts on their bass, it seems like you can always hear and feel those notes more! One must suffer for thump!
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When I am at outdoor bluegrass festivals I like to survey what strings players are using. I don’t see guts very often unless you find someone jamming with a really old Kay bass with 50 year old strings. Occasionally I’ll see a Red-O-Ray or some mixture of gut strings in jams. On stage, by far the choice of strings for players Spiro mediums with mutes. If you see campground jamming with a newer basses, I see lots of Innovation strings. I personally don’t like the flubbery-roll of the Innovation; at their price point of $129 it is really hard to convince a bluegrasser to try real gut strings.

My Gamut medium lights on my Epi are my favorite jamming bass even in hot humid weather. I agree it takes some extra tuning, in my case, at a late night jam I just need thump to keep the drive alive. I am amazed how many hot jams break up when the bass player stops playing for the evening. I have caused more then one train wreck by stopping mid song only to have four or five players stare at me like…you are stopping?

Continue with the gut love :cool:
 
#716
MollyKay said:
I am amazed how many hot jams break up when the bass player stops playing for the evening. I have caused more then one train wreck by stopping mid song only to have four or five players stare at me like…you are stopping?
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No one really notices the bass until it stops!

The whole thing with guts is getting them acclimated to any particular environment. If you play them for 20-30 minutes or so in a hot and humid weather, they'll more or less stabilize as long as the weather doesn't change. The thing is, in the summer it seems you're going more between air-conditioned environments, hot cars, outdoors in humidity, etc., so the pitch fluctuates more widely and it can take longer for the bass to settle.

My set up (since last September!) has been Gamut medium silver wound E&A and light+ Pistoy D&G. I have a Lyon medium G and I put that back on just the other day to compare. I like both Gs, the Lyon perhaps has a wider, fuller tone, the Pistoy is a bit more defined. The tension of the Lyon med. is about the same as the Pistoy light+.

I'm finding that as I've be using guts steadily again, I'm concentrating on playing with the right touch to get the best sound. I think I used to play too hard and snap them too much. A somewhat gentler/slower pull and release can produce a fuller tone. Also, as my old teacher used to always tell me, keeping the strings firmly pressed down with the left hand has a big effect on sound. Sometimes we can have a tendency to release the left hand's pressure too soon after plucking, which can choke the note. The bottom line is that you need strong hands to be a good bass player, and you need to stay in shape!
 
#717
OK, here's a question that keeps bugging me as I visit and revisit this thread.

I haven't had guts on a bass since about 1977, so I am clearly not up to speed, here.

I remember my teacher's teacher, who was in a good position to have worthy perspective saying," I love to play on guts at home, but for the (orchestra) gig, I use steel. If two people show up for an audition (for the orchestra), the one playing steel will always win the job."

So, here's the question. I loved the soft feel of the guts and I dig the jazz/pizz sound. Is there a division line between guts being desirable for pizz vs. arco work, in your collective minds/experience?
 
#719
My gut set up has been Oliv G D, Spiro Mittle E A for awhile now. Very stable, but there are still tuning issues depending on the environment. If I'm traveling or working high profile I always switch to Spiro Weich D G.
 
#720
I love the Olive D and G. They are terrific strings. I dislike how fragile they are. The way I play I can get maybe 5-6 months out of them before the windings start to buckle(for lack of a better word). Killer sounding strings though. My favorite G so far has been a varnished Gamut.
 

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