I see. We'll I'll try the Gamuts, hope I can get some use out of them. If not I'll start looking at those Chordas.
Wow they're more expensive than the Gamuts...
Wow they're more expensive than the Gamuts...
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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!
- Thread starter Marc Piane
- Start date
I've used my bass with the Evah Pirazzi Slap/Lenzner combo for a few more gigs with the trad jazz band and they continue to excel in this setting, however when I brought my Zyex strung E.H. Roth to my semi-regular restaurant gig, the pianist told me he preferred the sound of this bass. His comment was totally unsolicited and he even went as far as to compare the sound to that of Ray Brown. I think he prefers the growl and sustain over the old-school sound of the gut strings. I guess it makes sense to continue to keep one bass set up with gut and the other with something more modern sounding.
- Steve
- Steve
I don't think it's a problem of tension change.
Be careful not to make any kinks and maybe wind something around the end of the string very closely to avoid splitting of the gut fibers.
Just be very careful, store the string wound in a larger circle and best inside a hard case to avoid unwanted mechanical stress (that might result in a kink-like damage of the string).
One of the bigger problems is untwisting of the string where it was wound on the peg. I'm not sure oiling might help with this, but it might be worth a try. Just twist the string as it was before remounting it onto the peg again. This is mainly a problem with thicker gut strings, but can happen on the G-string too.
Be careful not to make any kinks and maybe wind something around the end of the string very closely to avoid splitting of the gut fibers.
Just be very careful, store the string wound in a larger circle and best inside a hard case to avoid unwanted mechanical stress (that might result in a kink-like damage of the string).
One of the bigger problems is untwisting of the string where it was wound on the peg. I'm not sure oiling might help with this, but it might be worth a try. Just twist the string as it was before remounting it onto the peg again. This is mainly a problem with thicker gut strings, but can happen on the G-string too.
since all you gut lovers are following this like i am, i am curious as to what your favorite E gut string is.
i see that most use gut D and G and then steel like evahs for an E and A
i'm further down the spectrum that you guys. i played all plain guts for a couple years and now am slowly moving towards the middle. i have red-o-rays in the D and G spot and wrapped lenzners for an E and A. they are a good match but not exactly what i want. i'd like something a little darker. i just put an oliv A on my bass and it sounds great! thinking oliv E too. but before i drop the $150, are there any other gut E strings i should try?
i see that most use gut D and G and then steel like evahs for an E and A
i'm further down the spectrum that you guys. i played all plain guts for a couple years and now am slowly moving towards the middle. i have red-o-rays in the D and G spot and wrapped lenzners for an E and A. they are a good match but not exactly what i want. i'd like something a little darker. i just put an oliv A on my bass and it sounds great! thinking oliv E too. but before i drop the $150, are there any other gut E strings i should try?
There is an Evah Weich E string in the classifieds you should try first. I'm still waiting on my gut strings to get here (mailing issue) but my teacher in town used that set up (evah weich e, oliv A, plain gut d/g). It might work for you once you kill it.
Pff. You know how many cans of Spaghetti-Os are eaten every year?
A lot. A whoooooole lot. And that's just wrong.
The Velvet Garbo lights are worth a shot. Dark with a little bite, and a good tension match for plain gut. I always found anything heavier than downtuned steels create a bit of an imbalance on the basses I've owned.
Evahs are not "steel strings", they are synthetic core metal wound strings like wound gut are gut core metal wound strings (with a few exceptions for those gut core synthetic wound ones).
Evah Slaps have a typical gut string tension, if you want a bit more but not too much, try downtuned Evah Solos.
Evah Slaps have a typical gut string tension, if you want a bit more but not too much, try downtuned Evah Solos.
I just store them in the original envelopes I don't think they need any special consideration in this regard.
- Steve
hey there my friends,
Here i am again hoping for your advice. In the past few weeks Ive had 2 strings break on me, the G and theD, both from the newly acquired Lenzner set. The strings looked very nice and durable and they were like new when I got them. I didnt have a lot of hairs from them and took regular care like oiling and cleaning them. they would however turn more and more dirty cause the grease would get stuck in between the turns of the gut strands. the surface of the string was also getting dirty but i cleaned it with the rag. any way, only some six months after i installed them, they broke at around 3rd fret (Bb on the G and F on the D). im not sure if its because I play so many tunes in Bb Eb or F ))) I used them pretty hard, slapping, playing outdoors and retunung to A415 quite often. Im not sure what comes first in the list of reasons why they broke. Looks like one of the strands was weaker than others and broke eventually. This happend with my friends chorda G string when he clipped off a very big hair that developed on the string. The thing is, i didnt really have any hairs at that spot, and both strings broke at roughly the same distance from the nut (in the middle of a gig^^). Do you think a better quality stings would stay alive longer? I was thinking varnished guts for outdoor use but I also heard they are no good under the bow, wich is not ok for me since I play a lot of tango and early music with the bow.
Any recommendations are welcome, and Im also searching for inexpencive plain gut strings cause i have just run out of spare strings
warmly,
Here i am again hoping for your advice. In the past few weeks Ive had 2 strings break on me, the G and theD, both from the newly acquired Lenzner set. The strings looked very nice and durable and they were like new when I got them. I didnt have a lot of hairs from them and took regular care like oiling and cleaning them. they would however turn more and more dirty cause the grease would get stuck in between the turns of the gut strands. the surface of the string was also getting dirty but i cleaned it with the rag. any way, only some six months after i installed them, they broke at around 3rd fret (Bb on the G and F on the D). im not sure if its because I play so many tunes in Bb Eb or F ))) I used them pretty hard, slapping, playing outdoors and retunung to A415 quite often. Im not sure what comes first in the list of reasons why they broke. Looks like one of the strands was weaker than others and broke eventually. This happend with my friends chorda G string when he clipped off a very big hair that developed on the string. The thing is, i didnt really have any hairs at that spot, and both strings broke at roughly the same distance from the nut (in the middle of a gig^^). Do you think a better quality stings would stay alive longer? I was thinking varnished guts for outdoor use but I also heard they are no good under the bow, wich is not ok for me since I play a lot of tango and early music with the bow.
Any recommendations are welcome, and Im also searching for inexpencive plain gut strings cause i have just run out of spare strings
warmly,
Ok, I got responce from ebay hungarian strings seller, here are the gauges availible
I have these strings in different diameters:
G - 2,2 mm , 2,3 mm , 2,4 mm , 2,5 mm
D - 2,9 mm , 3 mm , 3,2 mm , 3,3 mm , 3,5 mm
A - 4 mm , 4,2 mm , 4,3 mm
to me there are the thick strings. I wonder what gauges you would recommend. One more thing to consider is that I have one bass with 102cm scale and I dont know whether I should go with thicker gauges on it or not.
I have these strings in different diameters:
G - 2,2 mm , 2,3 mm , 2,4 mm , 2,5 mm
D - 2,9 mm , 3 mm , 3,2 mm , 3,3 mm , 3,5 mm
A - 4 mm , 4,2 mm , 4,3 mm
to me there are the thick strings. I wonder what gauges you would recommend. One more thing to consider is that I have one bass with 102cm scale and I dont know whether I should go with thicker gauges on it or not.
If you want heavier or lighter strings is a very personal thing.
For slap probably going lighter, but for 415 Hz tuning a bit heavier. So you might stay in the middle.
102 cm is not that much shorter, so the tension difference would be small and also the shorter scale doesn't have too much influence.
Diameter might not exactly determine the tension, I'm not sure if only sheep gut of the same weight per volume is used for double bass strings.
2,1 to 2,2 mm is pretty normal for a naked gut G, 2,8 to 2,9 mm for a D.
You can have a look at the web pages of the gut string manufacturers what they think is lower or higher tension. The medium Efranos I have feel rather low tension to me (around 20 kp, except the medium high C which is higher tension) and are also used for slapping. See here for diameters (German only): Invalid Link Removed
The Pirastro gut strings have a bit more tension, but this depends on the type.
For D and A you might prefer a higher twisted gut string, specially because of the shorter scale. But you won't get them at bargain prices. An alternative is going lighter (less tension) with naked gut from G to A. But that means that the lower strings have less power (but a bit more sustain than a "plop").
For slap probably going lighter, but for 415 Hz tuning a bit heavier. So you might stay in the middle.
102 cm is not that much shorter, so the tension difference would be small and also the shorter scale doesn't have too much influence.
Diameter might not exactly determine the tension, I'm not sure if only sheep gut of the same weight per volume is used for double bass strings.
2,1 to 2,2 mm is pretty normal for a naked gut G, 2,8 to 2,9 mm for a D.
You can have a look at the web pages of the gut string manufacturers what they think is lower or higher tension. The medium Efranos I have feel rather low tension to me (around 20 kp, except the medium high C which is higher tension) and are also used for slapping. See here for diameters (German only): Invalid Link Removed
The Pirastro gut strings have a bit more tension, but this depends on the type.
For D and A you might prefer a higher twisted gut string, specially because of the shorter scale. But you won't get them at bargain prices. An alternative is going lighter (less tension) with naked gut from G to A. But that means that the lower strings have less power (but a bit more sustain than a "plop").
For the last several months I've have had one bass set up with gut strings (EP Slaps+Lenzner) while the other has modern strings (D'Addario Zyex). I've been practicing and gigging on both instruments, and I still find switching back and forth somewhat jarring due to the different strings. It takes me a while to get used to the sound/feel/response of whichever bass I hadn't been playing. I'm almost at the point of giving up on gut due to this and the fact that they somewhat limit the versatility of the bass in question, especially since the gut strings are on my "outdoor gig" bass.
Has anyone else dealt with these issues?
- Steve
Has anyone else dealt with these issues?
- Steve
Steve,
I've been dealing with that as well albeit on only one bass. In my head, the default sound is gut but in the day to day, I often need a more stable, modern sounding string. Currently I'm using Obligatos as the compromise but I'm sure I'll go back to gut strings at some point.
Hopefully playing the gut on one bass will inform how you play the Zyex on the other and you can get most of that gut sound/quality with technique on any bass if you want it. For me, the best way to get a "gut like" sound with modern strings was to put in the time with a gut strung bass which allowed me to internalize that sound (and technique) to the point where my body just knows how to get it no matter what bass/strings I'm playing.
Ultimately if the sound coming out of the bass is what you intend, then the strings shouldn't matter that much.
-J
I've been dealing with that as well albeit on only one bass. In my head, the default sound is gut but in the day to day, I often need a more stable, modern sounding string. Currently I'm using Obligatos as the compromise but I'm sure I'll go back to gut strings at some point.
Hopefully playing the gut on one bass will inform how you play the Zyex on the other and you can get most of that gut sound/quality with technique on any bass if you want it. For me, the best way to get a "gut like" sound with modern strings was to put in the time with a gut strung bass which allowed me to internalize that sound (and technique) to the point where my body just knows how to get it no matter what bass/strings I'm playing.
Ultimately if the sound coming out of the bass is what you intend, then the strings shouldn't matter that much.
-J
