Yes, I am trying to stick to a "dogma" of staying with lower/medium priced strings. So it has been Lenzner/Efrano for me so far. I suppose the Efranos are about half price of the Gamut. I will report back, but it will probably be in the new year before the new strings are on and settled, etc.
More than that, and us europeans have to pay the customs on top of already freaking expensive strings. We have the cheap options like Efrano and Lenzner in the neighborhood, with Pirastros, Kurschners, Baldocks and the very Rolls Royce Genssler too
With all that said, Efrano plain gut medium gauge D and A, first impressions after a day on my bass: I paired them with my plain gut G, which is originally nylon wrapped Pirastro Pizzicato but lately unwound, a lot better like that. I tried the set today with E.P slap and reqular Velvet Garbo E`s, and surprisingly decised to stay with E.P slap as that`s what I`m used to play and the no bs factor is very real. It doesn`t have the testosterone of guts or Garbos, but it blends well in just about every aspect and is dead stupid easy to play. My strings are now at very moderate height, the heavy gauge G is at app 7,5mm`s and E at 11mm`s.
Efrano D diameter is 2,85mm and A is 3,7mm. I was looking for balanced tension between the D and A which didn`t happen with unwound Pizzicato D ( 3mm -ish ) and Lenzner A ( 3,45mm if I recall ). They will propably loose some tension as they stretch, but surprisingly they stopped their heaviest stretching today. Tuning was all over the place in the morning, but after trying different setups ( over the tailpiece / under the tp etc ) and E string trials they started to behave pretty solidly, much earlier than Lezners have. They are not as smooth surface as the Pirastro, a little rough twisting feel, D is a little more blond coloured than the A. Exactly what I was supposing them to be, beeing the cheapest alternative in the market. They were heavily oiled and non-varnished out of the sleeve, I had the oil all over my fingerboard yesterday.
I had a weich Efrano G that got damaged with bad maintenance combined with skin ph affecting issues. It was really dark, almost dull for first couple of weeks, but then opened up beautifully. This is why I dared to try the D and A out. The Pirastro G sounds very clear and rich, as did my Efrano G after some playing in. Now they are how plain guts are in the beginning, rattling, undefined and very dark. The D has some of the beauty and serious sustain going on anyway, even at this point, and the A is capable of producing clear pitches if played with strong left hand. Both do work all over the fingerboard, pizz or arco. My experience is, that plain A`s and D`s wouldn`t produce sustain and definition pizz if player`s left hand is sloppy. The tone comes from dead correct left hand intonation and following symphathetical vibrations. You have to be in tune with your instrument for that. Slap would be fantastic if it didn`t mess the tuning up immediately.
The feel is now great with even tension across the strings. IME plain guts are never easy to play, but they wear me out in a different way than say Evah`s does. It`s not about strenght, it`s about pressing and plucking that monster A in a most delicate manner. You really feel it under your fingers, and the slightest move on the left hand changes everything about it. These have to bowed a lot, for learning the intonation and waking the monster gauge strings up. The A is a very difficult bowed string at this stage. But then, it gives so much back, a deep deep resonant tone. Overall, I feel my bass resonating like crazy.
I decised to stay with these for at least a month. There`s so much about the tone of plain gut ADG, more I have them on my bass better it sounds and easier gets the playing, and you can`t get that tone elsewhere. Previously I had weich gauge plain ADG with high setup, that messed up my right hand in a bad way. Let`s see if this one delivers. Lately I`ve been heavily into pizz technique where I pluck the strings fast down/sidewards and let the fingers snap on the fingerboard. This produces something that I associate with " old school " tone, and this technique combined with lower setup has improved my time feel drastitcly. I wonder what Carlos Henriquez
@BAJO meant on a interwiev saying that his RH fingers never touch the fingerboard, that`s how he can make any bass and setup sound old school, if I understood correctly. Would love to get a lesson from that guy, he sounds amazing! Anyway, my beloved teacher plays guts pretty physically, and the fb snapping stuff came from him.
All in all, I think there`s nothing to fear buying Efrano plain guts. Quality stuff which doesn`t break the bank.
Overall, I`m almost anxious to wait and play the strings in.
