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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!

#1,521
Speaking of Lyon and Pistoy...I stashed mine a few months back, opened the box today and found Ramen!
IMG_20190910_143431.jpg

Anyone here experience this?
I've carefully untangled this mess and rubbed in some gut oil.
 
#1,530
This may sound like a dumb question, but do wrapped gut strings need to be oiled like plain gut? I’m experimenting with different strings right now and I’ve got a used Oliv D and G that I’ve had on my bass for a month or so and I’m loving the sound. I haven’t played guts in years and they sound so good. I stopped using them cause I broke them all the time and it became a cost issue when I was in college, supporting myself as a full time musician. I’m considering buying a full set of guts in the future because of the great sound.
 
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#1,531
By oiling guts the string swells and the diameter is enlarged. Doing that with wrapped gut can break the windings, specially if they are made from a soft metal like copper or silver.

The only reason to oil a wrapped gut string is if the core has shrunken as much that the windings are loose and rattle against the core and even then you have the risk of breaking the windings by the swelling core.
 
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#1,532
Keith Rawlings said:
This may sound like a dumb question, but do wrapped gut strings need to be oiled like plain gut? I’m experimenting with different strings right now and I’ve got a used Oliv D and G that I’ve had on my bass for a month or so and I’m loving the sound. I haven’t played guts in years and they sound so good. I stopped using them cause I broke them all the time and it became a cost issue when I was in college, supporting myself as a full time musician. I’m considering buying a full set of guts in the future because of the great sound.
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I think oiling Olivs (Oliv oil?) might make arco difficult!

Also, what DoubleMIDI said. Save the oil for unwrapped gut.
 
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#1,533
AGCurry said:
I think oiling Olivs (Oliv oil?) might make arco difficult!

Also, what DoubleMIDI said. Save the oil for unwrapped gut.
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I’m slapping them for the most part 70% of the time, as well as playing pizz on them about 30%, so I’m not too worried about arco right now. The Olivs sound great with the Rockabilly/blues stuff I’m slapping, as well as the swing and instrumental Surf music I’m playing pizz on.
 
#1,535
PaperbackRyder said:
This is what they look like today after the oil:
View attachment 3535606

Any suggestions??
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I am quite surprised to see them like that (and on the other picture too). And I am by no means expert enough to say what can have happened (can there have been some kind of extreme humidity/temperature change?). I keep my spare gut strings wrapped up in a circle in something like their original package/envelope in a drawer in my livingroom, and they seem to look alike when I take them out.
 
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#1,537
They're ok. Just put them on and let them stretch. I don't know what all this talk of oil is about. I never put anything on my strings. I can't imagine oil wouldn't deaden some of the qualities that I love in a gut string. As for the little hairs, I used the finest grit sandpaper I could find and gently whisked them away.
 
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#1,539
Jason Sypher said:
They're ok. Just put them on and let them stretch. I don't know what all this talk of oil is about. I never put anything on my strings. I can't imagine oil wouldn't deaden some of the qualities that I love in a gut string. As for the little hairs, I used the finest grit sandpaper I could find and gently whisked them away.
Click to expand...

Yeah but Spirocore don't need no oilz!
;)
 
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