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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!

#1,541
Reiska said:
I quess oil thing has many variables, skin ph, climate, amount of lugging around etc. I have to clean and oil my strings, othervise they start to feel bad and become less elastic and more fragile.
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Yeah perhaps a very dry climate could dry them out but if that were the case then you would be drying out your bass as well. Do you humidify your living space? I'm just curious as I've never felt the need to oil. What exactly happens when you don't oil them?
 
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#1,542
Jason Sypher said:
Yeah perhaps a very dry climate could dry them out but if that were the case then you would be drying out your bass as well. Do you humidify your living space? I'm just curious as I've never felt the need to oil. What exactly happens when you don't oil them?
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Like you, I've never oiled my gut strings. But my house is kept humidified at all times, and my basses don't spend much time in dry places.

Dry guts will develop the little "hairs," which are actually broken pieces. Too many of them mean the string will develop intonation problems and eventually fail.
 
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#1,543
These were so twisted up, there are spots where the fibers looked to be separating so I thought a little lube might help.
img_20190910_143431-jpg.3534895
 
#1,544
AGCurry said:
Like you, I've never oiled my gut strings. But my house is kept humidified at all times, and my basses don't spend much time in dry places.

Dry guts will develop the little "hairs," which are actually broken pieces. Too many of them mean the string will develop intonation problems and eventually fail.
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That’s the problem I had with the sets I played on previously. I would always break either the D or the G; but what is strange is that I live and play in the South Texas area, which consistently has extremely high humidity - and still my strings would break. I was never told to oil my plain gut strings, so I now attribute the failure of those strings to not oiling them up properly.
 
#1,545
AGCurry said:
Like you, I've never oiled my gut strings. But my house is kept humidified at all times, and my basses don't spend much time in dry places.

Dry guts will develop the little "hairs," which are actually broken pieces. Too many of them mean the string will develop intonation problems and eventually fail.
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Yeah, mine would as well. I used to live in New Orleans and the extreme humidity would also greatly affect the strings. I ended up buying varnished strings and being extremely gentle and timely in the removal of small hairs that developed. After so long the string would start to vibrate false and I had to abandon them and get new ones but it wasn't so often. My hands are bone dry which may have been in my favor. Every time I loan my bass to someone else it comes back totally sticky and gummed up. I'm sure they react differently to each player. I used to play a chorda G and a Larson Light plus varnished D with weichs on the E and A. I think it was a great mix and keep my American Standard strung with that set up. My Italian is all spiros.
 
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#1,546
Well, water (humidity) and oil is not at all the same. So the issue is perhaps a bit more complicated than just dry/humid. I sort of like the crisp, dry feeling/sound of not too oiled strings. And the times I have used organic oils, my experience was that the strings got sticky and started smelling a bit afterwards, which I attribute to the oil oxidizing and going rancid. Perhaps I am the conspiracy theorist of lubricating strings, I don't know.
 
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#1,547
Jason Sypher said:
Yeah perhaps a very dry climate could dry them out but if that were the case then you would be drying out your bass as well. Do you humidify your living space? I'm just curious as I've never felt the need to oil. What exactly happens when you don't oil them?
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Weather can be anything from extremely cold and dry to hot and humid around here. My bass lives in rehearsing cave nearby, in a basement of a house that`s seen it`s best days. I don`t humidify, biggest reason is that my luthier who I bought the bass from doesn`t believe in humidifying and there`s a warranty about the bass with the luthier. Bass has been ok for last two winters it has been stored in the rehearsing space, but it had a major rib crack during extreme winter conditions in finnish countryside some four years ago. It`s a carved chinese made / US designed Jay Haide bass.

The bass and strings react to the changes in the weather, my experience is that the strings behave a lot more unstable during summer than in the winter. If i don`t oil the strings they start to feel sticky and rough under both hands, but especially with the plucking hand. I don`t know if I`m particularly sensitive to this kind of stuff, but it really is critical for me with a fat and loose plain gut A string.

I also think that oiling helps with longevity and the strings surviving yearly changes in weather. My experience is that especially stiff low twist rate guts like Chordas become more fragile when weather is dry. Oiling affects the sound for a couple of hours, but that`s not a big deal. My routine consists of getting rid of possible hair and sanding lightly the rough spots, then applying a very little oil, then going thru the string with fine grit steel wool, then wiping with a cloth. I do this once a week -ish, whenever it seems necessary.
 
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#1,548
Povl Carstensen said:
Well, water (humidity) and oil is not at all the same. So the issue is perhaps a bit more complicated than just dry/humid. I sort of like the crisp, dry feeling/sound of not too oiled strings. And the times I have used organic oils, my experience was that the strings got sticky and started smelling a bit afterwards, which I attribute to the oil oxidizing and going rancid. Perhaps I am the conspiracy theorist of lubricating strings, I don't know.
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One might even say opposites...I like the dry sound without a doubt, the slight whisper on top, whether pizz or bow.
 
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#1,554
Jason Sypher said:
I seem to have missed the Golden Spirals craze. Are these really better than Gamut or Dlugelcki?
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I’ve actually never tried either of those, but to me the tone and feel and volume of the GS’s are far superior than the sets I’ve tried from Pirastro and LaBella. Expensive experiments! I’ve considered Gamuts or even saving up for a set of Gensslers.
 
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#1,556
AGCurry said:
Rayjay - speaking of Pirastro, have you tried Oliv and Eudoxa? Just curious. I have Oliv G/D on my "arco lesson bass" but Lenzner & Gamut on my "pizz gig bass."
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I tried a new Eudoxa and a used Oliv. D and G only. Both were very nice and had a “quality” feel, I recall. The Eudoxa G snapped at the nut (yes it was filed wide) and the Olivs were pretty frayed by the time I got them. I found the Golden Spirals and put them on, and it felt like “ah, THAT is what I remember and what I was looking for. Also as I recall, the LaBellas sort of “rolled” under your right hand fingers while playing pizz. I’d love to hear a comparison of the Golden’s and Gamuts or Lenzners.
 
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#1,557
This discussion also brings back memories of....1996 or so? I went to the jazz jam session at Chris’ in Philly, and the house bass player whom I don’t recall had a bass with guts. I did not jibe with them at all, but he sounded great. At the time I was going for that certain modern tone- mostly letting the amp do the work, low action, precise definition, loads of growl, and that piezo pickup sound. Fortunately I got into the playing of Paul Chambers, John Ore, Charles Mingus, Ron Carter, and Milt Hinton, who were all using guts at least in the 60s, and then Chris Wood with Medeski, Martin, and Wood. I got to meet him a few times and nerdily picked his brain. I think Chris uses/used Gamuts. Once I found that “sound” and how much easier and better it was to get it from a gut-strung bass, I made the switch and things took off. I had found “the sound!”
 
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#1,559
As much as I love Carlos Chorda G and D, their tension, feel and arco tone just wouldn`t match with my Pistoy light A. I have a Lenzner G, mystery ( possibly Pyramid ) D, Pistoy light A and Evah slap E on now. Pizz feel is very balanced, Pistoy doesn`t feel out of place. Great deep bowed tone and even feel.

Lenzner G plays and sounds great. The mystery D is a good string, but I`m about to get a Pistoy light+ D when finances allow. Anyway, I just can`t let go the plain A. It`s a hard mistress for sure but nothing compares to the tone and feel.
 
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