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Double Bass GUTS ARE SO MUCH FUN!!!

#1,781
LouisF said:
fyi:

Chi-chi Nwanoku on Playing With Gut Strings
Click to expand...

One thing she says in the video is that the instrument she's playing is tuned to the "eight-foot organ pipe," (cello range), and double basses are tuned in the sixteen-foot organ-pipe range. But the instrument is not a cello. I wonder how it's tuned? Octave above a bass, or something else?
 
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#1,782
Just watched a really interesting documentary which demonstrated that our nearest galaxy, Andromeda I think, produces constant sound waves, a note, which cross the universe to earth.
B Flat, 44 octaves below the low B Flat of the organ pipe demonstrated. They say there are enough particles in space to allow transmission. Ie, Not a total vacuum.
The interval each sound wave in only a few million years!
So, we have a bit lower to go yet!
Can someone calculate the extension length and thickness of the bass string needed to hit this note? (To the nearest lightyear!)
 
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#1,783
AGCurry said:
One thing she says in the video is that the instrument she's playing is tuned to the "eight-foot organ pipe," (cello range), and double basses are tuned in the sixteen-foot organ-pipe range. But the instrument is not a cello. I wonder how it's tuned? Octave above a bass, or something else?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's clearly higher pitched but I'm not sure if it's in fourths or fifths. Those are the thinnest bass strings I've ever seen and they also seem to be rather high tension.
 
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#1,787
Macka Fat said:
Question for y'all

Currently playing Spiro lights. What would be the best weight/tension match in gamut gut strings if I wanted to get a gut G/D to play over a Spiro light A/E.

Bass is a '55 C-1 Kay. Playing all pizz, Old time/square dance stuff only.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

If you aren't using the bow, I would just go for a full set of the Red Diamond Gamut strings.
 
#1,793
AGCurry said:
One thing she says in the video is that the instrument she's playing is tuned to the "eight-foot organ pipe," (cello range), and double basses are tuned in the sixteen-foot organ-pipe range. But the instrument is not a cello. I wonder how it's tuned? Octave above a bass, or something else?
Click to expand...

Octave above. She's playing Dragonetti waltz 3, and the fingerings and crossings look right for standard tuning, although I don't think she's at A440.

A normal bass violin like I'm used to isn't even quite that much larger than a cello, and those were still tuned in fifths, either C to A, or a step down. The instrument in that video is more small-G violone sized, and there were late ones that were made with violin corners and lacking the sloping shoulders—almost makes me wonder if that wasn't an early conversion, like how more than a few D violone (the true double bass-sized ones) were converted into double basses as the violin family instruments took over.
 
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#1,794
I currently Goetz plain gut GDA with a Spiro Weich Ext E/C; a NOS Anima E/C has come up at a reasonable (half) price. Is it worth trying? I'm a little bored/tired with the S[iro and had been thinking about going back to a Jargar Dolce or Medium E/C (the dolce was the original ext string on the set up)

Any thoughts on the Ext Anima? I never played any Velvet strings when they were around.
Thanks
 
#1,795
Gut guys -

I'm back passionatly in love with guts (Damien Dlugolecki, the man.) for the first time in 3-4 years. I got him to custom cut me a high A and high E string for my C G D A E 5'r/fifths tuning. Got the action/heights balanced perfectly with the RM Spiros beneath and I don't ever want to play anything else ever again. It's my perfect fantasy setup.

That being said, the unvarnished, relatively thin high E string is already, after just a couple weeks, starting to show the occasional hair. Being the OCD superhero that I am, I've been clipping and sanding right away, but I am worried about longevity of the gut. I'm wanting to milk these for absolutely as long as I can - pizz and arco.

Is it advisable to simply take some oil painting varnish (ie, the Winsor-Neuton stuff) and give the strings a quick rub coating with a cotton-ball while under tension on the bass? The bow end already has rosin on it, would/should I somehow remove that first - and how?

Or maybe just turn off that particular part of my brain that and just play 'till they break, unvarnished?

Also - how often do you oil yours? (Memphis is high humidity, temp in room kept at about 74F.)

Thanks for your help and patience!
 
#1,797
LouisF said:
I currently Goetz plain gut GDA with a Spiro Weich Ext E/C; a NOS Anima E/C has come up at a reasonable (half) price. Is it worth trying? I'm a little bored/tired with the S[iro and had been thinking about going back to a Jargar Dolce or Medium E/C (the dolce was the original ext string on the set up)

Any thoughts on the Ext Anima? I never played any Velvet strings when they were around.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't know that I would with the Anima, but if it was an extended E Compas 180 I would. Just keep in mind that they're going to be a fair bit more fragile.
 

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