Double Bass Hinton, Brown and Stewart

[BeowulfKingsley]

I can't remember if I've asked this before here or not...but it's worth repeating the question (if for no other reason than I don't know the answer!)...

I'm pretty sure that Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Slam Stewart all started out their bass careers on gut strings, right? But what were they playing later in their lives? Inquiring minds want to know. Granted, they all could probably play clotheslines and sound brilliant, but I'm just curious.

 

[Francois Blais]

Milt Hinton was a Super-Sensitive endorser.
I don't know which brand he was using though; the Supremes or the Pinnacles I guess.

Ray Brown was playing on Spirocores.

Don't know for Slam Stewart.

 

[massimo]

Milt Hinton: regular Thomastik Spirocore
Ray Brown: reg. Th.Spirocore until the '90, then Spirocore Weich, and Spirocore solo in last years of his career
Slam Stewart: i'm not sure but it sounds lke Spirocore too.
And yes , naturally they all played on gut strings in the old times..

 

[BeowulfKingsley]

Man, if Slam's bowing Spiros he's gettin' great tone doin' it! I find those mighty hard to do arco with. But as I say, he'd probably sound fantastic bowing barbed wire. Actually my teacher bows on Spiros and, strangely, sounds a lot like Slam...

 

[drurb]

Milt Hinton: regular Thomastik Spirocore
Ray Brown: reg. Th.Spirocore until the '90, then Spirocore Weich, and Spirocore solo in last years of his career
Slam Stewart: i'm not sure but it sounds lke Spirocore too.
And yes , naturally they all played on gut strings in the old times..

Ray Brown was a Lycon devotee for a while. See here.

 

[Michael Glynn]

I seem to remember hearing somewhere that Slam Stewart used Super-Sensitive Sensicores for a while.

 

[tornadobass]

Both Milt and Slam are listed on the Super-Sensitive endorsers web page.

 

[massimo]

I correct myself about Milt Hinton: thomastik Spirocore Weich
(i saw him and tried his bass) at least after the '90