Double Bass How do I clean my guts

[dblbss]

When I showed up to the gig last night ,to my horror the Manager said " We are going to set you up outside on the patio tonight." If I'd a known that I would have brought the ply.

I have a D & G gamuts , unvarnished, and now they are pretty grimy from the humidity last night. How can I clean them up.

thanks

 

[Jeff Kissell]

You don't have to remove the strings just loosen each one enough to lift it out of the nut and off the bridge. Clip any hairs that might have developed. I use a little bit of rubbing alcohol and a paper towel to remove the gunk, it also removes built up rosin if that's your thing. Next I use mineral oil and a light kitchen scrubber on the playing length and then wipe everything off really well with a clean paper towel. Bring the string up to tension and play it! Depending on where you live you won't have to oil them every time.

VERY IMPORTANT!! If you use a bow only oil the strings well north of the end of the fingerboard, rosin and oil do not mix!!

-J

An alternative is to use vodka or 'shine, especially if you need to clean your other guts at the same time.

 

[Francois Blais]

Well, there are probably many posts about gut strings caring, but I've chosen this one to post my question:

How do you care the wound bottom guts?
I've got a used E string that's tarnished and somewhat dirty and would like to avoid damaging it.
The winding seems to be silverplated. It's a Lenzner.

Thanks in advance!

 

[A. Munk]

I use .000 steal wool.
Then wipe with dry, clean, non linting cloth.
Ari

 

[Reiska]

How I clean, or more like maintain, my plain gut strings: The ground rule: You`re maintaining a string, not salvaging it. Don`t overdo anything. String want`s to be even, in every way. 1. Tune the string down for it to be mobile enough over the bass, for the prosedure, 5th or so. 2. Run a lighter under the string, for the whole lenght from nut to tailpiece. Slow enough to burn the " hair " down, fast enough for not burning a uneven spot to the string. 3. Sand the spots that had " hair " on, or feels otherwise uneven, with stupid high grade sandpaper, steel wool or such. Don`t use force, remember the key word " even ". 4. Wipe the string throughout it`s lenght with vegetable oil from your kitchen. 5. Let it be for a couple of mins if you can. 6. Rub the string with kitchen paper or soft cloth, a couple of times. Think like you were handling sanding paper, now you can use force, but DO NOT BEND THE STRING AT ALL 7. Tune it up and rub it again with..

If you have GD plain guts, you`re propably fine with doing the job for the D string while the G is at stage 5. Then start with the D string when you`ve finished the 4 with the G sdring and continue overall process when you`re finished with the stage 4 on the D string.

This is how I do it and never had a problem with. I`ve killed two G strings with going too far with the sanding process. What I learned from that is that a string want`s to be even in every way, and that gut strings are organic, meaning that if you absolutely don`t have to do something, it`s best to not to.

For wound gut strings I don`t have anything but wishing you good luck.

@A. Munk, Should we have some kind of a club?

Ari Reiska Lehtinen

EDIT: Every once in a while, app once in 6 or 12 months: When there comes the time you try other strings for the reason of going back to ones you used anyway: Stage 1. Take the strings off. 2. Run a lighter throughout. 3. Sand throughout. Soak them in vegetable oil, let them be there overnight. 4. Take them off, wipe thru multiple times and let breathe. 5. Store in dry and damp or use rightaway.

 

[Povl Carstensen]

Soaking them overnight seems tempting, but I wonder if it could not be overdoing it. Sometimes I feel gut strings has a certain crispness to their sound, that I do not want to kill totally, but perhaps that is just me...

 

[John Le Guyader]

Tom Wolf, who installed my Lenzners, said to lightly oil them with olive oil once a week with a soft cloth.

 

[Reiska]

@Povl Carstensen, I`m thinking of strings that have survived decades of years, the whole sinking prosedure. I`m not sure if this is really necessary, but still, it ain`t hurting them either, and they manage the awesomeness.

 

[Reiska]

Tom Wolf, who installed my Lenzners, said to lightly oil them with olive oil once a week with a soft cloth.

Sorry, you`re left with oily hairy gut strings.

My experience is that the guts will get hairy and rough feeling under 1/2 - 3rd position after 1-3 weeks. And if the weather is all over the place the strings will react. My solution is to do the maintenance job and play happily after that, in any cirmustances. Anyway, there are no substitudes for gut strings. Through any amp your bass sounds like a double bass. No other string will do that IME.

 

[John Le Guyader]

Sorry, you`re left with oily hairy gut strings.

My experience is that the guts will get hairy and rough feeling under 1/2 - 3rd position after 1-3 weeks. And if the weather is all over the place the strings will react. My solution is to do the maintenance job and play happily after that, in any cirmustances. Anyway, there are no substitudes for gut strings. Through any amp your bass sounds like a double bass. No other string will do that IME.

Well, this is my first try at guts, one week in and they sound and feel great and we'll see how they age...

 

[Reiska]

Sorry dude, I didn`t mean it like that. But if you`re not living in a crystal bubble you`re gut strings will react the climate, your skin Ph, the zen feng shui, whatever. How do you feel about the D string? What sort of music you`re going thru with these strings?

 

[John Le Guyader]

Sorry dude, I didn`t mean it like that. But if you`re not living in a crystal bubble you`re gut strings will react the climate, your skin Ph, the zen feng shui, whatever. How do you feel about the D string? What sort of music you`re going thru with these strings?

Bluegrass and traditional finger picking blues (Piedmont) with a guitarist (acoustic hot tuna) on this bass...and right now the strings are still settling in, but I'm pretty happy all round with the Lenzners. But its just been week one, and out to one rehearsal, another tomorrow, lesson tonight. Hard for me to know what to expect and what I don't know it being my first venture with guts.

 

[Reiska]

For me, with steel EA plain gut DG, it`s a matter of tone vs playability. When the G is at 8mm`s the whole instrument feels really comfortable. When I had plain guts over steel E, with light gauge G string, 10 - 13mm felt great. Now with steels under guts, the D string shows off. 8mm`s under the G string, and the D feels and sounds like poopie. 9mm`s under the G, and the D feels and sounds like it should sound.

Anyway, here are threads that speak for lower string height vs sound. I haven`t found a way to make a DB more audible without increasing the tension on the top of the bass. Somehow people make this happen, I quess, and all this makes me wonder how Dennis Irwin sounded like he did.

 

[jmlee]

Enema?

 

[Povl Carstensen]

I haven`t found a way to make a DB more audible without increasing the tension on the top of the bass.

Well raising string height is not just about increasing tension, but also about giving the string more room to vibrate. Which seems to give you more oomph. Just 2 c.

 

[DaveAceofBass]

Ex lax!

 

[Jay Corwin]

I played Lenzners for years. Sanding was my preferred method of cleaning up the hairs and bumps on the strings. I'd have to check my tool box, but I recall using a very fine grit - like 2000 or better. Basically a polishing grit because I wanted to remove as little material as possible. I would cut small pieces of it, roll it back and forth around the string while also shifting vertically up the string. The idea was to try to keep the diameter as uniform as possible. You don't want to flat spot the string.

After sanding, I used almond oil the same way most have described. Apply, wipe down, wait to play till the next day.

 

[Tom Howland]

I played Lenzners for years. Sanding was my preferred method of cleaning up the hairs and bumps on the strings. I'd have to check my tool box, but I recall using a very fine grit - like 2000 or better. Basically a polishing grit because I wanted to remove as little material as possible. I would cut small pieces of it, roll it back and forth around the string while also shifting vertically up the string. The idea was to try to keep the diameter as uniform as possible. You don't want to flat spot the string.

After sanding, I used almond oil the same way most have described. Apply, wipe down, wait to play till the next day.

Same as above. Works great.

 

[Deleted member 132197]

I also use the same method as sevenyearsdown, only I use olive oil instead of almond. Works great!