Double Bass I found the perfect strings

[Marcus Johnson]

American Border Guard: Why did you bring your doublebass up?

Troy: "Hey, you brought it up"....

That's only if you want to spend an hour in the US border "smarta$$ room".

 

[damonsmith]

I have done well at resisting the string game. I would say to first try to correct whatever issue through technique and set up (more of a +1 to Troy's OP).
I am considering going to spiro solos tuned normal next time, but it has more to do with thinking less tension might make the bass happier as per Marcus' Gary Peacock quote. I know both Reggie Workman and Joelle Leandre used those at least for a time and both always had a big sound.
I also like to make sure the strings sound good pizz, because after you pluck the notes the strings are doing the work as opposed to arco where you can micro-manage it the whole time.

 

[kwd]

Like Troy I too have found the perfect strings and it has come in the form of a long overdue set up.

If you live in the south SF Bay Area, check out thebassdoc.com.

 

[Dr. Jake]

After being amazed at how much a soundpost adjustment did for my bass, I've been still more amazed at how much difference there seems to be (mainly in terms of volume) between bridge adjuster positions that vary by 2 millimeters or so.

I can't resist asking, though: hdiddy - how was the brightness/nasal twang of the spiro solos tuned down? My bass definitely seems to like the strings set high, but I wouldn't mind a reduction in tension if I could get it.

 

[Wally Malone]

+1, I took my 1/4 size Kay to Matt recently and it is now playable.

Wally

If you live in the south SF Bay Area, check out thebassdoc.com.

 

[Don Higdon]

The one thing that stays relatively constant is praise for Spiros.

I agree; he makes a great spanikopita.

 

[MT Spaces]

Just to bring this thread back around to where Troy started .... Thanks Troy !!

After years of trying everything on the market that I could get my hands on (thanks in part to many of you), I've found the perfect strings and see no reason to look any further .... okay, I know you're going to ask, so I'll tell you;
Q: What are they?
A: A really, really good setup. Wish I had gone there sooner.

Done By Jake DeeVee by any chance ? I wish I lived closer to British Columbia or Jake would send me down a flight case so I could get my own "really, really good set-up" .

Indeed. Montana is not that far and it's a lovely time of year to drive through Alberta and British Columbia.....

Now you have me thinkin' Troy .... Crescent Beach is only 800 to 1000 miles one-way depending on the route ... as long as that person doesn't get busted for smuggling an upright across an International Boundary .

Ok .... It's A Happenin' Deal . It's not easy to find a good luthier here in The Boonies so we do what we have to. Don't get me wrong .... I love my strings (Pistoy G & D / Anima A & E) .... But ..... Something just wasn't right .... I felt like my Epi had Un-Tapped Potential.

It turns out that Mr. DeeVee bought a flight case from a fellow TB'er here in The Classies .... And that case from Indiana was goin' right past Bozeman on a bus on the InterState so it took a little 6-block detour and stayed at my place for a few days. Then I filled it up with my Gibson Epiphone B-5 and sent it on it's way further West. The bus-dude at GreyHound asked me if there was a dead body in there .... Guess he never saw a double bass case before.

DeeVee was kind enuff to pick the bass up at the Fast-Dog station in person in Bellingham WA, inspect it, and then "smuggle" it across the International Border to Canada himself. What A Guy .... He has listened to it .... And has a plan to make it mo-betta . I like People With A Plan .... DeeVee for Prime Minister !!

1) Ditch and replace the heavy, 17-foot-long, low-end-killin' Ulna (?) endpin assembly with a real-light drumstick assembly ....
2) Do up a new rosewood nut .... The orig was shimmed up but the orig gooving was still letting the strings ride on the FB up-top unequally .... I would tune my open notes and then play but my intonation and ability to track notes sorta-straight across a given "fret" sukked (does that make any sense ? ... I'm a rookie) ....
3) Properly dress the not-orig ebony board that came on the bass when I bought it .... Seems to have valleys and hills in the wrong places (just like in Montana) ....
4) Adjust or maybe replace the soundpost ...... It's set "conservatively" .... I guess that's Luth-Speak for "not-so-swell" ....
5) New, quality adj bridge with Full Circle installed ..... Yeah Baby ... Look Out ... The Loud alt-country gigs might get easier w/o feedback ..... But I think I will also be pleased with the new throaty, voluminous, un-plugged, acoustic sound I'll have for the bluegrass / gospel free-gigs at the local nursing homes.
6) Replace tailpiece cord with aircraft cable and tune the string after-lengths ...
7) And Possibly .... Ditch (and save of course) the orig-real-sweet-lookin'-heavy-ass tiger-maple Epi tailpiece with cool-orig-badge ... Add a lighter TP then do some Voo-Doo-Mode-Matchin'. OK all you anti-mode-matchin' non-believers .... Please don't bitch at me .... I Trust DeeVee .... He's No Dummy .... Take it up with him .

So far communications and service have been swell. He may even meet me and deliver the bass back to me in person in Spokane, WA ... Just a tidy little 6-hour one-way / 400 mile one-way trip for me in The Winter after Christmas. I can hardly wait .... A Really Good Set-Up .

Now I just need That Guy .... What's-his-name ? .... Oh Yeah ..... Henry M. Paulson, Jr .... To slip me some shady-random-bottom-drawer-slush-fund TARP-dough to pay for DeeVee's ransom .

I'm Joshin' ..... The Luthier fees are quite fair / reasonable / understandable .... I'm fine with payin' the ransom to a kindred Pacific NorthWester ... But it's really not fair that the Canadian Dollar is sukkin' wind against the US Dollar right now .... I'll make it right with him.

Obviously I haven't even heard my bass after DeeVee has worked Reds over ... I will report back in ... But I'm real-confident ... It'll be way-better. If it's not ... I'll hound-his-ass and ruin his reputation fer-sure . Sorry DeeVee ... Just jerkin' yer chain ... That's what us PNW'ers do to each other in fun ... Right ?? !

P.S ....... Happy ThanksGiving EveryOne ! We are eating Shot-Gun-Shot-Sage Grouses tomorrow instead of Turkeys ..... Maybe not yer-kinda-deal ... Butt .... I really hope All You Upright-Maniacs have a Good One ! I'm So Thankful for All You Good Folks Here at TB ..... Even though we come from so-many different backgrounds / bass-styles / music genres / Parts-O-The World'N'USA / Experience / Age / Gender ......

Let's Hang Together Bassists .... Maybe we can have a low-ender in the White House Some Day ..... Even Better ... Runnin' The IMF Bank Holding Down The Low-End Where It Really Matters...

That is where all of Our Futures Lie .... Scary Stuff .... Big Stuff That Is ...

I'm just happy that I can play my alt-country-upright-Kay'n'Epi basses for a buncha-young-hotties on the dance-floor and fergit how screwed-up thangs are rite-now.

 

[Paul Warburton]

I did get hassled on the way up.

The heavily armed (Things have CHANGED!) Canadian border guy says "What's all that stuff in the back?"

I said "That's just my bass"

HACBG: "What?"

Me: It's a string bass.

HACBG: <blank stare>

Me: An old fashioned standup bass. <pretend air bass playing for effect>

HACBG: What are you doing with it?

Me: My friend is a guitar player, I'm going to visit and we'll play. He might try to fix something on it for me while I'm there.

HACBG: <tires of the conversation and waves me on>

ON THE WAY BACK

Me: <sigh here we go again>
American Border Guard: Why did you bring your doublebass up?

I almost shat myself.

Things have indeed changed.

SHAT yerself? Cool, Troy! I'll be borrowing that one a lot, thanks!

 

[Jake deVilliers]

SHAT yerself? Cool, Troy! I'll be borrowing that one a lot, thanks!

TROIKA can conjugate many verbs, and that's one of them. He's a pretty smart guy, for a banker.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Bob. I hope I can live up tp your expectations.

Sage grouse sounds fantastic - its a been a long time for me. We've been living in the city for quite a while, I guess....

 

[TroyK]

Mode Matching non-believers have never played a bass before and after. You'll be thilled with the bass, I'm only sorry that you don't get to visit Jake's shop and see him slink into country boy, witch doctor-luthier "listen to the wood, it will tell you what it wants" mode. It's fun to watch him work.

You will be amazed. And no reason not to trust Jake, he's good people.

 

[MT Spaces]

SHAT yerself? ....

Happen's quite offen here in-town Pee-Dubb ... We have a real-good smothered-burrito-place .

They serve up good buffalo chipotle sauce from-a-bottle all-over-everything .... Good Food ... Probably learnt The Trade in Denver where yer from

Buttt ....We Pay Later for our culinary transgressions !! Thank Goodness for Tucks'N'Prep-H . Crud .... That's Rude .. I promise I will try to stay on-topic sometime in the near-future.

 

[MT Spaces]

Mr. DeeVee and Troika (Evil Side-Kick) ... I'm not worried One-Iota about what my Epi will sound-like after Jake works it over ....

As far as the fine-tunin' phase of his work goes ......

I might be just guessin' here since I'm not a luthier....

DeeVee's "Modal Tuning" ..... I'm lookin' forward to when Jake describes how he booted my Epi B-5 'round the parkin' lot behind his shop to whip it into shape ......

....With his big-steel-toe / logger-hob-nail British Columbia Canada boots after too-many Kokanee beers ....

P.S .... I had a more-than-a-few of them Kokanees tonite me-self Good Cheap Cannuck beers ..... 'Specially since the CANADA-USA $$ Conversion seems not to be favoring My Favorite Canadian Double Bass Luthiert D !!!

Happy ThanksGiving EveryOne !!

 

[MT Spaces]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Bob. I hope I can live up tp your expectations.

Sage grouse sounds fantastic - its a been a long time for me. We've been living in the city for quite a while, I guess....

Ahh Shoot Jake .... I have plenty-confidence ... Your skills and ear will suffice since I have neither. Don't sweat it ... I'll eat some Sage Grouse in yer honor tomorrow . I really didn't mean to pressure-you here Buddy or drag yer-name thru the mud !! You and I know that you will do your best-work ... At your own pace ... As you do for everyone .... Even those low-life / non-double-bass-players ..... I can almost forgive the Santa-Cruz guitar players . No Probs-What-So-Ever-Never .... Carry On.

 

[Paul Warburton]

Aww, Bob yer SO earthy...
Really nice havin' you around. Between my sophistication and your earthyness, we make this a better place.

I'm also impressed with your TBDB computer chops...WOW...A Quadruple quoted post!

 

[MT Spaces]

Aww, Bob yer SO earthy...
Really nice havin' you around. Between my sophistication and your earthyness, we make this a better place.

I'm also impressed with your TBDB computer chops...WOW...A Quadruple quoted post!

Yep ... Ya-Betcha P-Dub ...... I'm damn earthy & yer-plenty-sophisto ... . Let's all make TB a better place however we can.

 

[rdwhit]

I have done well at resisting the string game. I would say to first try to correct whatever issue through technique and set up (more of a +1 to Troy's OP).
I am considering going to spiro solos tuned normal next time, but it has more to do with thinking less tension might make the bass appier as per Marcus' Gary Peacock quote. I know both Reggie Workman and Joelle Leandre used those at least for a time and both always had a big sound.
also like to make sure the strings sound good pizz, because after you pluck the notes the strings are doing the work as opposed to arco where you can micro-manage it the whole time.

Question for Damon . I believe You play German bow. I use French. The few times that I have tried German, I've found that I can bow bright strings such as weichs with far less of the scratch and a fatter sound. I use to have an old dark sounding bass, weichs almost satisfied me for arco w/ french bow then. I now play a brighter sounding La Scala hybrid. Perhaps if I were to practice a little more w/ a german bow I could use weichs again and put the crossover string search madness to rest. What do You think? I play 80% pizz, 20% orchestra. I think You use weichs & german bow. Your clips sound great. Ideas from anyone else? Thanks gang.

 

[bonaventura]

...The point is that my bass was showing signs of goodness, but wasn't happy. I wasn't happy and I threw strings at it for years before I dealt with the problem. Now the bass is happy. I have some good strings on there, but I'm sure that it would also be happy with different strings now, if I had it set up with them...

If I may paraphrase you, TroyK: "Strings are not the essential thing. The bass is happy when it has a really good set up. When the bass is happy, just about any good quality set of strings will sound good."

There is no doubt that a well tailored setup is the best thing for playing and tonal happiness. One does have to choose a string set that pleases them first to then have the setup evolve around the strings. Everything from fingerboard camber to soundpost fit and placement is influenced by the strings tension and movement. ...My difficulty has been which set of strings to set my bass around.

Again, me interpreting UT: "Strings are the essential thing. The bass is just an instrument for amplifying the sound of the strings, so the set up is contributing to the sound, but the strings make the sound."

TroyK, UncleT : I hope I didn't take you too far out of context. But it is a thought-provoking dialogue: Which is more important, the strings or the set up? I'm not taking one side or the other, but I don't disagree with either of you.

Over the past days, this thread came to mind. I just spent a couple of days over Christmas and New Years fitting a new bridge. The set up on this bass now seems much improved.

But I haven't changed the strings in a year. The old set up sounded good, but the sound lacked volume, punch, and mid-range. Other musicians on the same stage couldn't hear my bass distinctly. Deep low end, kinda muddy, indistinct but otherwise sweet and full.

The old bridge held the strings close to the FB @ 5 - 8 mm. On the new bridge the strings are now a bit higher @ 7 - 10 mm. (I don't use bridge adjusters on this bass.) The new bridge is also tilted back/down towards the TP slightly, about 3° or 3 mm to prevent warping. Both bridges are Despiau Superior *** and both are thinned about the same on the top and fit like gloves. I even made a pic for y'all and attached it.

So it's the same strings, and the exact same set up apart from the new bridge. Maybe it's serendipity, just dumb luck, 'cuz the improvement seems more than just what a 2 mm increased height could do. It's like, by accident somehow I just hit on a bridge with tonewood or a fitting that really improved the sound. There's more punch and mid-range tone to the sound, and a lot more volume, more distinct. Good vibrations.

I was thinking of going down the wormhole again experimenting with a set of Evahs but am so happy with the "new" sound of the set up I think I'll just enjoy the old Spiro Mittel E, Weich A, Belcanto D and G. They never sounded so good! Bass is happy, the strings are better than ever. Cheers and a Happy New Year to y'all!