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Double Bass Into the Unknown....

Jason Sypher

Jason Sypher

Jan 3, 2001
3,836
5,202
Brooklyn, NY
jasonsypher.com
#1
Ok, I tried the Dlugolecki wound A1 AgNi and it was like a bowing an entire sheep instead of just it's intestines. (Don't get me wrong, he makes awesome strings, just not this one) So now I'm actually thinking about an unwound A. I think I've lost my mind or something. Does anyone out there bow an unwound varnished A? And further-more, did Gamut used to sell their guts strings in light, light-plus and medium guages? Why do I remember buying a light plus gut string some time ago?
 
#2
Jason,
Sometimes you can get a gut string that's just bad for whatever reason. This happened to a friend recently with a chorda D. See if Dlugolecki will swap it for another.

Also, what kind of rosin are you using? Before you give up on the wound A, I would get some hard powdery rosin (Pirastro Oliv,Kolstein All-weather, Brohan Oak hard all work for various gut players I know--who all use roundwound Es and As, incidentally) and apply a liberal amount. I've found that this makes a big difference when it comes to controlling the wrapped gut.

Aaron
 
#4
That's interesting, I never considered a "Pistoy", I'll have to read up on that. What's with Gamut's website, I found it to be a mess on my browser. Anyway, I contacted Damian and he was completely cool about the string. I'm sending it back so he can put it on a bass and see what he hears. He readily offered a replacement or refund. Very cool.
About the rosin question. I wouldn't want to change the rosin or the amount I use now just to accommodate the new string. I use Carlssons and very very litte of it. I really don't like that thick rosin gut sound, for me it is more scratchy and too "thick" sounding. I use very little rosin and a very very light bow. That's the only way I've been able to get the sound I want.
 
#5
Jason Sypher said:
That's interesting, I never considered a "Pistoy", I'll have to read up on that. What's with Gamut's website, I found it to be a mess on my browser.
Click to expand...

They sure look smooth! I'll bet they feel great. Low tension and a little more "roll", as I understand it. I still plan to go visit their shop when I head back in a midwest direction. It's interesting that in the packaged set of strings he offers, it's wound E & A, Pistoy D, and Lyon G.

The site is a bit confusing. It's best to look for the "new string store" link, and proceed from there. Lots of nice pics of his products.
 
#7
I found exchanging email with Dan Larson much more useful in figuring out details about his gut strings then trying slog through that mess of a website he has.
 
#8
The good man Damian Dlugolecki is sending me another string after receiving the one I returned. Seems that some of the winding was tweaked when I put the string on the bass. This could be the reason why
it sounded so strange. Hmmm. I did graphite the nut and bridge and I did check the size of the slots but ultimately I may have not been careful enough. More to come...
 
#9
Jason Sypher said:
Let's get everyone who has wanted to experiment with an unwound A to pitch in and then we will each try it for a few days and send it on to the next contributor.
Click to expand...

I would've been into this idea three months ago. Then one of my students showed up with an unwound gut A string, and my desire to have anything to do with one evaporated upon contact.

But FWIW, Jason, that A is as fine under the bow as the unwound D and G on the same bass.
 
#11
Damian was good enough to send me a new wound A1 NiAg string. As I said before, out of the package this is a beautiful string. It's wound but quite smooth. I apparently murdered the last string by getting the windings bunched up at the bridge and nut (it doesn't take much to get them caught) so I took great care in filing my bridge and nut a bit to accomodate the new string. In my case the slots were wide enough, just not smooth enough. I brought the string up to tension slowly and made sure to lift the string off the bridge to alleviate any tension there as I cranked it up. So, how does it sound. Well, first off let me say it is quite thin and extremely playable. Pizzicato, I think it is the best A string I've ever played. It matches the guts very well and I even did some light slapping and it sounded beautiful, just the right balance. For bowing I'm not sure it's for me and I don't think it's the strings fault. It's just not quite quick enough under my bow. I really think it's my bass because I always have to pay a lot of extra attention to the A string nomatter what I've got it strung with. It's hard to start and it doesn't have a lot of sustain. I'm going to try again tomorrow but if it's like it was today I'm going to offer it up for sale. Someone should be playing this string, it's really very fine.
 

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