Double Bass musings...

[tww001]

Just out of pure curiosity, has anyone ever heard of roundwound strings for the DB? Obviously one couldn't bow with them. Has it been done though?

 

[JonB]

Sure. When I was a lad, I played on a school-owned Kay with roundwound guts (E and A)
You're right - they were unbowable!

 

[Francois Blais]

Look at LaBella Supernyls.
They use a multi-strand nylon core, and the E & A are wrapped with round metal wire. The D & G are wrapped with round nylon.
They're inexpensive.

 

[Brent Norton]

Some of the wound guts available today (Efrano, Lenzner, Labella, etc) are wound with round wire, usually the E & A.

 

[boombloom]

Curious if metal roundwounds would increase fingerboard pitting. That's not such an issue on fretted instruments, but I wonder if roundwounds would be abrasive to my fingerboard...

 

[tww001]

I have roundwounds on my fretless slab, and I've not noticed any wear on the fingerboard, and rosewood is softer than ebony...

 

[jneuman]

Just out of pure curiosity, has anyone ever heard of roundwound strings for the DB? Obviously one couldn't bow with them. Has it been done though?

Most wound gut strings have round windings, and yes you can bow them quite well as folks have done for centuries. I don't see why roundwound metal strings wouldn't bow well to.

 

[godoze]

The first set of Compass 360's that i used a few years ago had what appeared to be a roundwound type of outer wrap. They oculd be bowed but it toook some adjustment with the right hand.