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Double Bass New string choices for festival season?

cultrvultr

cultrvultr

Supporting Member
Jun 16, 2008
1,320
657
Oakland, California
www.cultrvultr.com
#1
I'm gearing up for a fun summer of bluegrass jams and festivals. The Zyex strings I've had on my bass the last few years are done and dusted.

What are folks liking for a good bluegrass string these days? I usually like a metal string with a "gut-like" tone. I love the sound of real guts, but not looking to deal with actual gut right now.

Evah Pirazzi's were one of my favorites, but there are a seemingly a ton of new options out there like the Perpetuals and Helicore Hybrids. What are you liking?
 
#3
Unless you just have to have metals, try some Eurosonics. I love 'em for synthetic gut. Plenty of high end snap still, but nice gutty thump.

Personally, I switched from Pirastro Obligatos to D'Addario Zyex about ten years ago and never looked back, but I like keeping my festival bass strung with Eurosonics.
 
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#5
The German ply I use for bluegrass and Americana is currently strung with Perpetuals. They're like a kinder, gentler Spirocore: slightly lower (measured) tension, slightly softer "feel," nice strong presence and fundamental.

On a different bass (same music), I tried Eurosonic lights. Liked the sound (including a little bit of unexpected growl/sustain), but eventually tired of the oddly stiff feel, despite a very comfortable low tension. One bonus: Although Edward described them as synthetic gut, they do have a metal core and work well with magnetic pickups like Krivo and Biesele.

You mentioned Evah Pirazzi: have you tried their Slaps? If I wasn't addicted to the convenience of magnetic pickups, I'd probably be using them. They feel and sound great in my experience, although not quite as loud acoustically as the Perpetuals.
 
#6
If you don't have any hand issues, Spiros get a lot of good reviews.

I use a synthetic mixed set (SilverSlaps/Deluxe Dirty Guts), but I'm looking for easy-on=the-hands and as little metallic tone as possible.

We have plans for heading to Havasu, Grass Valley and SummerGrass so far this year. Maybe Parkfield too.
 
#7
My '50 Kay has a low set up and is currently strung with Perpetuals. As others have said, Perps are like a kinder, gentler Spiro. Punchy, centered, dynamic. Tried many others over the years and super happy with these. My '41 Kay has higher action and is strung with Gamut gut on top over Evah Slaps.

Knowing me one or both basses will end up strung with Spiro Weichs again, sooner or later, because they just work.
 
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#9
I really like the sound of my rather heavily built Romanian bass with Bel Canto strings. Low E is kind of weak, but since it didn't really get any better with Spirocore stark, I attribute that to the bass itself or setup/soundpost maybe. It's got a heavy solid sound, not twangy or boingy, much like what I hear on old bluegrass recordings.
 
#11
Kindred spirits! Acoustic rules!

Re:the occasional need for amplification, while I do have a pickup/pre-amp system installed, when our band plays on stage at festivals, I'm just about always using my mounted mic now. And wireless. Just hand a wireless receiver to the sound guy and we're working.
 
#13
Sam Reese said:
Spiros work great in acoustic settings. I have Eurosonic Lights, EP Slaps and Innovation Super Silvers. I think the Super Silvers would be the ones I'd put back on for acoustic bluegrass jamming.
Click to expand...
Interesting. @Sam Reese How do the super silvers compare to the Eurosonics?

I had the Euros years ago but they felt too "plasticky" to me and I moved back to a metal string.
 
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#14
Don Hergert said:
Kindred spirits! Acoustic rules!

Re:the occasional need for amplification, while I do have a pickup/pre-amp system installed, when our band plays on stage at festivals, I'm just about always using my mounted mic now. And wireless. Just hand a wireless receiver to the sound guy and we're working.
Click to expand...
You're gonna love the sound at Grass Valley. I'll see you there! What's the name of the band?
 
#15
Ohhh, sorry, didn't mean to imply we're playing there this year... We're just going for fun.

The band's name is "Sweet Tidings Gospel Jam", and as the name suggests we're primarily a Gospel band (although we do a lot of secular programs too). The band has played at SummerGrass, the Temecula festivals and a number of other more SoCal-local festivals and venues.

Unless we're invited to play at a festival, our big goal is jamming. The wife and I and lots of our Southwest Bluegrass Association friends will be heading up to Grass Valley this year, and probably to the Susanville festival afterward, primarily camping in RVs.
 
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#16
@cultrvultr Super Silvers are round wound and have a rougher feel than Euros which are smoothish. Super Silvers were like bucking broncos when I put them on. They settled in a bit, but I love the "nastiness" that they exude by handling slapping & whackin...but they also have a strong fundamental so they are great for bluegrass 1-5 thumpin'. (Back story- I just got this set a less than 6 months ago. I currently have Spiro Mitts back on the bass, but am glad to have the SS strings in my stash.) I played EP Slaps from spring-fall 2021 during the "summer gig season". I did not appreciate getting black fingers every gig and ultimately they don't have enough definition for me. I played the Euros for a couple years. I don't have anything against them, except their tone is a little like you said plasticky. I never really thought of the SS as plasticky more phat actually, but I am currently sporting Spiro Mitts w/ Stark G on my "bluegrass" bass and Spiro Weichs on my "jazz" bass because I'm on a Spiro kick that is subject to change without notice! Sorry I wrote so much. I hope it helps.
 
#19
I've also changed strings as of a few months ago... Mostly moving away from Innovation strings, but not for any problem with manufacturing, mostly just wanting a different tone.

Remembering that I was using SBW Deluxe Dirty Guts medium tension D and G, and had been for about 6 years with really good experience, I wanted to stay with them, but wanted an even more old school, more gut-like tone.

So this time around I've gone with the fattest gauge of the Deluxe Dirty Guts on all 4 strings, something I hadn't tried before. That's E .170", A .155", D .130" and G .105", in the same general thickness range as Lenzner's plain gut string set. These are slightly higher tension than the SilverSlaps or the SugarSlaps that I've used.

Going on 3 months with these strings now, I'm still really pleased with them, I think they are keepers for me. They are very dark, with low sustain, especially the E and A, but loud and even cutting. Sort of the opposite sound of modern strings like Spiros or even Zyex mediums, but they fit well with the roots sounds and instruments I play with.

The next step for me would have been a full Lenzner plain gut set, but at 1/10th of the price, these fattest Deluxe Dirty Guts are more than satisfying my old-school needs.
 
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