Double Bass Oliv D

[papa bajo]

I changed my strings recently (Spirocore med. E,A and Oliv D,G).

The D string sounds bad. Pizz has some awful dead notes and wolfy overtones... And also thud. Should I play it for a while to see if it settles down? It's been on for over a week. The rest of the strings sound fine.

It's on a Strunal hybrid bass (5/35)... I've used this string mix before, and it was OK.

Previously had an all Spiro weich set on.

Any ideas? I'm experimenting moving the bridge around a bit (currently at 105.5cm). Maybe something weird's going on with the heat/dryness due to summer weather? Maybe it's time to adjust the soundpost?

 

[Bobby King]

Common problem with the Oliv D. The Oliv G is so nice but the D is disappointing.

The Eudoxa D is less thuddy, you could try that if you still want wound gut, but I'd save money and get an Evah Pirazzi Medium D, I think it will work well with that combination of strings.

 

[SVT4001]

I had good luck with the Oliv D- sound wise that is. Out of the gate it sounded great- the A, not so much- I found the "thud" you report on there- no wolves though. Arco it was amazing!!!

I encountered lots of quality issues with Eudoxa and Oliv- there is at least some chance that you got a bum string...word on the street is that Pirastro is really good about replacing defective strings- I never contacted them about it myself.

FWIW- I would really listen to Bobby's recommendations, he has a wealth of gut knowledge and experience- and he's also shared lots of thoughts on the synthetic strings like the Evahs- thanks btw Bobby! I've learned a lot from you!!!

I second the notion that the Eudoxa is a much brighter string- but I've never used Evahs. My teacher uses an Evah E with all the rest plain gut on his baroque bass- it matches well.

IMHO- wound gut is too much of a PITA to screw with- YMMV and all that- plain is the way to go!
That said- full disclosure: I do have a copper wound E on my gut bass.

Joe

 

[papa bajo]

Thanks for the sound advice. For now I just put the old weich D back on. Sounds better. Feels a bit weird since it's smaller. At least the dead notes and nasty harmonics are gone.

 

[abaguer]

I also like the Evah D as an alternative.

I've been lucky with my Oliv D on my jazz bass with Oliv G and Evah A E. Olive D wasn't so good on classical bass and switched it for Evah D.

 

[aaronallen]

The oliv D definitely improves with age but its still a rather cumbersome string. The eudoxa D is excellent and pairs well with the oliv G. I've not had quality issues with oliv or eudoxa but I'm sure that its mostly a climate thing. My 2 yr old oliv G and 1.5 yr old eudoxa D still sound great!

 

[lrhbass]

When it works it is great...depends on the bass as always!

 

[Matt Ides]

I have been meaning to try an Oliv D. This would be evahs on the bottom and olivs on the top. Sounds like I might be better just sticking w/ evahs, plus the Oliv G.