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Double Bass Olive G lovefest

timobee4 said:
My Olive G is on it's way to join Mittel E and Weich A & D. I must be insane to jump on the bandwagon so easily, I absolutely adore the way Weich G sings to me so the Olive G better be good ;)

It will be great! My olive G & D with weich A and mittel D worked very well, a hint of gut bounce in your sound.
 
My Olive G is on it's way to join Mittel E and Weich A & D. I must be insane to jump on the bandwagon so easily, I absolutely adore the way Weich G sings to me so the Olive G better be good ;)

It's different. The Olive has a thick bluntness to it that makes you pay attention without any of the spirocore whine. However, you can really make it sing. The guy who hipped me to it described it as being able to 'milk' it. It's really nice with mittels. Interested to know how it works next to the weich D.
 
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My beautiful Olive G arrived, I can tell its made really well! Shame that I'll never gonna get to hear it because earths lowest form of life the postman folded the package destroying the string completely! Same thing happened to some Velvet string I ordered last year! I feel like folding his brain, what brain?
 
timobee4 said:
My beautiful Olive G arrived, I can tell its made really well! Shame that I'll never gonna get to hear it because earths lowest form of life the postman folded the package destroying the string completely! Same thing happened to some Velvet string I ordered last year! I feel like folding his brain, what brain?

That sucks. If you can contemplate ever ordering strings that way again, try requesting "signature required on delivery" -- most vendors have a special instructions box on their ordering page. That way, your postie doesn't need to stuff it your box, and if he bends it anyway, you get to strangle him with the remains.
 
if he bends it anyway, you get to strangle him with the remains.

Great idea!!! That's how I felt, but looks like not all is lost!!! There are four damaged area one in the peg box one in near the tail piece one over C and another higher up over A, I managed to install the string with the damaged area on the inside so I cant feel it and after a few minutes of playing the pressure to the board made it disappear. So far so good! After an hour of noodling I am prepared to say that I do regret buying it now, its simply too good, too nice and player friendly! I had to swap Spiro Weich D to a Mittel, then the Weich A felt strange as I already had Mittel E. I don't want to order Olive D, doesn't sound like a great string from what I read here! Inclined to get a Eudoxa D?!? I have a friend traveling the world in a Hungarian gypsy band telling me that Eudoxa makes a crappy bass sound fantastic but a fantastic bass sound crappy! Not sure what to believe. With a full Spiro set I was chuffed with all its imperfections but now with this truly unbelievable string contributing so positively to the set I am not sure if I can stop myself from getting a D string of some kind equally superior. The Olive G is remarkably clear sounding string. I had Gamuts and other gut strings even synthetics like Garbo, Anima, Obligato or Innovation Super Silver but Olive is superior IMO simply a xxxxxng great string!!
 
I actually really like the Olive A. Its thick sounding with a really smooth and warm tone still retaining enough attack. I don't think I will go back to it as my bass sounds so good with Spirocores on it however. The Olive G is hands down one of the best sounding G's I have ever played no matter what bass its on. I do agree with Jason Sypher though... I get about 3 months or so out of one before the windings start to separate.
 
So far my olive G sounding great, such clear balanced tone all along the string. However it lacks the charisma of a Mittel G! I'll keep it on for now because a mate sending me Eudoxa D so we'll see. So Oliver G is in a league of it's own. Not like any gut I tried, and too sterile to be compared to steel strings. I prefer the complex characteristics of gut strings or the colorful tone from Spirocore. Also how long for it to settle. I tune many times a day for like 2 weeks.
 
On my bass (2003 Romanian carved flatback), the Olive G was bright, and after a month digging through my box-o-strings (EP weich, Permanent, Flex/92, Spiro/mitt) I could not find a good D-string to match against it -- so I took it off. Maybe I'll try it again someday -- it sure was beautiful.
 
FWIW: I just took my Olive G&D off and put on some Animas. The differences is minor on my bass - actually with the new strings, the bass has becoming pretty lively, esp after jacking up the string heights. I was getting a little annoyed at my intonation - I blame the differences in strings. I'm glad I tried the whole set. The Olives good, but I like the Animas - even the strings with them just put on sounds very usable. Prolly eliminated tuning issues due to changing temps while I'm at it.

If I keep liking them, there might be a couple extra Olives on the FS forum soon.
 
Bumparoo: I've decided to do a full setup on my bass and my one year old Olive is done. The winding is loose at the bridge and messy in the pegbox. I'm dressing the board, cutting a new bridge, nut and making a wood endpin/assembly. So, since the bass will be taken down I've been struggling with the idea of springing for a new Olive. Also, the EP weichs are done. Gonna try Spirocore Mitts E, A with EP regular D and G. My growing collection has everything but the EP G which is about $80 cheaper than the Olive and I hope I can live with it. The Olive is a beautiful, fragile, expensive thing.
 
My bass took a tumble a few weeks ago and took a hit directly on the bridge. I think the only damage was to the winding on the G string. The bridge notch wasn't quite right either. After I do the setup and play it in for a bit I may spring for another one if the EP doesn't satisfy but it's a tough call. Two tanks of gas or an Olive G? When they were four tanks of gas it wasn't too bad. :(
 

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