Double Bass Olive G

[Samason]

Finally bit the bullet and got an Olive G . It does ( to me )live up to the hype for sound .But does it EVER stop stretching !

 

[Sam Dingle]

no

 

[AGCurry]

Yes, it stops stretching, but it will never be as resistant to temperature changes as a non-gut string.

 

[lurk]

Yes it will stop stretching. I loved mine - both of them - till they broke. Not broke as in snapped, but broke as in the winding started coming undone. One at about C and one about Bb in thumb - not at the bridge or nut. Others have better luck. Stick a spare G in the bass bag.

 

[stefaniw80401]

My spare Olive-G is actually an Evah Pirazzi weich. I'm not sure I'd carry a spare Olive-G in my case unless I was doing a lot of critical touring and/or session work.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Finally bit the bullet and got an Olive G . It does ( to me )live up to the hype for sound .But does it EVER stop stretching !

Yes. Sometime early next year and it should be fairly stable after that.

 

[Samason]

Looks like it’s gonna be another expensive addiction

 

[Sam Dingle]

Just looked up the price of an olive G on gollihur. $175 for a single string. Insane. Anyone still using these

 

[AGCurry]

Just looked up the price of an olive G on gollihur. $175 for a single string. Insane. Anyone still using these

I have Oliv G and D in my string "locker." If I become disenchanted with Original Flat Chrome, they may take a turn on my orchestra bass. I haven't had an Oliv fail, so I don't worry about that; it's the stretching/tuning aspect that gives me pause.

 

[LouisF]

Andy,

Maybe I should make this private, but are you switching between basses with guts and OFCs? Isn't that a major shift in tension?

 

[AGCurry]

Andy,

Maybe I should make this private, but are you switching between basses with guts and OFCs? Isn't that a major shift in tension?

Louis, I have nothing to hide (well, at least pertaining to music)!

I have three basses. My orchestra bass is strung with OFCs (and a Spiro weich E); the bass I use for "roots" music and my 11-piece pseudo-jazz band is strung with Gamut guts. My third bass is loaned out to someone.

Perhaps it's a testament to my lack of advanced skills, but I don't perceive a problem with the differences. Sometimes I even play my gut bass in the orchestra. The lower strings especially sound marvelous with the bow - they give me a nice "grunt."

And I don't find OFCs to feel tense relative to other steels. My teacher seems to like them, as he's remarked twice "That bass really sounds good. What are those strings?"

To keep this post on topic, I would only use Olivs to replace steel strings, not guts. Olivs sound much more like steel strings than like "real" guts.

 

[LouisF]

Thanks!

I'm thinking of getting another bass (dont tell Mrs F) and am considering alternatives to guts; after playing guts in orchestra (they really are amazing), synthetic strings like Heritage leave me cold. I've sort of settle on Jargars (Dolce maybe) but the OFCs do sound interesting. Thanks

 

[Jeff Kissell]

Apropos of nothing… I am really, really enjoying a full set of Spirocore 3886 (3/4 solo) at orchestra pitch. On my bass they are the perfect combination of low tension and the brightness and upper harmonics that no one seems to talk about with gut strings except @Eli Brockway. Obviously they’re not gut but they’re a very useable compromise for me.
The massive caveat is that I don’t play in an orchestra (yet.)

 

[sean_on_bass]

my plain guts seem to stay more stable than the oliv. could be a bridge/nut issue though, as we are talking an oliv A.

 

[LouisF]

I had Olives and didn't like them. Plain guts are IMO much more dependable. Also, I have spiro Solo 3888s on the 5/8ths Bohemian bass (under restoration) and they are amazing.

 

[Leif Dering]

Thanks!

I'm thinking of getting another bass (dont tell Mrs F) and am considering alternatives to guts; after playing guts in orchestra (they really are amazing), synthetic strings like Heritage leave me cold. I've sort of settle on Jargars (Dolce maybe) but the OFCs do sound interesting. Thanks

I think Original Flatchrome are incredible and often fly under the radar. My new bass has Bel Cantos and they work well on it but I'll probably change to some OFCs soon and see how that goes. I was shocked at how well OFC worked on my Chinese bass, totally brought it to life. For a while I had totally written off the Pirastro offerings besides the deluxes because I simply never saw anyone using OFC, Orig. Flexocor, etc etc. Seems like for the most part, in the classical scene, there's the Bel Canto camp and the Flex deluxe camp with occasional outliers (mostly Evahs).

 

[elmer]

For a while I had totally written off the Pirastro offerings besides the deluxes because I simply never saw anyone using OFC, Orig. Flexocor, etc etc. Seems like for the most part, in the classical scene, there's the Bel Canto camp and the Flex deluxe camp with occasional outliers (mostly Evahs).

Little OT, but in Europe you can still OFC quite often. Eg. Janne Saksala, principal of The Berlin Philharmonic, and couple of his section mates play on them.

 

[garrett2]

I thought Saksala was playing Eudoxas?

 

[Leif Dering]

I thought Saksala was playing Eudoxas?

I've seen it mentioned here that he does, but every time I see him with his bass on the digital concert hall the silks are blue and white, rather than purple, indicating OFCs, with an Obligato G.

 

[eh_train]

Thanks, all, for clarifying why durability and longevity is such an issue with Olivs: The gut portion of the string wants (needs?) to stretch for a heckuva long time, while the steel winding has relatively very little need to move. It explains why there are 2 different areas (over the fingerboard) on my Oliv G where the winding is failing!

Did anyone mention Perpetuals as an alternative?