Charlie used Eudoxa Olives which are gut’s covered with chrome steel if
Paul used guts with a steel core those would be opposite of Charlie’s Olive’s.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Paul Chambers microphone
- Thread starter tito mangialajo
- Start date
Charlie used Eudoxa Olives which are gut’s covered with chrome steel if
Paul used guts with a steel core those would be opposite of Charlie’s Olive’s.
By "guts on top of steel" he means a gut D & G paired with a steel E & A which is what Charlie Haden used (Thomastik Spirocore E & A and Kaplan Golden Spiral D & G). I've never heard of a gut string with a steel core.
- Steve
Yeah, I mean steel EA and plain gut DG. I don`t know history that well, but gotta believe mr Warburton, he actually was there 
These quotes are picked from ancient thread Anyone playing all plain guts?
He is pressing the G string down with his thumb. So it is hard to judge the string height from that picture. I think those days most players used a higher action. Maybe there are some exceptions though?
Ok, now that makes more sense, weirdly enough when I loaned my Walter Woods MI-400-8 and a pair of Bose 802's to Charlie for a concert here at Webster University
He was using Eudoxa Olives, which are gut cores with a steel wrap. He was playing his own instrument, If you want to hear that concert it's on iTunes it's called the Private Collection
Charlie did a workshop at my school 4 or 5 months before he passed away.
He said D'adarrio eventually gave him any remaining stock of golden spirals a few years after they stopped selling them. He also tried out a few folks basses and reccomended that they put spirocores on the E/A.
I'm guessing he changed setups over time as we tend to do.
He said D'adarrio eventually gave him any remaining stock of golden spirals a few years after they stopped selling them. He also tried out a few folks basses and reccomended that they put spirocores on the E/A.
I'm guessing he changed setups over time as we tend to do.
I've always heard he used a full set of guts. He died before steel strings were popular I believe.
So spirocore EA and Olive/eudoxa DG?
He died in 1969 which is a few years into the “steel string” era for jazz bass players, but his health and career had been on the decline for a few years. He wasn’t as prolific, but his last recordings were from 1968.
- Steve
@Sam Dingle I thought about full set of guts too but see a couple of posts above, Paul Warburton quotes.
Of course PC didn’t die before metal strings became widespread and was one of those that clearly continued plain gut on top which is,easy to hear any recordings IMO.
No doubt he used standard plain gut G and D and wound gut A and E in the 1950s but I remember hearing from some older players many years ago that he did often have metal E and A Pirastro or LYCON in the sixties.
Unless you can actually see the strings in clear photos and know what year it is it’s hard to be sure. Interesting about Haden using Eudoxa Oliv. I have some NOS odd strings Pirastro chrome covered gut and some are labelled Eudoxa Oliv - others labelled Chromstahl a. Darm (gut). They seem to be like Oliv but not sure what the difference was. Anyone,know?!
I wonder if metal low strings were preferred for stability and note that the difference in tone is much more pronounced on D and G when comparing metal and gut.
No doubt he used standard plain gut G and D and wound gut A and E in the 1950s but I remember hearing from some older players many years ago that he did often have metal E and A Pirastro or LYCON in the sixties.
Unless you can actually see the strings in clear photos and know what year it is it’s hard to be sure. Interesting about Haden using Eudoxa Oliv. I have some NOS odd strings Pirastro chrome covered gut and some are labelled Eudoxa Oliv - others labelled Chromstahl a. Darm (gut). They seem to be like Oliv but not sure what the difference was. Anyone,know?!
I wonder if metal low strings were preferred for stability and note that the difference in tone is much more pronounced on D and G when comparing metal and gut.
Last edited:
Under the impression he was a Golden Spirol user. I am sure he was curious in his day, and did a little experimenting as well...who knows ...
When I was getting started a lot of guys used some type of steel (not wrapped gut) E A, and Golden Spirals on the top two. I missed PC, but everyone told me that's what he used. I wonder why they stopped making Golden Spirals. They seemed to be quite popular.
