Double Bass Sharp articulations on wound Lenzner guts

[Aaron]

I've been using Lenzner guts on one bass for a year. I really enjoy the sound and feel of the D and G, but I struggle with the wound E and A -- I find them difficult to start and extremely challenging to use sharp articulations. I heard that there suppose to be a night and day difference with using a Gamut Pistoy A, but plain gut E strings can be their own bag of worms.

Is there a wound E that will have a quick arco response similar to the Lenzner plain guts? I've heard of people using a downtuned Spiro Solo F# to pair with gut ADG.

 

[LouisF]

That was (almost) my solution: Gotz G&D; Lenzner plain A; Spiro Weich E/C
I now is Toro plain gut GDA (terrific strings made in Italy) and a Jargar Forte E/C -- almost all my is arco/classical.

 

[AGCurry]

By "sharp articulations" do you mean "quick and accented?" Of course, big factors are technique, bow, hair, rosin, and the bass itself, but I have found the Gamut wound strings to respond pretty quickly, with nice "grunts."

 

[Aaron]

By "sharp articulations" do you mean "quick and accented?" Of course, big factors are technique, bow, hair, rosin, and the bass itself, but I have found the Gamut wound strings to respond pretty quickly, with nice "grunts."

Yea -- I've been navigating around it with technique, but if there are A and E strings that don't require such a massive change in technique compared to the D and G, that makes my life easier.

 

[LouisF]

There is always going to be some difference between GD/AE with guts (speaking solely arco). I found that once I tamed the raw A with the bow, shifting between it and the DG was much easier. I've written in other threads that I found the wound AE more problematic and less satisfying. If I didn't have an extension, would I try a raw E? Probably not, but... 3 out of 4 isn't bad.