Got my wife a really nice 1940 Kay for her birthday. Her first instrument ever. Just for easy bluegrass thumpin. Luthier set up with HeliCore orchestal strings. Plays great to me but is there a better/easier fretting string for her thumpin?
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Double Bass Strings for bony fingered wife
- Thread starter Brad Bellinger
- Start date
Not a fan of those strings at all, but the main thing your wife or anyone needs to do to acclimate is to build up some calluses on both hands. Baby steps!
The Superior Bassworks Deluxe are very easy to play and are definitely thumpy.
I’m a fan of Evah Pirazzi Slaps. Good tone, easy under the fingers.
Evah slaps are really, really soft and have the thump. My mostly-arco playing girlfriend had a Shen ply with Helicores she never really found comfortable to play pizz. I put on the Evah slaps and she’s much happier pizz and slap. To my surprise she even likes the arco.
Thanks all. She has a 3 dot. Gonna get some slaps. I'll check in after. Might even grow a pair and show her this post.
You may need to start a new Thread - "Strings for Bony-Fisted Wife".
You're Welcome.
She'll be thrilled.
Heads up - the diameter of the guts is likely slightly thicker than whatever you have on there. So you might want to have a small file around if you need to widen the tailpiece slots. Just realize it might be a tad more than just, "Let me string that up quickly for you" on x-mas morn.
If you wanted to be really sweet, you could get her a little "conditioning kit." A bottle of oil and a couple of pieces of sandpaper - I think I have 400 and 600. Just little pieces, maybe 1" by 2". You can either buy one of the commercial products or just make sure you have some in a kitchen cabinet. My wife bought me a bottle (maybe Gollihur?) which came in a little box w/ a couple of rags. I keep the sandpaper in the same box. Nice compact package. Would be another present for her to open...
Plenty of threads here about gut installation/maintenance. Don't let them daunt you. It is the opposite of a big deal.
Heads up - the diameter of the guts is likely slightly thicker than whatever you have on there. So you might want to have a small file around if you need to widen the tailpiece slots. Just realize it might be a tad more than just, "Let me string that up quickly for you" on x-mas morn.
If you wanted to be really sweet, you could get her a little "conditioning kit." A bottle of oil and a couple of pieces of sandpaper - I think I have 400 and 600. Just little pieces, maybe 1" by 2". You can either buy one of the commercial products or just make sure you have some in a kitchen cabinet. My wife bought me a bottle (maybe Gollihur?) which came in a little box w/ a couple of rags. I keep the sandpaper in the same box. Nice compact package. Would be another present for her to open...
Plenty of threads here about gut installation/maintenance. Don't let them daunt you. It is the opposite of a big deal.
I use the Evah Slaps with the synthetic G and D; to my ears they're close enough to gut to satisfy all but the purists with none of the maintenance hassles. I played guts for a lot of years both pizza and arco, but the changes in temp and humidity where I live made it too much trouble.
I am a fan of Innovation Super Silvers. They are easy on the hands and give a gut like tone in an easier to deal with synthetic string.
I've been very happy with the lightest four of the bump set for primarily 1-5 bluegrass (no slapping). I have an adjustable bridge and have raised the action a fair amount and play pretty hard, but they're very easy to play.
Weedwackers produce little tone and are likely to teach bad habits. Almost anything else would be better.
Absolutely-they're useless for anyone wanting to get any acoustic (unamplified) sound. I stand by my recommendation of the Pirastro Slaps with synthetic G/D. The feel is pretty gutlike without the hassles, and the fatter diameter makes them easy on the fingers.
If she is not interested in bowing, then strings like Innovation Golden Slaps (Silver Slaps) are fun to play, feel great, and sound very good with pizz and slap. The plastic winding make them not bow-able, but you also will not get blisters nor calluses with those strings. They are too wide for LH calluses and too slippy for RH blisters.
SBW Dirty Guts DG strings were plenty loud for bluegrass jams and farmers market busking in my experience. They also bowed decently for living room practice. I used them with Perpetual EA strings.
PS: By referring to them as weedwackers in this thread we are flashing the @dhergert bat signal!
