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Double Bass Strings for Psychobilly bass and folk?

#42
I’ve got a pair of Eurosonic lights I’d be happy to mail you if you’d like to see what they feel like. I used the E and A over a gut D and G for some similar music styles and was happy with them. Terrible for the bow but fun for most other stuff 😁
 
#43
TDAN said:
I’ve got a pair of Eurosonic lights I’d be happy to mail you if you’d like to see what they feel like. I used the E and A over a gut D and G for some similar music styles and was happy with them. Terrible for the bow but fun for most other stuff 😁
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If you’re able to list them online somewhere I would love to see if I can buy them depending on how much they are!
 
#46
Don Hergert said:
I really liked how Sugar Slaps sounded and might still be playing them now, except that two of the strings snapped on me. Aquila provides excellent and friendly service, they quickly sent a replacement string to me all the way from Italy, but by that time another string had snapped in a different area and I had to switch to another brand of strings for an upcoming gig. So by then I felt bad bothering Aquila again about it, although I'm sure they would have sent another replacement string if I had requested it.

This was very early on in the Sugar Slaps development and production cycle though, so it is very possible that a problem has since been identified and solved by Aquila by now.
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Those issues have been corrected by Mimmo at Aquila. I’ve had the final set of Sugar Slaps on my Kay for about a year now and they still sound great and handle being roughhoused just fine. I love the tension and feel of the strings very much.
 
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#47
PBandJazzBass said:
Not sure about the regulars, but Gollihur has an ultralight “bumped” set which I believe is intended specifically for slap.

They seem to have a “cult” following as far as strings go.
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The bumped set of Supernils is really low tension; but they are round wound and can eat up the fingerboard. I played Supernils for 20 years with the standard set and enjoyed them very much. They are loud and the tension feels good to me.
 
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#48
Keith Rawlings said:
Those issues have been corrected by Mimmo at Aquila. I’ve had the final set of Sugar Slaps on my Kay for about a year now and they still sound great and handle being roughhoused just fine. I love the tension and feel of the strings very much.
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So they wouldn’t snap easily anymore? Do you think the tension is low enough for Psychobilly?
 
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#49
NeesiesNotDead said:
It seems dirty guts might work fine for me except for the lack of sustain since that’s one issue I have with the E string on my guts. One concern is that while I am very sure my bass has guts there is a small chance they are also fake guts and I will have to verify. I was thinking about maybe getting the dirty guts for the D and G with the eurosonic on the E and A but Idk how worth it that would be. I would love to ask a luthier to help me but all luthiers in this area work on classical music instruments and likely don’t know much about Psychobilly. I do know I need the action lower though and maybe just need a new bridge at that point which maybe I should buy the dirty guts so I have the money to buy a new bridge which a Luther could set up
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You’d be amazed at how close a rockabilly setup is to an orchestral setup. My fingerboard curve and bridge curve on both of my uprights is almost a classical setup with just enough relief to get my fingers under the strings for a good pull for slap (it also minimizes fingerboard growl for pizzicato, which I try to avoid). Jack Hanlon at Upton talked about rockabilly/psychobilly setups in a long form interview on the Slapstream with Djordje on YouTube (which I highly recommend this series for anyone who wants to see good interviews with great slap bassists).
 
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#50
NeesiesNotDead said:
So they wouldn’t snap easily anymore? Do you think the tension is low enough for Psychobilly?
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Yes. I play psychobilly with them and they don’t break. It’s Texas Psychobilly, so it’s a bit more “billy” than psycho, but it’s fast and the Sugar Slaps amplify really well.

You could sell those guts to pay for two sets of sugar slaps IMO. Roots players love those strings.
 
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#51
Earl said:
Someone has a set of Thomastic Superflexible Solo tuning strings in the classifieds for a good price. Some slappers have used them (Lee Rocker), and they are easy on the hands and would work well for folk, jazz etc. You tune them to normal tuning.
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Yep. Another good option that sounds great: slaps, pizz and arco as well.
 
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#52
Keith Rawlings said:
Yes. I play psychobilly with them and they don’t break. It’s Texas Psychobilly, so it’s a bit more “billy” than psycho, but it’s fast and the Sugar Slaps amplify really well.

You could sell those guts to pay for two sets of sugar slaps IMO. Roots players love those strings.
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Oh perfect that’s somewhere in the middle of what I’m hoping my to do, if I sell the guts I’ll probably spend it on other gear I need like an acoustic DI to help my amp or stuff like that
 
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#54
Keith Rawlings said:
Yes. I play psychobilly with them and they don’t break. It’s Texas Psychobilly, so it’s a bit more “billy” than psycho, but it’s fast and the Sugar Slaps amplify really well.

You could sell those guts to pay for two sets of sugar slaps IMO. Roots players love those strings.
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so it turns out the sugar slaps are not working for me and are definitely changed and the place I got them from didn’t update their page because this is not what I was told they were at all, they’re higher tension and having a metallic weird sound on the lower 2 strings and feel nothing like guts, they don’t look feel or sound how I was told and I have no idea what to do because I can’t even get them on my bass correctly either
 
#57
NeesiesNotDead said:
so it turns out the sugar slaps are not working for me and are definitely changed and the place I got them from didn’t update their page because this is not what I was told they were at all, they’re higher tension and having a metallic weird sound on the lower 2 strings and feel nothing like guts, they don’t look feel or sound how I was told and I have no idea what to do because I can’t even get them on my bass correctly either
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Are you sure they are the right strings? Gollihur sells the right ones. Are they the red strings with the copper dusting process? Did you get one of the other Aquila sets by accident?
 
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#59
NeesiesNotDead said:
so it turns out the sugar slaps are not working for me and are definitely changed and the place I got them from didn’t update their page because this is not what I was told they were at all, they’re higher tension and having a metallic weird sound on the lower 2 strings and feel nothing like guts, they don’t look feel or sound how I was told and I have no idea what to do because I can’t even get them on my bass correctly either
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Keith, there was another thread started by the OP at about the same time as the OP posted the above post here yesterday. You may want to look that thread over and respond there as necessary -- the situation has taken a couple of interesting turns since yesterday.

The other thread is here:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ne...hardly-work-on-my-bass.1666575/#post-28893222
 
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