Double Bass These weird "NG" gut strings kinda suck - is it me or the strings?

[robert_stuart]

I'm totally new to guts. But I needed new strings for my Engelhardt for pizz roots and slap playing. I bought 3 inexpensive gut strings - here's the label for two of them.

They don't produce a solid nice tone at all. The buzz like they're hitting the fingerboard although I adjusted the bridge higher. They have a generally fuzzy sound and no nice tone either open or fingered on a note. The bass sounded fine with the metal strings of unknown make that were on it when I bought it.

I realize I'm combining a few different questions here:

* Anybody know anything about these strings?
* Is what I'm describing typical at all for new gut strings?
* Is there something that has to be done with new guts for them to sound good?
* Or, like a new set of good metal strings, good gut strings will immediately have a good tone?

 

[Francois Blais]

NG Strings are specialized in natural gut tennis racquet strings.

Natural Gut Tennis Racquet Strings

Natural Gut Tennis Racquet Strings provide effortless power over other strings and a much "softer" feel for improved touch/placement while most importantly saving your arms. Our V5 and V5(+) Natural Guts are the best choice for power and feel for "any" ATP/WTA ranked player to the casual weekend...

ngstring.com

I doubt they have the required knowledge to make music strings the right way.

 

[jmpiwonka]

You probably need more scoop in your fingerboard if they are still buzzing alot against the board even after you raised the string height.
Is it like 10mm on the g string?

 

[John Chambliss]

I love the sound of guts, but I prefer playing with steel strings. My recommendation for starting with guts is to buy a good brand used D and G (ex: Efrano, Clef, Lenzner, Gotz) gut string and pair them with used or new Spirocore weich E and A strings. That combination will last a good while and give you time to decide whether to move up to better guts, switch to steels, or whatever.

 

[Dave Leighton]

+1 for the Gotz G And D. There is a place on Reverb that sells them. Great price.

 

[Paul New]

The best gut for me, and I’ve tried many including Chorda and Oliv, is the Pirastro EP Slap set. The E and A are synthetic and a good match to the very nice plain gut D and G. The tensions are similar all the way across the fingerboard.

They are not cheap. The set I just ordered was $450. But the set they are replacing has been on the bass ten years, and I’m only replacing them out of caution.

Their all synthetic set is nice too. I have that set on another bass.

 

[ctxbass]

I'm totally new to guts. But I needed new strings for my Engelhardt for pizz roots and slap playing. I bought 3 inexpensive gut strings - here's the label for two of them.

They don't produce a solid nice tone at all. The buzz like they're hitting the fingerboard although I adjusted the bridge higher. They have a generally fuzzy sound and no nice tone either open or fingered on a note. The bass sounded fine with the metal strings of unknown make that were on it when I bought it.

I realize I'm combining a few different questions here:

* Anybody know anything about these strings?
* Is what I'm describing typical at all for new gut strings?
* Is there something that has to be done with new guts for them to sound good?
* Or, like a new set of good metal strings, good gut strings will immediately have a good tone?

Gut strings will not sound good immediately. How long have the strings been on the bass? All new gut strings need time to stretch to their optimal tension. It won't happen in a couple of days. The better quality ones will have some kind of sound but will continually improve as they stretch and you bring them to proper tension again. This actually goes on for weeks.

Also, if you are new to gut strings, it may take a while to appreciate what they offer.
However, it may be the case that these strings won't offer much. Francois was on the money. They are likely using the same technique to make bass strings as they use for tennis racquet strings.

 

[Don Hergert]

As has been mentioned, IF your double bass was wearing thin high tension metal strings until you moved to guts, your fingerboard is probably still dressed for those thin high tension metal strings, which would explain the buzzing you are experiencing. You may want to check it -- the general rule for relief (aka scoop) is space between the underside of each string and the fingerboard equal to the thickness of that string at the octave harmonic. This is a unique setup for each string, and this fingerboard dressing is graduated while still supporting the radius of the fingerboard. It's pretty complicated, generally something an experienced double bass luthier would handle, but that general measurement gives you an idea of what to expect.

"Fat low tension strings" includes both plain and wrapped guts as well as a huge variety of synthetic strings.

This requirement for getting the fingerboard dressed is one of the reasons that people don't rush into a major change of the type of strings they are using... The fingerboard would potentially also need to be dressed again for a move from fat low tension strings to thin high tension metal strings. Plus, fingerboards are only so thick, and dressing them removes wood.

Best of luck with this!

 

[LouisF]

Sorry, but as a long-time gut player and proponent, there is nothing wrong with the scoop of your fingerboard, your bridge, your soundpost or any of the other suggestions from my distinguished colleagues. The link below shows four gut strings (GDAE) for $99! The diameters for the GD are acceptable, but the A and E are too thin. Again... sorry.... but...at that price point (less than what you would pay for just a well made gut G), the strings are cr-p. Take them off be fore they explode or worse. Even the India-made strings on Ebay etc or the FMI strings are better... or the Superior Bassworks fake guts. These are criminal! NG BASS EADG "Natural Gut" Guitar String (Special) - Length: 180cm or

(and they are called bass GUITAR strings to boot)

 

[Ed S]

I know nothing about those strings, but I love the EP guts on my Engle. Don't recall any break-in period, and didn't have my FB dressed specifically for them.

 

[evanrunyon]

I’ve tried at least a half dozen cheap eBay/Etsy/etc. gut string suppliers, trying to find something I could point curious beginners and students towards and they’ve each been, without fail, barely functional.

Lenzner is about as inexpensive as you’re gonna find for a decent traditional gut string. Pirastro has some good options, as do Aquila and La Bella (so long as you’re not bowing much). My personal experience is that Gamut is head and shoulders above their competition for value and consistency.

And re: setup, you can definitely optimize it for gut strings in some ways that’ll come into conflict with what you’d do for steels, but, man, unless you like crazy low action any decently setup bass should still be basically okay. I literally change nothing other than the strings when I swap between the two and it’s fine after the bass settles in for a couple hours.

 

[LouisF]

Gotz is another dependable, inexpensive (relatively) option. I think they are made in the Lenzner factory. You can generally find them discounted on Reverb.

 

[Jay Corwin]

You get what you pay for in gut.

You got what you paid for.

 

[gna]

I tried cheap eBay gut strings on my bass, and had similar problems: Double Bass - Cheap eBay Gut Strings--Having Issues
Apparently one could try sanding the strings if they are irregular, but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and ended up with Lenzner plain gut ADG strings and a wound Efrano E string. Problem solved.