Double Bass Velvet Garbos double bass strings megathread part I

[oliebrice]

just found this website, which seems to sell a lot of strings seperately including velvet animas and garbos.

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now I've got even less excuse not to try an anima G...

 

[Mike Crumpton]

Thanks a lot Timo - that's a fantastic service and help, as is your explanation too Marcus - cheers guys. I guess that this is nothing to do with 'rough' maufacture as earlier discriptions implied to me, but deliberate - which is why ground round wounds exist in the bg world - I tell you - round wounds on a fretless are fabaroony - that winding can realy dampen a string it seems.

This makes sense in Velvets explanation about amplitude, since I guess you'd need flexibility on the windings to allow it and I supose this all adds to the radically different feel everyone warns about but can't quite explain. This might expalin relative stiffness of Doms?

I supose I'm going to have to try these things and stop speculating though. I do like bowing and won't give up a reasonable arco sound though. Velvet should really help people out by giving more information - especially as these things are so flipping dear. From their much quoted web site one string sounds simmilar to their other products and doesn't help explain what people are letting themselves in for and what they are going to get out of the change. Another site of style over content.

Once again cheers guys - I think this really helps.

 

[PB+J]

I agree--velvet's marketing is both really fancy--I love the escher-ish, bauhaus-ish packaging--and really really opaque.

I'm surprised to hear that anyone has fretboard wear problems with the animas, because A: they don't feel particularly rough to me, and B: copper is pretty soft. But it's true they have a really different feel from other strings, more flexible and softer, and I supppose a "grounwound approach might account for that. There's somethign really pleasant about them, aside from the sound. The ones on my bass are sounding better and better to me

 

[Uncletoad]

fabaroony

Now there's an adjective for you.

I suppose I'm going to have to try these things and stop speculating though.

Yea.

Velvet should really help people out by giving more information - especially as these things are so flipping dear. From their much quoted web site one string sounds similar to their other products and doesn't help explain what people are letting themselves in for and what they are going to get out of the change. Another site of style over content.

I think their marketing sucks. I like style as much as the next guy but they aren't selling furniture or ties. They need to be more informative, especially if they are that far out in the weeds and charging like they make strings from caviar.


btw. I chickened out and am going to put the animas on Sunday.

 

[Pcocobass]

I really don't see the fuss about bowing them; they aren't the easiest, but they are manageable.

Don't get me wrong, Marcus. I loved bowing the Animas. On my bass, they have that real gritty PC type sound I dig. But after I put the Hybrids on, I started bowing and realized how much easier it was, especially in thumb position.

 

[Don Higdon]

Re fingerboard grooves;
Years ago, I took my first bass to an old German luthier. He looked at the two grooves, a big one at 'C' and a lesser one at 'F', and said "Vahnss in awhile you should change key."

 

[bassame]

I got my first set of Anima D,G today and installed them. After staring dumbfounded at the red and yellow cloth endings, I went to www.lnrmusic.com where I found these visual instructions which answered all my questions:
http://www.lnrmusic.com/images/velvetdetail.pdf
I found after installation that the red cloth ending at the nut just barely clears the nut, but the strings are still stretching and I expect the red cloth will rise even higher as I tighten them over the coming days.
Right now they sound like new Spiros but I know that will change with time.

 

[Jeremy Allen]

I have the same difficulty when I install animas; the red windings hang over the nut all the way through half position. But after a couple of weeks of stretching, the windings have retreated back behind the nut where they belong.

When I used Garbos, the winding on the D string never did stretch out enough to creep back up behind the nut. That's a drag; the strings are great, but my mensure isn't out of the ordinary (42.75"). Of course, it also has to do with your tailpiece and how much afterlength you have (I guess I have a lot), and the angle of the strings over your bridge (my bridge is pretty tall).

 

[Don Higdon]

Of course, it also has to do with your tailpiece and how much afterlength you have (I guess I have a lot), and the angle of the strings over your bridge (my bridge is pretty tall).

You're onto it; I think everybody's looking at the wrong end of the string.
If that length is tuned to a 4th or a 5th from the playable length, the distance is right and the red windings will be past the nut.
If you have a cable rather than solid wire connecting the tailpiece to the end pin, you can alter that distance.

 

[Uncletoad]

btw. I chickened out and am going to put the animas on Sunday.

Put them on after last nights gig. Very different strings. Can't keep them in tune for long but boy they sound good. Not that far from Dominants in some ways. Big, round, fat sound. Defined in a different way than Dominants. Dominants are dry, have a click in the front of the note. Animas don't have the front end attack but have the some more complexity to the sound when the big note follows. Lighter tension but the playing surface is coarse not smooth like Dominants. Spongier feel compared to the Dom tension. Plugged in they sound pretty huge.

They need some breaking in. I imagine I'm going to like them a bunch when they do.

I do have to say I've had Spiro Red, Stark, Dominants, Compass 360, Labella Guts and now Animas on my Cleveland and they all sound great.

 

[Don Higdon]

Can't keep them in tune for long but boy they sound good.

I forgot about that part when I told you to put them on for the gig.
You'd have been out of tune by the 8th bar of each tune all night.
They will settle in, though, and I predict people will comment on the sound.

 

[Uncletoad]

You'd have been out of tune by the 8th bar of each tune all night.

Thats nothing new for me. I'm usually out of tune the whole gig.

 

[Don Higdon]

Thats nothing new for me. I'm usually out of tune the whole gig.

I thought you had a string of groupies to take care of that.

 

[Uncletoad]

I thought you had a string of groupies to take care of that.

Exactly. Why bother tuning...

 

[Marcus Johnson]

I tune after the gig, I don't like to get there too early....

Phil, the tuning settles down in about a week. My experience is that they start out loud, and then the Animas and the bass starting making out with each other, and they continue to get louder and better over time. Like, scary loud in the lobby of the Four Seasons where I play. They're like wine...just be patient.

 

[PB+J]

What marcus said--when I first put themm on I thought "these are wierd but kind of cool." After a week they started holdoing tune, and mellowing, and now I just think they're cool.

My teacher didn't like them at first, when he heard them after they were on about two weeks. I had to skip a couple weeks, and last time he said "hey, these are growing on me."

Keep us informed!

 

[stockbass]

Yup, the garbos are kind of short. Common that G string and sometimes also D on my 7/8 and 4/4 basses have had some red wounding over the nut and finger board. Never had any problems with breaking or damage though.

 

[Robert]

I received a new set of Garbos today. I put them on and was somewhat surprised by the sound. I had expected a higher output string with more fundamental I think.

The D and G sound pretty similar to the pure gut Lenzner strings. A bit more volume, and a bit higher tension though.
I can only compare the E and A to the obligatos that were on my bass before the Garbos. And the Garbos seem to have less volume and less fundamental in the sound.

Will the strings "settle in" or "open up" with time? Or is this it? I thought the Garbos were specifically made for pizzicato, and I had not expected Obligatos (which is an allround string?) to be "better" sounding (in terms of volume and fundamental).

Thanks

 

[bassame]

Every new string needs some time before it can be judged. Give it a few weeks.

 

[gomez hacienda]

Will the strings "settle in" or "open up" with time? Or is this it? I thought the Garbos were specifically made for pizzicato, and I had not expected Obligatos (which is an allround string?) to be "better" sounding (in terms of volume and fundamental).

Thanks

Yes, please keep us informed. I for one have been wanting to try them. I also wanted to try the Lenzner guts. Any specific reason they came off? Was it just the volume? What kind of lifespan can you expect on the guts. Did you have the Oblis on with the gut D&G? I've thought of that for purely pizz playing.

gomez