Playing from the 'Gut'

[Andreas Henningsson]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

What String Heights do you Gut players use at the end of the Fingerboard?

I use Velvet Garbos with a Gamut plain G. I think my G i somewhere around 10mm. That works fine for me, the strings vibrate freely, no buzz.
I've recently bought a set of N.O.S. Artone gut strings, but i can't put them on yet, need to widen the slots.

And about the string turning "whitish" when going onto the peg; I think it's normal, my Gamut looks that way too. I thought it might be the varnish but maybe it's just the way they behave when they bend around the peg.

[Ken Smith]

The Guts are now off the Pollmann and the test has been completed. I only have about 10-12 hours of playing that I can recall but with fiddling with the bass in the office from time to time I am sure it's a bit longer than that.

Conclusion:
Thank god they invented steel strings..lol

I mean, the Guts are nice and organic but I would have to be in the audience to appreciate them if at all. Under the ear it's a struggle, at least for me.

Of the 3 sets I tested in the last 2-3 years (Chordas, Carlos Chordas and La Bellas) I think I liked the La Bella strings as much as the Carlos set for the brief time I tried each of them. The regular Chorda set was just too thick for my fingers but sounded equally good if not better. Playability is equally important to me in this regard.

Since these are still in good condition and totally re-usable I think passing them along to a deserving player that either uses Guts or could make good use of them is the best option.

So, I can ship them within the 48 states in USA but for my time and trouble I ask two things. One, offer me a usable old set of something that might interest me in exchange (no money) and two, put up a review of how they worked for you after they settle in to be fair to the nice people at Pirastro that allowed me to test them out and share some opinions here. Ok?

Email me directly at support@kensmithbasses.com and leave it sorta private as far as who gets them. Thx..

[Adrian Levi]

I am not a gut player and have had no real experience with them, but have a question regarding gut strings .A friend of mine replaced his steel strings with gut strings and said that he immediately noticed a drastic drop in volume on his D and G strings.
Would this have to do with the diminished downward string pressure on the top from the guts thus perhaps affecting sound post position, and is it the norm to have to reposition a soundpost to regain string volume evenness ...... or perhaps even rethinking tailpiece mass etc ?

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Adrian Levi

I am not a gut player and have had no real experience with them, but have a question regarding gut strings .A friend of mine replaced his steel strings with gut strings and said that he immediately noticed a drastic drop in volume on his D and G strings.
Would this have to do with the diminished downward string pressure on the top from the guts thus perhaps affecting sound post position, and is it the norm to have to reposition a soundpost to regain string volume evenness ...... or perhaps even rethinking tailpiece mass etc ?

Just like steel strings, gut comes in a variety of different qualities. What was he using? By gut I assume you mean plain gut, right? Some instruments just don't like gut strings. My bass is built quite lightly and I do historically informed music so gut is absolutely essential, if you want detailed information on string types and gauges feel free to e-mail me. For my bass I get x2 more sound from gut than steel, but that's mainly because they're softer on my hands and I can put in my energy and soul into my playing.