Gut Thoughts for Orchestral Bowing

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Never tried them but I am looking for regular Orchestra Strings, not any specific 'period'. I have the Chordas on a Bass now and they are not so easy to play. I start rehearsals next week and 2 concerts after that. From the looks of it now, the Guts may not make it to the show!

IMO Chorda's work better for jazz playing. Pirastro claims that they're an "authentic period instrument string" but I disagree...anything by Damian Dlugolecki or Aquila puts Chorda's to shame in every category. I don't think you'll find anyone playing in a section using pure gut strings today...I've seen a lot of section bassists use Eudoxa's and Olivs, but let's be honest...A Eudoxa is close to that good old beefy gut sound but it's no cigar for bach, handel, vivaldi, telemann. I take it you've tried Olivs Ken? These might be a good match for symphony playing, they blend well with steel and still have an attractive gut sound...kinda the best of both worlds.

If I can be completely honest with you, I have on my bass now a Eudoxa A, tuned to 415, I recently swapped it for a Dominant and the Dominant matched the unwound guts on top better. I really found there to be a huge gap in sound between natural gut and Eudoxa's/Olivs.