Playing from the 'Gut'

[Adrian Juras]

When I had Chordas on my 7/8 Czech, the strings were at about 8 mm on the G and 12 on the E. I guess you could go a bit higher, but it was comfortable right there. I'll never understand how Blanton played his bass the way it was set up. When you have that much space between the strings and the fingerboard it starts to feel very awkward.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Juras

When I had Chordas on my 7/8 Czech, the strings were at about 8 mm on the G and 12 on the E. I guess you could go a bit higher, but it was comfortable right there. I'll never understand how Blanton played his bass the way it was set up. When you have that much space between the strings and the fingerboard it starts to feel very awkward.

I looked just now after lowering them a notch the other day and they are at 5.5mm/G and 10.5mm/E .. This has something to do with the curve of the fingerboard as well. The Bass is easily convertible back to Orchestra settings for steels.

[Phil Maneri]

Seems like that might be pretty low for guts. When I used mine I was up around 8 on the G and 12 or so on the E.

What's Carlos' setup like?