Gut Thoughts for Orchestral Bowing

[Ken Smith]

Ok, I started a Thread on Guts over on TB and has since been merged with about 2 others but because I was not 100% clear about my Bowing quest, almost every 'weed whacker' in town replied which flooded the Thread with off-topic Posts.

So, I am looking to discuss traditional Guts (only) which mean G&D plain Gut and A&E Wound Gut. This Excludes Eudoxas, Olivs and any other wannabe Gut look alike as well as Hybrids that wanna sound or look like Gut. Just old fashioned Guts that are made today that are usable in Orchestra on a decent or better quality Orchestra Bass. This probably excludes Plywoods and Hybrids as well. It does matter very much I think the quality of the Bass you are trying to play. Using Guts may be difficult enough to begin with much less trying to Bow in an Orchestra with a Bass that hardly sounds good regardless of the String you use.

So please, if you have any thoughts or suggestions on Orchestral Bowing with Guts, please reply here. The suitable brands I have heard about include Gamuts', Dlugoleki's, Chorda's, Larson's, Lenzner's and even LaBella's. Even though some of you have mentioned that the Labella's are not so great, I recently used a set and they worked just fine on my Bisiach Bass in Orchestra. This may be a good example of how the grade of the Bass is important in judging the String.

For now, I am waiting on a set of Chordas made by Pirastro to try next. I have picked out which Bass in my rack to use for a few reasons for these Guts. This is an Italian Bass by Lombardi made in 1981 that I just got recently. The Lombardi needs a full set-up with Fingerboard, Nut, Saddle, Endpin and Bridge. All but the Bridge are made from Wenge, an African hardwood. It works fine but not as good as it can be. The Bridge has a foot Shim and will get another for the height needed for the Gut. This way by widening the slots at the Bridge and Nut I am not altering anything that isn't getting replaced anyway. Also, I have been informed by a fine Luthier that Guts sound better on lighter weighted Basses as well. The Lombardi is the lightest I have so that Bass sounds like the perfect candidate for my next Gut trial.

If you have the time, please read my Posts over on the TB Thread and any of the related replies or comments. I can't fix what has been done there but here I can moderate it much better. Posters from TB that are over here as well are welcomed to re-post any comments they may have even if posted already over there.