Cello Strings

[BassBus]

Has anyone ever tried using cello strings on a BG? It's that old Holy Grale of trying to find that DBish sort of sound on a BG. I would asume they have a shorter sustain time which might help with that sound. I use flats on my Status fretless but the they sustain for ever with the graphite neck. Any experience?

[OutToPlayJazz]

It'd be an expensive excercise. A decent set of Pirastro Chromecores for my cello cost £150.

[Wil]

Belcanto Golds cost me a good £130 for 4 too I doubt they would work well on a bass, far lighter guage for a start not to mention the scale length is probably different.

[The Burpster]

[quote name='BassBus' post='345252' date='Dec 4 2008, 12:20 PM']Has anyone ever tried using cello strings on a BG? It's that old Holy Grale of trying to find that DBish sort of sound on a BG. I would asume they have a shorter sustain time which might help with that sound. I use flats on my Status fretless but the they sustain for ever with the graphite neck. Any experience?[/quote]


You can get near that experience with plastic (nylon) wound flats, leave 'em on for a few months and they have that DB limited sustain thud....

It would be a very costly experiment as stated above, and with teh light gauges you may struggle with intonation and relief issues.... but that is mere speculation.

[MoonBassAlpha]

A bit of foam tucked under the strings right at the bridge has the desired effect, worked a treat on my Marathon 6 string fretless. I also used an Alesis Microverb on the smallest room size reverb at about 50% mix which gives some of the resonance characteristic of a DB. These things worked for me, but I imagine nylon wound strings and also a piezo bridge would get you some of the way there too.
Cheers
Jules

[BassBus]

Thanks for the replies. I have Black nylons on my Spectorcore but they are still a bit bright for my liking after some time on.