Mini string review: Superior Bassworks Dirty Gut Deluxe

[The Guitar Weasel]

 

My normal string of choice is the Rotosound 4000 set bumped ... 

But when I had the chance to try out a set of of unused Superior Bassworks Dirty Gut Deluxe strings (normally £75+) for nowt, I simply had to bite. 

 

So my normal style is pretty frantic rockabilly slapping bordering on psychobilly insanity. My Rotos are great for that amplified - they only need a light touch and they have quite a nice slap (using my Shadow Rockabilly pro preamp). You do have to be a bit careful however, as the very low string tension isn't brilliant for bridge stability - and you can easily hit them a bit hard in the heat of the moment and get a bit of unwanted farting 🙂 

 

As a matter of fact one of the reasons I rebuilt the old Czech bass that became 'Frankie' the Freankenstein bass ... was because I had this set of Dirty Gut strings to go on it! The strings were in fact worth more than the original purchase price of the headless wreck that became this slick black beauty!

I'd tried green Weedwhackers on my Stentor 3/4 back when I was starting out and they were atrocious. Or at least the E string was ... only capable of a tuneless bloop of indeterminate pitch below A. To me this was absolutely useless ... I might as well have a three string bass! 

Anyway, on to the Superior Bassworks strings. Like Weedwhackers they are nylon with a Kevlar core and to say they are chunky is a serious understatement 

 

   

I have to say these strings only just fit through my tuners ... and I do believe that it's pretty common to have to ream out your holes (oooer Missus) to take these chubbers. Naturally the whole string path has to  be widened to accommodate the girth of these hawsers  ... but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs (or as one famous Shakespearian theatre director once said to me 'you can't make a Hamlet without breaking legs'. 

 

Now purely on looks these are stunning. Proper old timey and they really set off the looks of a black bass ... though I believe they do them in blood red, which would look even cooler. You get six strings in the pack allowing you to bump the gauges a bit to find what you like. Now other folks milage may vary on this, but I found the thickest 4.3mm 'E' had good pitch all the way down ... even though it felt like a chunk of HMS Victory's rigging in diameter!  However the 4mm used as the E was simply not under enough tension to produce low 'tuned' notes - succumbing to 'bloop' syndrome like Weedwhackers - so personally I wouldn't bother with bumping. The string tension is a la fair bit higher than with my bumped Rotos, leading to a little bit more physicality having to be thrown in to slapping - but the results tone wise are truly lovely to my ears. 

To my mind these sound about as close to old recordings of early rockabilly as I've heard. The main note is big and round and warm, while the slap has more of the 'wood blocks' than the 'metallic snare drum' about it.  The surface 'texturing' of the string gives a very firm grip for triple slaps and drag triplets, and the acoustic volume is good enough to play with other acoustic instruments unamplified, unlike weedwhackers ... or indeed my bumped Rotos - I don't think I have quite the raw speed I do on those, but for more old time rockabilly ... and probably country too these are a keeper for me I think. To be fair I haven't tried them amplified yet, as it's a huge faff to swap over the Shadow kit to another bass. I may have to bite the bullet and just buy another Shadow rig though ... these really make me want to play ... what more can you ask?    

[Owen]

5 hours ago, The Guitar Weasel said:

So my normal style is pretty frantic rockabilly slapping bordering on psychobilly insanity.

Respect

[The Guitar Weasel]

59 minutes ago, Owen said:

Respect

In fairness it's often easier to play stuff fast than slow  

 

If you try and think about triple and quad slap syncopation rather than 'feel' it ... you will probably foul up. 

Edited 2 hours ago by The Guitar Weasel