Strings! An unusual question...

gilles27

gilles27

New member
I have a cheap old nasty Les Paul copy that I use to play bow stuff on, as in with a violin bow. I was wondering if there's anyone out there who has any experience with this playing style and can advise me on strings.

Should I go mega thick (I still need to fret them properly)?

What material?

Flatwound?

My problem atm is that the bow doesn't catch the strings evenly, it'll sort of plane over the top of them sometimes without generating a clean vibration.
I use cello rosin and i'm gonna look into bows a bit more.
I used to play the cello so my technique's not too bad.
I'm wondering if it's the strings being roundwound as cello strings are not

Any help!?
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

Taking a shot in the dark, I'd say the real issue is with the curvature of the strings...if you set it up with a much more exaggerated curve, you'll have less trouble catching one or two strings. Flats will help.
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

I'm content to just play the bottom E for now a la Sigur Ros.

What makes you think flats will be better?
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

Flat strings won't help and effectively, only the high and low E strings can be used unless you are bowing full chords or possibly an open tuning??? Without a bowed bridge, your pretty much limited
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

yeh i'm using a tuning of low to high: DADAAD

The reason i though flats would help is because thats how cello strings are wound. I reckon the rosin might take better. I'm fairly sure i'm gonna go up from 11s to 12s too...
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

I just think the flats will grab better cause the bow will be hitting more string surface.
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

you need to think more about a crazy nut and bridge than what kind of strings to put on the thing
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

ImmortalSix said:
you need to think more about a crazy nut and bridge than what kind of strings to put on the thing
Click to expand...

That's what I think, too. I mean, you ever check out the bridge/fingerboard radius of violins and cellos? They're a lot tighter than vintage Fender specs.
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

if you're using this guitar exclusively for bow playing, i think you may want to take the tom off, sand the saddles down until there is no longer any radius to them, and raise the action.
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

The GuitarViol by Togaman. Designed for your purpose. You may not want to buy their instrument, but you may wanna look at their design of the bridge and strings.

 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

Cheers guys, I checked the GuitarViol and another thing Called a Dramm Botar.
I do use the guitar for other stuff in that tuning so i don't think i'll do anything too drastic to the nut or bridge. also, this would require an areche fingerboard and i reckon that would be way expensive.

as for strings i can see the logic behind both flat and round wound, flats provinding more surface area for the bow and rounds having more friction

i think i'm just gonna bite the bullet and get some flats...
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

i cant find it right now, but i do remember reading an interview of jimmy page when he's in the firm, and there is a section where he talks about the bowing
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

Cheers sir! very interesting article. Sounds like he was having a simlar problem. I'm gonna talk to some cello and violin peoples about humidity and rosin as well as strings.

Learnin' things...
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

Ever hear of a Nail Violin? Im a bit rusty on the subject but I believe its nails driven into tonewod that you shave down the metal on until they are in tune when you do whatever it is you bow people do. It's actually pretty neat. I think it would be fairly cheap to construct too....if you have a bow lying around and some nails and dont wanna screw with that guitar too much, it could be a cool project to look into....:reporter:

What you really need to do to get that guitar set up to play with a bow most righteously would kill it for just about any other use. Good luck though. The bridge and nut modification would probly work the best. otherwise an E-Bow would work better than a real one.
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

What I was told when I was considering doing this years ago (too many to count or want to admit) was that a cello bow would work better than a violin bow because it was shorter. I never bothered to explore this angle after watching Nigel Tufnel in "This is Spinal Tap" bowing a guitar with a violin and kicking another one in a stand (it just seemed kinda silly after that). I think you'd have more fun with an E-Bow. I do.
 
Re: Strings! An unusual question...

For me, it HAS to be a real bow, the sounds way different. The E-Bow is a cool sustain tool and i might get one at some point but it's not gonna get me the sound i'm after atm.

I heard the Cello bow was the way to go too but i'm not sure exactly why. I need to talk to bow folks at a classical music shop for this.
I'm using a 3/4 size Violin bow that's about the same length but slightly thinner than a Cello bow.

I'm wondering whether i need to get more hairs in contact with the string...
 
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