Another annoyed-with-string thread

[Clarky]

I have a set of Velvet Animas that I bought second-hand on BC but only a few weeks old. The G tuning suddenly started to drop a hell of a lot yesterday (about a tone and a half yesterday and about three whole tones today) but the tuning peg has not moved, nor has the bridge (the E/A/D are all fine) and the string's been on my bass for about 2-3 weeks now without anything like this happening. The copper windings also seem to have developed some rough/sharp patches. I don't slap and am a hobbyist who plays pizz at most 30 minutes a day so these are 'babied' strings. Checked on TalkBass and it seems I am not the only to have experienced this happening randomly.

Seriously very annoying and also pricey as a replacement G is about £65-70 from Germany. Making me re-think whether I should just stick with trustworthy, long-lasting steels (eg, Spiros), grrrrr

[thisnameistaken]

Oddly enough Clarky of the Animas I bought from you earlier this year, the same thing happened to the G. I loosened it off and found that the winding had snapped at the peg, and I think it was because it got snagged between its own windings and the inside of the pegbox.

I wound it back up keeping it away from the wood so it couldn't get trapped as I tensioned it and it's been fine since, but I did take a spare G with me to gigs for a couple of months at first...

[Rabbie]

Not good Clarky, I think you'd be well within your right to drop Velvet a line. If I remember correctly, their rep is a great boogie woogie bassist from Switzerland and I have heard they have a good customer service.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Rabbie

[Clarky]

Hi Rabbie, you may be right although the fact I purchased second hand would probably count against me as anything could in theory have happened to them during the change in ownership (not that anything did). In a fit of pique I have swapped over to a set of Danny Thompson steel strings while I decide what to do. It has reduced my confidence in these strings having since discovered this is not a rare occurrence, according to TalkBass' DB forum. Having examined the faulty G it looks like it has gone 'floppy' at the peg end, almost as if the silk inside the copper windings has snapped.

PS sorry Kev/TNIT that you encountered something similar and I am glad your G could be fixed, sadly mine is shot

Edited November 25, 2013 by Clarky

[Beedster]

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1385411633' post='2288031']
.... the fact I purchased second hand ...
[/quote]

Which is of course not something that you tell them

[Clarky]

Update: I have packaged up the faulty G and will be sending it back to Velvet to see how they respond. Fingers crossed they will send a replacement!

[marvin spangles]

sorry to hear that Clarky. I had a similar experience albeit with a new set. Nuno at Velvet sent me a replacement G . It just came apart ...it is a recurring problem but I think that Velvet are aware and replace where necessary. Maybe it's a quality control issue...either way it's a very expensive experiment for us bass players . Hopefully you'll get satisfaction from Velvet. They are great strings though ...

[Clarky]

Thanks Peter/MS

I contacted Nuno at Velvet this morning and he said he would send a new G to me (he mentioned there had been a bad batch and that they had to trash the production of them - sounds like I got one that escaped destruction). Hopefully all's well that ends well

[marvin spangles]

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1385459043' post='2288404']
Thanks Peter/MS

I contacted Nuno at Velvet this morning and he said he would send a new G to me (he mentioned there had been a bad batch and that they had to trash the production of them - sounds like I got one that escaped destruction). Hopefully all's well that ends well
[/quote]

Result!!!

Edited November 26, 2013 by marvin spangles

[Beer of the Bass]

That's an excellent result, and I'm impressed that the guys at Velvet did that when the strings were bought used. I had a similar breakage issue with Thomastik Dominants a few years ago, with two of them from one set breaking at the peghead, and Thomastik didn't even answer my email.

[Clarky]

Apparently the windings were a fraction (1/100th mm) out on a batch of 'G's and that led to eventually unravelling and detuning as happened to mine. The customer services guy Nuno was very happy to help out, recognising this problem, and even said I shouldn't have bothered posting the string to them for examination as they already knew what the problem would be. Good service that

Edited November 26, 2013 by Clarky

[keeponehandloose]

check Nunos playing on You tube, Nuno Alexander, he plays with lots of folks , top notch stuff

[Rabbie]

Shameless plug: If I remember well, he plays Garbo lights A and E...and guess who just happens to have a one-day old pair of them for sale right now in the classifieds....sorry, I did say it was a shameless plug...

[PaulKing]

Nuno is indeed a fine man and spectacular slap bassist. Check his recordings with Sylvan Zingg, just blistering.

[Clarky]

Whilst waiting for the Anima G, I have put on a Lenzner gut G. Actually sounds really nice and is a good match tension-wise. Only issue is it has imperfections (tiny bumps where twisted) along the length which means it doesn't sound cleanly at various points. However, its a pretty good stand-in