AndyBass

Hi folks. Thinking a solution to my need to have a left hand convertible bass available for some Euro shows next year might be one of these Bassix folding fellas based on some reading around forums. Does anyone have experience with them such that they could advise if they have a little bit of heft to them, as the main reason I can’t just use my stick EUB is I can’t get into playing it live. If anyone knows of one up for sale please give me a holler.

The one you link to would do the job perfectly well if that’s what you wanted (though I don’t get the wide fingerboard thing either, don’t think that’s actually a thing). But you could do it for cheaper if you preferred. Loads of rockabilly-suitable options on Facebook marketplace, for example. Personally I’d recommend some superior bassworks strings too if you’re just getting into it, no point making it harder than it needs to be. But their low tension is not for everyone. The shadow pickup system they offer had a brief period of being the only game in town for rockabilly pickup/preamp systems, and while they are apparently very good, the poor build quality of the pickups seems to have left a lot of people 1.buying Vic’s pickups with the daft Shadow connectors or 2.going back to old K&K setups (a sign of their durability is I am VERY rough on gear, and still use a K&K preamp I bought second hand from @PaulKing over ten years ago). Anyway, yes you’ve found a perfectly viable and easy option for a decent enough rockabilly-able bass. But you could maybe do it better for less ££ if you wanted. Good luck and have fun.

I’d been considering chancing a micro bass cube but I don’t think it’ll cut it against a similarly battery-amped guitar and a muted drum kit, as we would amped up collectively to a degree. The Street Cubes look to be louder, but have heard mixed reports on their viability for bass. Thanks for the response 👍

Anyone suggest a decent affordable battery powered amp loud enough for busking with a double bass? These threads (on other sites) usually end up as “I use such-and-such keyboard amp”, which every other review then says sucks for bass, or people power their usual combo through some kind of caravan battery, inverter etc rig. Or it’s shell out £1000 on a Phil Jones thing and an expensive power pack. Does anyone know of a small (ie if you’re already carrying a double bass), battery powered bass amp that is loud enough for a basic busking situation and doesn’t cost £££s, or are they on the “yet to be invented” list along with a mag-pickup-friendly equivalent of bumped Rotosounds?

Hi, my bass took even more of a beating than usual at last night’s gig and the fingerboard decided to part company with the rest of the bass. While it turns out gaffer tape will hold a fingerboard in place quite effectively and we got through the set, I ideally don’t want to rely on that for other shows in the coming months, does anyone have a luthier they’d recommend around South Yorkshire or surrounds? Ta

At the risk of incurring the righteous wrath of Basschatters everywhere, if you just want your bridge a bit higher and not to spend £00s one option is to get a piece of cork, a craft knife and cut a couple of square shims to go under the bridge feet. It moulds to the shape of the feet/top due to the pressure, and maybe you lose a little vibration but 1.if you’re amping from the bridge wing it will make very little difference 2.you’re playing bluegrass not orchestral stuff. After a luthier randomly butchered my bridge on what was then my only bass, I put some cork shims under the feet and used it for regular gigging and recording for about 5 years.

Thanks for the thoughts folks - liking the hose clip idea. Might give that a shot for now to cover a few gigs while I try and find a luthier who can sort me a new bridge. It’s been on shims for extra height since another luthier made a mess of it years ago anyway so happy enough to replace it, but conscious it’ll probably take a while to sort that out and this is my main gigging bass

Hi folks. So the other night I was up to some daft antics with my bass in a fairly tight space and crashed into something causing a bridge collapse. Whether caused by that, or whether I only noticed it when I came to put it all back together but it’s been there for ages, I’ve got a fairly sizeable crack in my bridge on one side above the adjuster. Obviously new bridges are a faff and a cost, so my immediate solution is superglue and gorilla tape, but I don’t want it to explode under the pressure when I’m mid gig. Anyone any experience with this kinda thing and did you manage to fix it or chuck it on the fire? Thanks!

There’s a thread, maybe a couple, going back on here where people have suggested using foam gardeners kneeling pads as f hole blockers. Thats what I still use - you get a crayon and some paper, do a rubbing of your f hole shape, cut it out, lay it on the foam pad and cut round it with a craft knife. Job done.

I find the two tone to have a nice deep, dark bass tone and is consistent across the strings, maybe biased a bit toward the lower end. I’d happily do a few videos to get the sound for you, but unfortunately one is strung with Superior Bassworks and the other with bumped Prestos, so neither probably gives a fair representation of the bass itself. If you’re anywhere near Sheffield you’re welcome to try them out.

I think this page has a few images of the kind of thing Paul’s talking about if it helps http://www.lutherie.net/scroll_repair.html

Haha, dammit! Foiled again

That was my original plan, but I genuinely didn’t see the wanted section and saw a wanted post regarding strings further down in the for sale section with some replies, so assumed rules had changed. And when it turned out they hadn’t, I just thought “wouldn’t it be nice if they did” No big deal anyway. I’d delete this post for simplicity’s sake if it were an option.

I recently put a wanted ad in the double bass classifieds for a double bass-specific bit of kit, bearing in mind 1.us uprighters probably represent <5% of Basschat 2.because it’s a bit of a community, there’s a reasonable chance someone with said bit of kit sat unused in a draw might move it on to help out, without having been actively looking to sell. Unsurprisingly my post was immediately turfed into the weeds of Items Wanted, never to be viewed again, at least not by anyone with the faintest idea about the item I’m looking for. I know rules are rules and if I don’t like it I can just stop using it, and someone has put the effort into moving that post to keep the forum in good order which I nonetheless appreciate. But wouldn’t it be great if, when we’re looking for a bit of kit, we could just ask the community to whom it’s relevant?

So I’ve been playing my Stagg EUB wrong all this time...