bassace

Would it help if you stood the lowest part of the back on a pile of books and then found the best position by adding/removing the books and tilting the bass. Then get someone to take the necessary measurement.

Pythagoras?

Continuing the theme, I was playing at the Upton Jazz Festival on Saturday and in the interval I was approached by a nice chap who rather diffidently asked me for advice about strings. He had recently been given a double bass by his family as a surprise present - for his seventieth! He was chuffed to bits and was having lessons from Alex Phillips who I gather is rather good. The DB community is certainly growing.

Did five gigs last week, and at my age I swore I'd cut down - but the phone/emails keep coming. Anyway, the last one was the Upton Jazz Festival with our 'village project' FiddleBop. Fiddle, two guitars and double bass. We've come up from some disparate starters to a useful folk/jazz outfit. The gig was three hours with just two 15min breaks, but of course we cheated a bit. First two houses were packed to standing room and the third one slightly less but we had great enthusiastic audiences. As in most festivals turnround is a bit fraught with the load-in up a flight of stairs, with punters from the previous band coming down. We borrowed a sound guy to help us out and he earned his keep in the first five minutes alone. Upton Food and Beer festival was across the river with some great 'heavier' sounds wafting across. Any BCers playing there?

Good for a burial perhaps.

I've got a walnut end pin. I used it with the Martin last week and I think it made an improvement. Anyway it certainly sounded great with a lot of attack. I'm out with the Bryant tonight (Cricketers at Horsell)so I'll have another chance to compare and contrast. I travel with the steel pin in position so that the rubber end protects the socket. Then I swap over at the gig. Trouble is at the end I swap the pins back again. I just know I'll leave one or the other behind one of these days.

Thanks Tauz, I find that very helpful and will get myself sorted.

Anything that encourages youngsters into the world of double bass has to be good, so keep up the good work, I say.

Yes, I'd go along with that. I had a Meinel, which comes from the Musima factory I believe. It served me very well for a number of years. I was attracted to the ad to which the Rev refers and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a first - or even second - bass.

Sorry, you may as well be talking in Swahili.

Now I have posted this reply without any problems, but in other topics that I have tried to contribute to I've had the letters missing bother. To the extent that I'm not really interested in participating any more. Life's too short. It's only BC where I'm getting the problem.

I'll bring my walnut end pin. The metal bit is 10mm dia.

I'll try to get my Bryant and the Upton in the motor, and there'll just be room for an AI Clarus amp and Crazy 8 cab.

2. Bassace

I've got an enquiry out for a place off J25.

not kind!

Good to know you're still exquisitely mashing it with the greats, Bilbo.

Count me in. A location close to the M1 as a 'spine' would be helpful. With this in mind there is the Walnut Tree at Blisworth,close to J15. It has a good large room and a few Saturday vacances. Or would somewhere more northerly be preferred?

I suppose it's very much down to whether the composition has legs. I wonder how much Alan Hawkshaw gets from the Countdown jingle.

Great musicians on the show; I particularly liked the last sax player - who didn't win, incidentally. The only one not attending a music school, rather doing Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Music at St Pauls. My pal did those and promptly got sent to GCHQ where he went quietly mad. The young bass player had some excellent solo chops but his walking lines were a bit choppy rather than having a strong sustained flow. That'll come with age and maturity; what is he, 14? Blimey.

Hi Pete I have seen several Martin basses and they are nicely finished. Not too sure what happened to mine. It's completely matt, there are lumps and bumps in the applied stain and I don't think there are very many coats so the thin finish is very vulnerable to rubbing and scuffing. That said it plays very well. Is yours fully set up or will they have it back to adjust? Their best luthier took mine back in and reduced the string height at the nut after it had been played in. Then he reprofiled the fingerboard where there was a bit of resulting buzzing. He did a good job while I waited. A very nice bass indeed - just as long as you get a well finished one. You can easily get rid of any rosin cake by cleaning the strings with industrial alcohol which you can get from Maplin. Wishing you a lot of joy with a very nice bass. Roger

Having missed the last two bashes due to gigging commitments I was wondering whether there will be an event this year.