NickA

Certainly has some Wal like qualities! What became of the Wal clone neck Andy made for you? I've lost track.

And the point of a streamette is? I mean you could always get a streamer. The usp, of the corvette and the main reason for its popularity, surely being that it was relatively cheap.

New neck .. Good move! I think most 3 to 4 conversions they just squeezed an extra string in and changed the nut. You see some strange goings on in peg boxes where an extra peg has been forced in. Sometimes one string even has a non matching tuner. All this variety just adds to the charm of double basses 😁

Thread ending advice there! Mine has always had a crack on the edge of the board. I might try fixing it now. Just need to find some ebony to make dust from.

Wow. Did they need to change the neck? If not it must have had a super wide string spacing when new? I was told mine had originally been a 3, but I see no sign of a conversion. I reckon it was built as a 4 back in 1880 something; but it would still make a very close spaced 5 ( and need a new fingerboard due to having one of those Romberg bevels under the E).

There are suprisingly few 5-string double basses in the world ... combined with a suprisingly large number of orchestral bass parts that go below bottom E. Beats me. I guess the reason is that even the 4-string bass is a fairly recent thing, many old basses having been built as 3-string basses. Whilst you can make a lovely antique 3-string into a 4-string, making it into a 5 would be a stretch too far ... hence not many nice old 5-strings about; and hence 4-strings with those ugly (IMHO) extensions. Plus most parts don't go below bottom E and sometimes you really need to lay in to those low notes that no-one else in the orchestra can reach (tuba and contra-bassoon excepted). Something I've noticed about those few double bassists that play 5-strings is that they don't play them like a 5-string electric bass, they mostly play in first position using the B string to get notes below E ... whereas on a 5-string electric you'd likely play a 4th up and get the advantage of a shorter scale whilst still getting a low E and a range up to Eflat without changing position. Better tone I think. Owen's 5-string NS was a thing of wonder though, so especially if you're going to pluck rather than bow, go 5 if you can find one.

Had some of my spiros for 30 years! Rosin doesn't age them. Expect at least a decade, but they do snap occasionally.

Me too. Used to lean it backwards against the wall; one night it fell forward, shed it's fingerboard, cracked its bass bar and loss lots of the little patches old basses acquire inside. £1500 repair bill and that was 20 years ago. Probably less of an issue with a small laminate bass. But why risk it.

Not a clue about those strings. Random cheapies I guess. The pizz only standard is probably thomastic spirocores. The Best all round strings seem to be Eva Pirazzi ( "weich" if your only going to pizz, regular if you want to bow ). . But I paid £180 for my set. Bit ott on a £150 bass. strings do make a big difference; but don't get too hopeful; I don't think a half size laminated bass is ever going to "sing". The other bass players in my orchestra have decent basses but mostly use orchestral strings which sound really dead to me. One of them has a 3/4 laminate with Eva pirazzis on it and that plucks better than the nice carved basses with bowing strings imo. My fully carved 4/4 with spiros on beats the others hollow! Pretty good with Eva's too ... but that's a £5k + bass with £100s in setup costs and £200 strings. Maybe stick with what you have. Get a feel for whether you like double bass then look to upgrade?

My problem is it not being quite a while semitone away! Ron seems to have this problem on occasion too .. his intonation on piccolo is awful. I guess a small error on a tiny bass makes a big difference. Still a great player though.

.

GK better than most. PJB and Markbass better. DB wise that is. Still I've been to Liran Donin and Alec Dankworth gigs where they both used those archaic looking GK 150 things with one huge speaker .. and they sounded great. Sometimes think we fuss too much 🤣

What is it about Wals ?? Hmm. Not sure, I have two and love them, especially the fretless. Pretty facewoods aside .. they are very responsive to player input and have a fat and complex, slightly muzzy sound to them, but still manage lovely clear harmonics. I tried a load of (5 string fretted) basses before buying my second Wal ..and nothing else quite hit the spot. ... and because they're expensive, and keep getting more so, they get collected which sticks the price up in an ever increasing spiral. When all the old guys (like me) who were over influenced by them in the 80s, drop dead... prices might fall 😁

I've got a pjb flightcase which is great for dB and pretty good for electric. It sits on a pjb pb300 ( 250w powered cab) for gigs with drums etc. Very transparent. I've also played at sessions through some markbass kit and was well impressed. Small drivers are the thing. My full pjb rig is 10x 5". The most recent markbass I tried was 1x 6" surprisingly loud for the tiny size ... Has a vmt knob which radically alters the sound though I'm not sure what it actually does. Both pjb and markbass well worth a punt.

Pva wood glue ( stronger than the wood) if you can get it in the cracks. Then g-clamp hard and leave for 48hrs. Should last a while. I'd save up for a new one tho.

I've got some kolstein. It's ok, less grippy and less long lasting than nyman ... Ok in the summer. No idea if it works with plain gut ... have no intention on using plain gut.... but I'll bet nyman is better.

+1 for the Sandberg vm5. A real versatile work horse of a bass. Well made too. And they do a gorgeous black one too. I tried a load of 5s a few years back and found most ( including an expensive Pedulla and a £2k+ zon) couldn't really hack the low B. The Sandberg did and had loads of sound options too. Not played a g&l 2500 mind. No I didn't buy one. Got a Wal instead, just before prices leapt to stupid. That's a great 5 string, but just silly money now.

I think the rabatt technique is sound, more reach and fewer position changes. But also easier to play out of tune, I think. In truth, most bass player use simandl but stick in the odd "thumb pivot" to get a note a semitone away from the official position. Specially useful when your thumb is on the neck heel and you want to get that F ( or F# for us "Eflat neck" devotees). I'd say go simandl then later on build a few rabatt moves into your repertoir. At least there ARE formal techniques for double bass, whereas on electric people tend to thrash around uncertainly using bits of 3 finger, bits of 4 finger and a fair amount of bunch of bananas. ..about which, local lass plays with her fingers bunched and shifts her whole hand for every new note, not sure which finger is holding the string down, but classic BoB. Gets loads of work with the blue-grass and Americana crowd. Might struggle with jazz or classical. Pre-amps ? I just plug my piezo-pickup into my pjb combo. It has plenty enough input impedance. That EBS Stan Clarke looks a fun bit of kit tho if you've £350 burning a hole 😁

Only ever had two bass lessons .. after owning a bass for 30 odd years and playing in an orchestra for 10 of them .. there were gaps in which I hardly played it. ( I did grow up playing the cello mind.. which helps to an extent). The lessons were still a useful step up. I think without lessons you hit brick walls and can't progress. A decent teacher will give you a leg up, which you might need to get started. Nothing better than lots of playing time though. And though it's possibly the dullest book in the world, get a copy of Simandl and work through the (endless) excercises. Gets your left hand working. Stops you trying to look at your fingers and builds muscle memory. I should get mine out really but too much playing to do right now (two orchestras and two jazz groups : DB = instant popularity)

Don't buy new I said ... since which I encountered a new 5-string T&G Martin owned by an orchestral colleague; I'm in love, that bass has the best bottom B I've ever heard... cost him £15k though. Bows? My cello cost £2 and my bow £1300 ... admittedly, my grandfather bought the cello in 1948 as part of a job lot and the bow is quite new.

Schaller 3d on my project fretless, nice bridge. You're right that it won't work left handed though, the roller grooves are different widths. However, the threaded bars the roller are fitted to are only press fitted into the saddles, maybe you could press them out and swap around. Tried on mine and they didn't come out with the force I was prepared to use ( very little, and the bridge is near 40 years old and ceased up a bit! ) But brute force would do it I reckon.