NickA

Sure is! Sounds specially good with a nearly flat battery. 😁

Think it was a link from talk bass ... In which someone posted: " I don't care if it makes your Kay bass sound like a Gagliano (probably doesn't). Do you really want to perform in front of an audience with that ugly thing on your bass? Looks like something off a mountain bike." Pretty much sums it up imo. 😁

Quick answer to your question. Yes you can make the action easier by filing down the top of the bridge. It will change the sound too, quieter and buzzier. I did it to my ( fully carved ) bass but later had the bridge converted to adjustable. Now back to the old high action for bowed / classical ( best tone and fastest response to the bow) and low as poss for jazz / pizz ( easiest action, more "mwah", lower volume .. but I'm using a pickup, so no issue). Bass playing needs a strong left hand though, so good to get used to it. I often practice jazz with the high bridge as training. Having said which, I just got a ruler to my bass and found my "high" action is 9mm on G, 10mm on A (hard to measure the E as I have one of those "Romberg bevels" on the fingerboard.

Straight to dB without a doubt. Those NS eubs are lovely things and make a great sound, but not the same sound as a double bass ...and a quite differentb visual impact. Feedback can be overcome ( careful amp and bass placement, maybe some notch filtering or a phase reverser). Yes they're huge and bulky .. but mine is a 4/4 and still fits in my Skoda citigo along with my pjb flight case amp. Go for it!

..indeed, look at some of that sites other offerings; bizarre.

Yes indeed you do! I posted it as I knew francesco had a six but then miscounted the strings. Senile, evidently. Worth 12.5k? Hmm. But a good double bass costs more.

Hmm, you may be right. There's a weird hifi shop in my town that has silly prices and never seems to sell anything, it's had the same stuff in the window for ten years or more .. no idea what it's a cover for, but I don't think it's selling hifi.

Don't hold their value then. Whereas wood gets better with age (aledgedly) aluminium probably work hardens.

Bit tinny ... but not nearly as bad as I'd expected. But £13k !!!?? I'll take a nice new T&G Martin thanks. Though this one might be shower proof?

Best bit is the £35 postage. But you can collect for free, so that's ok.

Hmm. Always good to see some innovation, and it has a cyberpunk thing going for it. But think I'll stick to maple. There was a previous metal bridge that was briefly popular. You occasionally see basses bearing the scars! https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images2/360/0612/27/metal-double-bass-bridge_360_331e3f5fafe8107d204cce8b23508846.jpg&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjRk4W6qsr8AhWRScAKHfboC3AQ5hMIBQ&usg=AOvVaw1ny4Vj2wOEvU22DUxV2Jds

My bass is so big that I'd have to stand on a box to get the nut at eye level!!! Exageration: standing up to play pizz, the nut is a couple of inches above eye level. If it's comfy, do it. I'm guessing you can reach the upper registers more easily on an EUB than on a DB as you don't have all that wood work to reach around!

Thinking about this ... some really good jazz and session musicians. Martin Elliot, Rufus Phillpot, Percy Jones with a Mk2 5-string, Jason Henrie (check out "brief eclipse") has two (as well as an Alembic fretless) . Go to the Wal facebook pages and there are loads of very good semi pros and amatuers (mostly "of a certain age", admitted) playing them ... along with some (pretty pointless IMO) Rush and Tool Karaoke. Check this one out (Francesco Pirolo on 5-string fretless Wal) .. I couldn't find anyone playing a 6! : Edit: oh yes, Francesco IS playing his fretless 6!!! Thanks Luke 😉

Danny T is a pretty big bloke, he's standing up and his bass isn't huge; he already has the spike a long way out; it doesn't look that unusual to me. Also, he holds his bass rather "sideways on" compared to the current norm. So maybe not perfect by a teacher's standards anyway. I'm around 5'9" and have a rather long scale 4/4 bass, probably have it a bit higher than Danny (only 4" of spike out), in part to get my bowing arm in a comfy place and also to reach the higher notes, a teacher noted that I was bowing over the fingerboard and raising the bass would put my bow lower down; if playing purely pizz it can go down a bit. I wouldn't obssess about bass height. It's comfort and being able to reach all the notes you want to play that matter, if you put it too high then half and first position will be uncomfortable (your lower arm is higher up and will tire quickly, and too low will stop you reaching the highest notes (if you ever go there) - combined size of man and bass DT can doubtless reach all he notes he needs with the bass fairly low. Have a look at the recomended music to listen to thread and you'll see all kinds of stance - including people playing "new dutch school" method in which you sit with both feet on the floor, the bass quite low and sloped a long way out, more like a cello. One of the wonderful things about double bass is the variety (in size, shape, sound and method of playing the damned thing).

Basschat .... where else?!! Doesn't get played much tbh as I rarely need a fretted bass and the Wal has a useful extra string .. and a heftier sound. The dolph is easier to play tho ( thin neck, great ergonomics. )

Price of collectables aside... The gallery is an excellent shop. They let me sit in a corner and try every stingray in the place and the prices of those were all quite reasonable. Didn't buy one mind ... bought the mk2 Wal instead!

The knobs are critical to the sound too ??? Whodathunkit! 😂

Not helped by Scott Devine shelling out $20,000 for a basic fretted Wal custom priced up because someone held it whilst miming to the live aid video. On top of the previous price hoik caused by Tool releasing an album (on which JC could be playing anything behind all those effects), combined with low interest rates and a falling stock market that make buying "stuff" more attractive ... followed by the order books closing! Perfect storm. By comparison, £12.5k is pretty reasonable for a rare 6 string ... I reckon prices will plummet when blokes my age (who fell for them in the 80s) start dying off ( along with the remaining rush fans ).

Right, so the cut of the top arch rather than the bridge itself. Can be hard to bow only the required note at big volume with the flattish arch. But the curve of the bridge matches the radius of the fingerboard, so a steeper arch would mean an uneven action. Not going there. Adjusters are a marvellous thing. Changed my bass greatly for the better.

I pluck with one finger, or more accurately the side of one finger. I used to use my middle finger but now gravitate to the index finger sometimes alternating with the middle one ( string crossings), thumb hooked under the fingerboard for purchase. Some orchestral players pluck with both fingers at once, but they're usually playing fewer notes and plucking at right angle across the strings to get an accurate and clear "plonk", whereas I'm after a jazzy mwah noise ( Eddie Gomez style).

Orchestral bridge? Jazz cut? Can you explain? I've had the same bridge for 33 years on a bass that was "set up for jazz" in 1989. But I play in a symphony orchestra as well as a jazz band. Took a few mm off the top to lower the action once and recently had the feet reshaped and adjusters fitted ( to raise the action again!) But it's "just a bridge", not a particular kind of bridge, that I know of. So what's the difference? Flatter top for jazz and a smaller radius for bowing? Or something I've never thought of?

Very true ... But I'd like a single coil mode on my Wal. Nice clean harmonics. Not that I get to play such things in public. Slap and harmonics being largely a private affair 😉

.. some people don't have cellos though😉

Little and often. Lots of left hand in 1/2 position and playing semi tone runs. Really boring but gets your hand strength up. Don't pluck too hard or always with the same finger. Blisters stop you practicing.