NickA

Well good for you. I love a bit of slap bass and see it's demise as being due to guitar fascists who want to replace us with sine wave generators ( or people playing precisions strung with flats and using a plectrum ) so that they can play all the tunes. Come to Derby .. every pub in town seems to have a cover or tribute band playing and the flower pot has either a good tribute band or someone eeking out their end days ( read China Crisis, Dr Feelgood, Big Country) every night of the week. NB: I'll have to hear the clip through good headphones as you're being drowned out by the keyboard player on my tablet. As always ... Bass player should be louder!

On a fretless the string height changes the sound, less action = more mwah needs tweaking to personal tastes Cranking the strings up on a fretted bass doesn't seem to change the sound at all. My dolphin pro 1 arrived with an action so low it was spooky so now cranked UP to 1.5mm, to no Ill effect and the advantage I don't play notes accidentally. Too low an action on my 5-string means I clank the strings on the frets, especially when reaching across 4 strings to reach the B. Poor technique on my part, but it sounds no worse for having to be higher.

Not according to Charlie who claimed HIS Vuillaume sounded better than Patitucci's Vuillaume ... maybe true and explains why JP sold his (for $138,000). These guys have so many basses ... check out Ken Smith with his my Da Salo this and my Pollmann that .. of course he sells them on. Anyway, if they all sounded the same no one would ever change 🙂

Lady called Helen Pegram, was working at Tim Toft's in Stone. Seems very knowledgeable and comes highly recommended. I was told she'd left Toft's, and then I found a post that said she'd gone freelance. Anyone know? .. just if she IS available direct I might take my bass along. Ta.

True thing .. but I enjoyed checking out £100,000 basses and £4,000 bows! But I still think, for a really basic bass, say £1000, a £500 bow would still be overkill. In 1986 I bought a bass for £2000 and a bow for £80 .. and it did me ok for 20 years till I spent £800 on the arcus. Having said which, less than £100 / £150 might be a false economy.

Hmm .. did a bow maker tell you that? I have a really nice Arcus S4 Carbon bow that more than meets my needs and abilities, but "only" cost about 1/7 the value of my bass. For 1/2 the price (though probably not the "value") of a bass I'm thinking of buying I could have any bow that Thwaites or the Contrabasse Shoppe are currently selling (and will state a price for) or get the fanciest Arcus and enough change for a holiday! £1000 will get an excellent bow. £2000 will get a superb bow made by a first class maker to your own requirements, more than that gets antiques and collectables (and gold fittings). You could probably spend £250,000 on a double bass, but I doubt you could spend £100,000 on a bass bow ;¬)

Fretted Wals cost more than fretless ones. More demand ... and currently that "Tool have an album out" factor. I think it would be a shame, especially if it has an ebony board ( love my fretless Wal even more than the fretted one) but if it gets you playing it ..go for it.

Seems weird that it will emulate different microphones, but not different basses. It would be nice to switch between Charlie Haden's Vuillaume and John Patitucci's Gagliano!

Physio. I had a bad back for years and years and eventually found a physio who knew some exercises to fix it (4th one I tried, I think). Back starts twingeing, do the exercises for a few days = better. Could wear my 5-string bass all day .. and it's not a light one. There's a lot of fandom for light and/or chambered basses, but IMHO there is nothing to beat the feel and sound of 5kg of solid mahogany / ovangkol / wenge / padauk ... whatever.

My first "decent" amp was a Cobra .. 60W I think. Compared to the other affordable amps available back in 1983, such as the Laney ones (awful), and Roland Cubes, the Cobra was clear and punchy and still just about portable. I was mighty pleased with it at the time. The EQ push buttons were vicious though and sitting near it whilst trying to learn slap bass lines off level 42 tape cassettes is probably the major cause of my hearing loss! In a few years time everyone will be slagging off MarkBass ;¬)

Ok. Double basses also have different scale lengths. Usually between about 40" and 44". BUT, there is another defining measurement, which is the note you get when your thumb hits the heel of the neck and your first finger is opposite your thumb .. it will usually be a D or an Eflat ( but may be somewhere in between). Hence D neck or Eflat neck. If you are used to a D neck, then play an Eflat necked bass, you will find yourself playing sharp when your thumb hits the heel. I never knew basses were different in this way unit someone played mine and said "oh, Eflat neck".

Ah yes, well, strings ........ local luthier looked at my bass and said: hmm helicore hybrids; you should swap those for a set of Evah Pirazzis let me show you (a very expensive) bass that's fitted with them. A snip at £214 a set to you guvner. They did feel nice (as did the bass) but I don't suppose anyone else would tell the difference. Playing the right notes at the right time is doubtless more important (though my former Jazz tutor says "there are no wrong notes, only opportunities": this does not apply to classical music). Got my popcorn ready ... off you go ;¬)

Nice to know I'm not the only one (who plays a 44" bass and doesn't care where D is)! I didn't know such differences existed 'till I went to the Double Bass Bash the other year. Refreshing after all the bollix we hear about "what's the weight", "what's the string spacing", "what's the fingerboard radius" in certain other threads. I think we can conclude ... it really doesn't matter.

Good thread. Mostly supportive of Eflat. Also mostly quite old so perhaps not with latest fashion. I was trying a D neck 3/4 bass the other day (41" scale) and it felt fine. My bass is 4/4 (8/9 at least) with nearly 44" scale; a D neck on that would be hard work in 5th position. Frankly, I don't mind and reckon I'd easily adapt to either. So still bemused by the popularity of D necks.

I notice a fashion for "D" necks .. to the extent that a bass dealer I talked to says he's been asked to modify the odd bass to D before someone will buy it. My own bass is Eflat and when I bought it ( some time back!) the matter wasn't something that mattered or got mentioned. Likewise 'cellos have E and F necks and anywhere in between, but it's never mentioned. I like the Eflat neck on mine as it puts my thumb in the same place relative to fingers as I use in other positions and a bit of rotation makes an F or a G harmonic easy to reach. So .. tell me people, why are D necks the bee's knees and Eflat necks worthy only of modification. Who is playing what and how much does it matter?

Few £100?? I spent £180 this week on just a new end pin! Very nice new end pin mind .. and neatly fitted; but that full refurb is on the back burner again!

Lovely baß Phil. Just what I'd like to own .. swell back and everything. I doubt many of us on here would have the ability to do it justice ( not me I'm sure ). Does Martin make his own extensions ?.. that's much less ugly than the usual ones.

Yes I'd noticed that. Same thing I guess with DI into a PA system. If we're looking for a clean / accurate sound then just play through big HiFi! More kit to carry than a pjb flight case or an ai coda tho.😉

Talking to the owner of bassbags about this thread today. He reckons pjb come out better overall than ai codas, even for just double bass ..so he's now stocking pjb almost exclusively ( has a good collection in the shop now ) - of course there will be a commercial element involved! Lower price point certainly and work well with electric ( gentle electric that is, doubt any metal heads or other valve lovers would be impressed). On the other hand I've heard PJB's support is dreadful ( never needed it mind ). Got to try both and see!

Phenomenal for double bass .. at a price (£1600). Someone brought one to the last double bass bash and it was hard to see how something that tiny could sound that good. Has quite a big amp (600W) and a 10" (down firing) speaker in it. Lots of knobs to twiddle too (useful stuff like high pass filters and phase reversers). Never heard an electric bass through one though.

Tis true.... if you buy a bass from a reputable dealer, they will set it up however you like, undoing whatever the last owner had done if required. Orchestral basses do generally have a higher action as it allows you to dig in more with the bow without the strings clattering on the fingerboard. My bass is set for jazz but I play in an orchestra too. Discussing this issue with the bloke at Thwaites, he said to stick an adjustable bridge on it, crank down for jazz and up for classical. I never bothered, just bow with the low action ( the bass is loud ). Meanwhile, another bassist in the orchestra has such a high action, she can't play in thumb position at all.