ubassman

...yes could be a loose patch buzzing away. Could also be the bass bar split or coming unstuck . Do you have a telescopic mirror to check this out? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-LED-TELESCOPIC-INSPECTION-MIRROR-LIGHT-42mm-x-65mm-EXTENDS-FROM-29cm-TO-87cm-/221246453395?pt=UK_Hand_Tools_Equipment&hash=item338350f693

Carved myself a new bridge - and set out the notches at 25mm between strings . Feels a lot more like a DB that I am used to but more importantly has opened up the instrument to bowing . The margins are a bit too tight to bow cleanly with the 21mm separation that comes on the Stagg factory bridge and those extra few mm make all the difference. I made the arch slightly higher too and its great . What was a bit unexpected and impressed me most was that the sound improved immensely with the new bridge - it sounds warm before it has a little bit of a nasal sound. This is fun !!

Is the rattle inside then?

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1376066668' post='2169333'] You know the hat was a gift to you Pete, right? [/quote] oops!! ...will just have to pick it back up on its way back up North !!

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1376066752' post='2169335'] This is fantastic! [/quote] ...its in your neck of the woods now Sylvia !

My daughter ...annoyingly natural bassist ! ..deep in concentration 'slappin an a poppin'

Me and fellow members of Peak Wind Orchestra after my gig

Signature by Rhino Edwards - bass guitarist with Status Quo

Bag of goodies , Leads and picks from KaBL, 3 x sets D'addario strings courtesy of Milty

The Relay T shirt ...ink still drying !

Len_derby ( right) about to take the bass the back - its the 2nd time he's had it - so a big for helping with the next leg and hand delivering to TimR down South tomorrow!

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1376058188' post='2169152'] Baton collected from Peter (Ubassman) at Matlock station car park. The plan is that tomorrow I pass it on to TimR at South Mimms Services on the M25. It was lovely to meet Peter and Mrs Ubassman today for a brief time. I confessed to Peter Id' never even laid a hand on a double bass. He's offered to put that right... [/quote] Instant click with Len-derby - thats the thing with this bass relay thing ...the people who take part seem to be tuned into life on a different wavelength to most people you come across day to day ! A meet up in a month for a DB sesh ...tis in the diary !!

[quote name='Burg' timestamp='1375952591' post='2167731'] I've checked inside the bass and the only piece of identification is a sticker saying 'Made in Czechoslovakia'. [/quote] I think you have a 400 series instrument ! enjoy it !

Great to see things are going well Pete. There's something really satisfying and wonderful about doing your first DB gig and I wish you all the best with it!

[quote name='oggiesnr' timestamp='1375824611' post='2166286'] Forget (if you can) the left hand, I'd trade right hands any day! Steve [/quote] Sounds like a plan for a good double act!

Theres no sense of leverage with the mod ...may be however that the bridge may not stay vertical because of the uneven angles of the strings either side so I going to try making a tailpiece mod that is in line with a normal tailpiece - can't see it not working now that I know that the sound is fine with a shortened string length but then there are other thoughts about a sticky out piece of wood that is easily banged ( I sense a bit of piano wire coming to the rescue ...watch this space )!

Interestingly the piezo wires were curved along the back inside edge of the bridge foot pocket when I removed the bridge i.e. lining the curve of the pocket in the direction of the end pin . The previous mod that I saw posted on here shows a photo of the wires straightened out bisecting the pocket in half symmetrical under the line of the bridge and with a notch cut out on the bass of the feet + padding/damper Just wondering about the behaviour of the vibrations that come through the bridge and whether it was done deliberately curved by Stagg to expose more wire to collect the vibrations or whether its just a bish bash bosh kind of thing from the factory or that it doesn't matter ...any experts here on piezo technology ? Easy enough to do some experiments but would be good to get some views from those in the know.

Here's a side view [url="http://www.peakletts.com/resources/bass/7.jpg"][/url]

You can see that the black end fitting that comes with the Stagg . I have drawn a white line where the ball end of the string starts - it produces a 12 inch long after string length!! Normally on a DB the after string is about 7 inches. The 'tailpeice' that I made up is 6 inches because I wanted to keep the pressure on the peizo high by a steep angle . This puts pressure on the screw fittings of the block which seems to be absolutely fine but I will experiment with a shorter tailpiece too. Sound wise I cant see any advantage in the original Stagg spec and getting a tailpiece opens the choices of strings available immensely. Next thing is to make an alternative bridge with wide spacings and see how that improves the bowing !

I made a new 'tailpiece' yesterday and converted the instrument into a regular 3/4 length . Its a bit peculiar and I don't fully understand why, but the Stagg has the normal nut to bridge length of a 3/4 double bass at 106 cm ...but then the after string length is 4 inches longer than you would get on a 3/4 . It doesn't surprise me that there are from time to time people who post that the after string is buzzing and ringing on. It may be that the designers at Stagg want to try and get the growl of a 4/4 but that's the only strings that will fit the standard Stagg. That said replacement Stagg strings are only about £40 a set ( very cheap in comparison to DB strings !) . Anyways I made up a replacement tailpiece and fitted some standard length strings and the sound seems to me to be even better than before. Will get a photo on later. I am thinking of making my modified tailpiece slightly shorter - I wanted to experiment with getting high string pressure through the pick up and so made it about and inch too long - but it seems to have done the trick just fine !

I remember seeing Genesis at Hammy Odeon immediately after Peter Gabriel left the band ..and they absolutely shredded it. Everyone was thinking what will they do now that their lead singer has gone ...and everyone was just blown away at the reinvention of the band - that was something that doesn't happen very often !.

Id give my right arm to have a left hand like Rinat's !

Don't know of anyone near you but theres Turners Violin Shop in Nottingham - they are pretty darn good and pretty sure that they would be happy to do a postal service.[url="http://www.turnerviolins.co.uk/RepairsandRestorations.aspx"]http://www.turnerviolins.co.uk/RepairsandRestorations.aspx[/url]

No, you are OK ! ....its just good for you to fish in both places !!