Malvis

I should print these words out and memorise them 😁 I have a big German carved bass, 44" string length, Eb neck, much like Nick's. Last year Martyn Bailey put a C-extension on it. It was a bit of a job because the fingerboard had been reshot a lot, and there wasn't much thickness to work with. Of course, he said, I could give you a new D neck and fingerboard, which would make the bass a lot more desirable, more durable, better all round. I couldn't even nearly afford it, but for the last year or so couldn't help wondering, what if...? This thread has helped me put that notion to bed, and get on with enjoying the beautiful bass I already have. Cheers Nick & Neil! PS If you're thinking about a C-extension, give Martyn a call. His work is amazing. Apols for the thread drift!

You won’t go wrong with Laurence Dixon. Lovely guy as well as being a first-rate luthier. For the quality of his work, he’s not expensive...

You've got some great advice here Chris. I agree that you'll get much more bang for your buck from a 2nd hand bass. The one Clarky recommended above could be just the job. Last year I bought a similar bass from Ben at the Double Bass Room, but one with a carved top. I had it on approval and brought it to the bass bash, where I was fortunate enough to meet Nick A and bassace. They both gave it an unequivocal thumbs up. It cost just shy of £1000, but it wasn't well set up at all. That was another £200 or so, including the strings. There's an almost identical one in the For Sale section, which might still be available... That's way more money than you had in mind, I know. But as others have mentioned, if you can stretch your budget to about a grand now, you'll be glad you did. My first bass was a £500 Gear4Music ply, and it did me well for years. But I wish I'd discovered sooner how much more fun it is to play on a bass that "really has a voice", as bassace so memorably put it. Good luck in your quest, and let us know how you get on...

I bought drewk_ie’s KK baby bass a couple of years ago, and you’re more than welcome to come over and try it out. I live near Bicester, which should be more or less within striking distance. Drop me a PM if you like, and we’ll make a plan...

Ah, the Helicore hybrids... Thanks Owen, you reminded me I have a knackered old set somewhere that I can experiment with. I didn't much like them in regular tuning, but it's worth a try. My other bass is loving your Innovations btw! Jack, you're right in that it'd be a lot more straightforward if we could just play our tunes in a different key. We do sometimes, but it's not quite the same thing. The Arabic system is based on maqams, which are like modes, but aren't based on western ideas of harmony. To find out about the whys and wherefores of this habit of tuning down a tone, I asked a pal of mine in the band. He's an expert, whereas I am just the opposite. If what follows is unclear it'll be because I've garbled his answer... There was no standardised tuning in Arab music traditionally. In 1932 in Cairo, there was a Congress of Arab Music, which was massive, and the first of its kind. The explicit aim was to modernise and standardise, and one of the main maqams, called Rast, was identified with the C Major scale (more or less the same, give or take a quarter-tone). Turkish tuning is standardised a tone higher, but when accompanying they tend to play 3 or 4 tones below pitch. My friend from the band, Martin, said that "all this suggests that the standardisation of pitch was for the benefit of the instrumentalists, together with the hegemony of the Western 'soprano' i.e. G clef - the clef adapted in western music for the highest imaginable voices. Most adult voices in either octave tend to fall naturally a fourth or fifth lower as their comfort range." As I said, my own understanding of this stuff is still fairly slender, but if you're curious to find out more maqamworld.com has loads of info. There, I've only gone and derailed my own thread 🙄 Any other string suggestions would be most gratefully received...

Lately I've been playing with an Arabic classical band, where the convention is to play with all the instruments tuned down a tone. My regular bass, an Eastern European cannon, copes with being tuned down to DGCF well enough. However, I've recently bought a removable-neck Kolstein travel bass from @Lodekka for an upcoming tour, and the Evah Weichs I like to use are inclined to be a bit floppy when they're tuned down. Which strings might be a good choice for a bit more tension - ideally something that'll be stable enough to cope with the removable neck? Thanks very much 😁

Belated congratulations Silvia! I hope you and Jack have been having heaps of fun with your beautiful new basses.

Thanks. It's in lovely condition, no sign of any repairs at all. Fingers crossed I can keep it that way... And you're right, the brown bass is a beast, 4/4 with a 44" scale length, so it's not exactly portable. Mainly it's the camera angle though I think.