Brook_fan

Just read about their new instrument in this months Bass magazine.  I don’t get it-  surely it is just a guitar?  The designer says in came about when he enjoyed playing chords in the second octave of his bass.  Mate, just get a guitar, instead of trying to invent something this ugly!!

Robbie

Btw I like the trigger reference- one of the funniest scenes in British comedy!

Oh my,didn’t see the auto correct faux pas 🤪

Douglas, it is I who should be honoured!! 

Thank you for the kind comments Dad (or may I be so bold to call you Douglas?) 🙂

When I had my acoustic bass built the first tumers I had on there just didn’t work. I don’t mean that they were a little difficult to use- they simply didn’t work.  The first time I tuned the E to D the tuner snapped 😫 .  These were a very expensive set as well.  Got myself a set of hip shots and can’t imagine anything working more perfectly.

Robbie

Forgotten where I got this arrangement from now, but have tweaked it a little.  Played on my custom Broom acoustic bass.  Sorry about all the gurning.

So this is the sort of thing I write, arranging tunes from all over the place for a mandolin ensemble I run.  I recorded this one entirely myself, and you will hear my Brook Lowman bass underpinning everything.  I know this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but what the heck, hopefully it’s something different.  The footage is of my time spent in Padstow this Christmas

https://youtu.be/BcVRIL2FyTA

sorry, don’t know how to embed videos 😥

Robbie

Great ad to me, very honest and personal.  Sounds li,e the kind of musicians I would get on with.

Robbie

They sound great in my acoustic, but I know that doesn’t help you.  Had to use their really heavy set to get the same feel as a normal set.

Played one of these in Hobgoblin in Southampton only yesterday 🙂

Wow, I had forgotten about the Fishman.  That looks absolutely idea.  Thank you,

Robbie

I’ve been using a Phil Jones Briefcase to amplify my custom Brook acoustic bass guitar.  Did a gig yesterday, and kept getting feedback on my low A string.  Maybe the graphic EQ on the Briefcase just doesn’t t cut it, I don’t know.  But it got me thinking about the best way to amplify it in future.  The bass has a Headway under saddle piezo.  Should I be looking at a dedicated acoustic/ double bass amp, such as the new Acus OneForBass?  Or should I be looking at getting a dedicated preamp? I am thinking what I really need is either an amp with true parametric EQ, so that I can nail problem frequencies with precision, or maybe a graphic EQ pedal?  Or something with a resonance filter?

I will probably be looking to move the Briefcase on anyway.  I like the specs of the Acus, and have used their gear before.  I also play baritone guitar, which this thing is ideal for.  But I also like the portability of the Briefcase.

Any thoughts?  Please don’t say I should ditch the acoustic and get an electric because that ain’t going to happen! I like it’s looks, I adore its sound, and one of my best mates made it for me!

Cheers,

Robbie

1 hour ago, Jus Lukin said:

But it doesn't define it, does it? A perfect fifth would 'define' it as a D major. A sharpened fifth would define it as a D augmented. I could even play an unlikely flattened fifth in that situation, as the D and F# give no definition to the state of the fifth.

I'm not going to keep repeating myself in this thread, but these are all fairly basic bits of music theory and the way chords are structured. By all means ignore it, but to pretend it's not there isn't doing anyone's development any favours.

 

Ask any jazz pianist what notes are important to ‘define’ a D Major chord, and she/ he will say the root and third.  The important notes to define are D Augmented are root, 3rd and fifth, because you have introduced another element to the chord (the augmented bit).  A G7flat5#9 would have as its important notes: B (the major third), F (the 7th), Flat (the flat 5) and Bb/A# (the #9th bit).  Notice you can even leave out the root in this case.  This enables the pianist to even substitute this chord for another.  So, I go back to my original comment, for a D Major chord, the only two notes needed to define it as D, are D and F#.  Thus, a chord can contain as few as two notes.

Robbie

Guys, if I play a D on my bass, then add an F#, I am playing a D chord.  If defines the harmony at that point.  It has the root and the third, which is all you need to define a chord really.

2 is the minimum

You should try Josh Clarke at Get Real Audio.  He’s based in Bath, but has a wealth of experience sound engineering for some top name folk bands.  If he can’t do it, or is too expensive try getting in contact with Dan Thomason at the Wiltshire Music Centre.  He is their in house engineer, and again very experienced working with classical, folk and world music musicians.

Here is Josh’s website anyway

http://www.getrealaudio.com/

Robbie

p.s failing those two, message me and I will put you in touch with another friend of mine whose band plays at the Old Duke.  He might be able to lend you their engineer for the gig.

I love Radiohead, don’t get me wrong, but, isn’t it a case of pot, kettle and black?  I mean, Radiohead totally knicked Nirvana’s most famous riff for their song “Just”.

Edit: having just listened to Lana Del Ray’s song you can see Radiohead’s point. They are strikingly similar.

Anything electric- guitar, bass or otherwise.  I pick up an electric guitar these days and it’s alien to me.

Robbie

4 hours ago, casapete said:

Just found this - anyone on here seen / tried one? All ply construction, carbon fibre reinforced neck / short scale etc.

https://www.tonkbros.com/collections/short-scale-acoustic-basses/products/tonk-bros-parlour-bass-guitar-trashed-black

Made in UK, retail for £499.

Um, not sure about that headstock, Spacing seems a bit tight.

Has anyone come across Buzzards Field ukulele basses, based in Trowbridge?

https://www.buzzardsfieldukuleles.co.uk/

They seem unique in that basically they are made from very cheap “donor”  classical guitars, and he then creates a kit to turn it into a U bass.  The banjo bass looks pretty funky.  

A member of my band has one of his early “models”.  Being based on a short scale classical, these are longer scale than most u basses, and work a little better in my view.  Mind you, I still hate those silicone strings with a vengeance!

19 hours ago, gjones said:

 

I remember watching a similar video, of Led Zep having to watch an excruciating performance of Stairway To Heaven, by the girls from Heart and a hundred piece gospel choir.

Nonsense, that video was amazing, far more musicianship than was on display from JF.

Strange out of all the wonderful police and sting songs they could have chosen, they choose the one about stalking 

Wow, how to murder a song.  That was truly awful!!

Ok, here are two more pictures.

You can see that I had to swap the original Schaller Da Vinci’s, for much better Hipshot ultralites, and tying in with the black trim theme a bit more.

Currently strung with La Bella Gold tape wounds, but would love to try some of the new GHS pressure wound phosphorus bronze, as I do miss the sound of PBS a little, but can’t stand the noise of my (very short) nails scraping on them, and when moving up and down the strings.

One thing to note Trevor is that the Otter bass was always based on the Tamar shape.  My Lowman uses a body size more akin to their giant Okement shape.  I think it works much more as an acoustic as a result.

Just wanted to add as well that this instrument is quite capable of keeping up with 6 other mandolins in my band.  However, I do use a Phil Jones Briefcase.  I love this amp because it is loud enough to turn up but still sound like the sound is coming from my bass.  Its difficult to describe what I mean, but before I bought this I very briefly had an AER Amp One.  When I plugged into this, the amp was just too loud and powerful, and it was obvious that although I had an acoustic bass in my hand, the sound was coming from the big black box. With the briefcase, I can place it beside me, turn it up so that myself and the rest of the band can hear me, and still feel like the sound is emanating form the sound hole of my bass.  I often wonder whether its the smaller speakers of the Briefcase that help it integrate into the acoustic sound more easily?

Just want to chip in hear to tell you about my acoustic bass, a custom Brook bass, handmade in Devon by three guys, using all traditional methods.

It is called a Lowman.  All Brook guitars are named after rivers, so I was delighted to discover there was a river Loman to name my custom bass after.  It is based on the body shape and size of a Gibson J200.

It has a Engelmann bear claw spruce top, bubinga back and sides, and walnut neck.  

This is what she sounds like, having just recorded this bass trio today.  The tune is a Gordon Duncan bagpipe tune (I am who folk musician who also plays guitar and mandolin.  I have arranged several celtic tunes for solo bass)

Sorry, don’t know how to embed this in the post

Acoustic basses are great fun, and my reasons for owning one are many.  I like the way they look, especially with other acoustic instrument, they sound more ‘alive’ than electric basses, and their acoustic nature lets you ‘feel’ the music more, if you know what I mean.

Robbie

What about an actual aclassical guitar bass?

http://www.stollguitars.de/en/portfolio/classic-bass-nylon-strings-75-cm-scale-length/

Personally, I use a custom acoustic bass, 4 string, 34” scale, made by Brook.  I can play a couple of Bach pieces on it, but my experience with it tells that if ordering a guitar purely for classical and finger style stuff, I would go with a cutaway, and 5 Strings E to C, so that I have that extra string for melodies. 

Robbie