lockpicker1969 Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 Hi I have been looking at the above ¾ double bass but am after some advice from the forum before I commit to buy it. I am buying mainly to learn how to play rockabilly and slap. Would this bass be the right one for me? When or if I get good enough would this be suitable /loud enough to play with a band on stage? If not what sort of pickup would I need. At the moment it has steel strings on and the action seems really high. How easy is it to lower the action, can it be done by myself? Are the strings ok for rockabilly. I have seen strings for £100 wow I cant believe they are this expensive. How long do they last? If all these questions have been asked before I apologize in advance. As you can probably tell I know zilch about double basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 It would be fine for slap playing. Lowering the string height is a job best done by a luthier unless you're very handy yourself - it involves re-shaping the bridge and the feet need to make good, even contact with the body. As for strings, steels are usually too high tension for slap playing although the psychobilly guys often buy solo tuning sets (designed to be tuned a tone higher) and then tune them down to regular orchestral tuning, reducing the tension that way but keeping the bright attack of steel strings. Alternatively you might want to look at Innovation's Silver Slaps which sound more like gut strings and are very low tension, and fairly cheap too - about £80 a set. They would be a good choice for a more traditional '50s rock and roll sound. Stage volume: You would need a piezo pickup. K&K do a rockabilly pickup which would be worth looking at, with a separate transducer to mount under the fingerboard to pick up the slap 'click'. Depending on what sort of amp you've got you might also need a double bass preamp to bring the super-high impedance of the piezo down to suit the input of your amp. These preamps often also have features to help reduce feedback, so they're good to have anyway if you're having to keep up with drums and electric guitar. Expect to spend £200+ for a pickup and preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockpicker1969 Posted January 26, 2012 Author Share Posted January 26, 2012 [font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]Thanks for the quick reply[/color][/size][/font] [font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]I had a quick fumble with it yesterday and i was quite disappointed with the volume. I thought with such a big body it would have been a lot louder , thats why i mentioned the pick up thing first.i remember seeing a trio play onstage and the db player wasn’t amped up, and he was loud enough. Recon he had a different db?[/color][/size][/font] [font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"]The guy has said it will need setting up right, he said he might take some varnish off to make it louder.is this right? Also the feet were not touching the body right and the fingerboard wasn’t as smooth as i expected .maybe my hands were sweating or maybe i need to get used to the thickness of the neck compared to my eb i don’t know [/color][/size][/font] [font="Calibri"][size="3"][color="#000000"] [/color][/size][/font] [size="3"][color="#000000"][font="Calibri"]Is this db better than the [/font]Primavera 3/4 Rockabilly Double Bass. I wanna try make sure I buy the right db first time[/color][/size] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 (edited) Basses around that price point are all fairly similar in quality. They can be improved with a good setup but of course that's another expense. On cheap basses it's usually an inevitable (and worthwhile) expense because the low price point of the bass means it was never set up properly in the first place. As for taking off the finish to make it louder, well that might have an effect but given that the acoustic volume of a bass is a function of its construction and materials (including strings, bridge setup and so on) it might be worth considering what proportion of the bass is varnish and how structural is that varnish coat? Fitting the bridge properly and perhaps adjusting the sound post position would have a much greater effect and require a lot less labour. To be honest I wouldn't worry too much about acoustic volume because you will almost certainly need to amplify any bass that you're using in an amplified band, and it would be a better idea to find a bass that is playable, sounds good, and is in good condition and then simply amplify it when necessary rather than spending a long time looking for an especially loud bass. Edited January 26, 2012 by thisnameistaken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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