Apprenti L'Artisan Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Hello, I'm Joe. I look forward to sharing what knowledge I have with everyone on this forum and learning what I can too. A year ago in october, I was given a broken double bass. It was sat in my art classroom and my teacher ignored it, so it sat their gathering dust. After about a year of asking, he said he'd think about giving it to me. I wrote a letter in the place of the bass (my poor wooden heart splits etc etc) and he told me I could have it. So I carried it from one side of town to the other, ducking under doorways when it started to rain. Having spent weeks repairing it, I put a picture on talkbass to see if anyone knew what it was. A lovely guy in America (who is now a good friend) gave me all the parts I needed to fix the bass! I brought it to my local(ish) luthier for a set up, and now it plays great! A couple of weeks later, someone else on talkbass gave me a set of anima strings, which sounded perfect on the bass and were awesome with the bow (I didn't know how to bow then, so my luthier played for me). The strings that my friend in America gave me were great, but they weren't quite what I was looking for at the time. A few weeks ago, someone saw me playing at a gypsy jazz gig, and offered me a prototype tanglewood curbow bass. I defretted it and now I have a killer fretless to go with my first bass. My first bass, I'd been looking in the friday ad for bass guitars, and an Ashton popped up locally for £40. I travelled over to pick it up, and it was in imaculate condition (the stickers were still attached to the tuners!). This was about two years ago. Before the double bass, I was given a Maya jazz bass from the '70s. I was expecting it to be rubbish, but the body was two-pieces of solid ash and in pretty good condition. The neck was broken though and the electronics were a mess. The other day I was offered the parts needed to fix the bass including a new fretless neck. I traded the strings I had on the double bass before (also very generously given to me by the same luthier in America who gave me all the parts for the double bass. What a great chap!) and I'm expecting the parts for the bass by the weekend! Not bass related, but I also draw a lot. I'd been looking for a drawing board, and found a small wooden one on freecycle which I was offered. The lady with the drawing board then emailed me, telling me that someone was offering a full draftsman drawing board for free, so I ended up with a £1000+ drawing board for free too! I'm also studying to become a luthier. The lovely chap in America who helped with the double bass also gave me loads of tools to get started on lutherie, and without him I'd be making much slower progress than I am!!! I've also befriended a guitar luthier, who keeps inviting me round his shop to watch him work and perform small tasks (bending rosette parts etc) and who also gave me a Warwick 5 string body because he'd built his buddy a new body and his friend didn't want anymore!!! I've been wanting a 5 string fretless for ages and now all I need is a neck and some hardware!! Just thought I'd share my story with all of you because it goes to show that their are still nice people out there in this world. I think it's very encouraging. All the best, Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Welcome Joe. A brilliant introduction. Enjoy the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ticktock Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Hello indeed. I hope your journey continues in the same manner it has up until now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Great intro Joe! It would be good to see some pictures of those basses, maybe before-and-after photos of the double bass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apprenti L'Artisan Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 Okey-dokey. Hope the photo links work. [URL=http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Josiah_Goldsmith/media/db1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/db1.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Josiah_Goldsmith/media/3.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/3.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Josiah_Goldsmith/media/2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/2.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1171.photobucket.com/user/Josiah_Goldsmith/media/1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/1.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Not sure where they all went. Here's what I found. The screws were definitely NOT me. I'm gonna replace them with maple dowels when I next have the strings off. It's pretty much done now. The before photo was after I'd cleaned it, so not entirely accurate. It's fully carved, my teacher loves it! Apparently it's 4x times louder than his Paul Bryant and growls beautifully (which I'd definitely agree with). I still need an endpin tip, bow and quiver if anyone has one, but apart from that I'm pretty much set!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Hey Joe, What an amazing stories! Welcome to BC, and enjoy what you find here. best, bert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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