Myke Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Thank you I'm very excited about getting better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Upright is the way forward, people love the stagg at gigs too but it does feel like starting all over again. Have you started looking at double basses yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Not yet no but I fear it won't be long! Picking up my Yamaha afterwards was an interesting experience. I had to readjust my brain to play with two fingers again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 They feel like little toys dont they! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 How many fingers are you using on the stagg then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I feel this is a trick question! Haha Just the index on the my right hand. Is this incorrect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I'm no expert but two fingers (the sides) is the norm afaik, check out the right hand technique lesson from Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Ah! I watched his videos on holding the bass and left hand technique and then I got a bit carried away and started jamming. Need to watch some more, I really like how he teaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Easily the best you tube clips aren't they, I have learnt loads from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 [quote name='Myke' timestamp='1408310035' post='2528935'] I bought one today! Initial impressions are good! Few issues though (as always) the rest on the right that leans against your side hurts my hip. I'm not sure if it's because it's in the wrong place or because I'm too boney but it starts hurting after a while. Also my shoulder really, really aches after about 2mins of playing. Again this could be me being a weakling or because I'm holding my arm too high or what. I've watched the Geoff Chalmers videos with his beginner tips and have adjusted the bass to where he says. In line with the eyebrow while leant against you etc. I don't know but I will stick at it! It's awesome! [/quote] Don't know if you've tried yet, but the rests are quite pliable You can bend them upwards & downwards fairly easily They do take a bit of getting used to.... But the Stagg is a nice enough, reasonably priced bit of kit which doesn't take too much room when folded up in the bag It was my first foray into DB, and it taught me a lot It also gave me some idea about playability of acoustic Db's too and made me more confident to try them out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Did you buy a new or used Stagg? The body supports of the older model (non-screwable) seemed to fit me better than those of the new model. I bended the new support just like the old one but it still feels a bit different. But, as I play mostly sitting down, it is not that much of an issue. By the way, the screw-in fixing is a huge improvement over the old "stick it in and hope it will stay there for a while" fixing in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Mine was a new Stagg But I think the shop had had it in stock for a while The rests seem easy enough to bend upwards or down and I tweaked it to a much more comfortable position I usually remove it for playing when sitting down, but that depends on whether I'm on the sofa, a chair, or a stool... It sounded beautiful on the big stage at Cambridge and I've been tempted to do some mods - but I'll leave it alone now PS. Some people seem to have had issues with the electrics on theirs, but in mine - I left it nearly a year before changing battery! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 As I've got (slightly) more competent on the stagg and the double bass I've noticed the things like the rests less, same as finding the right spot to get the double bass against the knee, I guess it just comes over time. After my last lesson with Jake on my Gedo I have now found the problem of the other rest on the stagg being in the way for the transition into thumb position, I'm not going to be in thumb for a long time but Jake had got me up to F and a practice piece ending on the G both hard on the stagg because of the little rest being too high up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc S Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 Funnily enough, I rarely put the rest on the opposite side As you say, it does seem to get in the way I rarely venture too far up the neck Lol .... probably cos I love the rich, lower notes (well, that's my excuse) Someone else might find the rest useful, and not so cumbersome, of course..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 So far I have found the G string side rest very useful.... for putting the bass in a corner! It then rests on both rests preventing the head to contact the wall. But I doubt it that this was what Stagg intended... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 It is handy for keeping hold of the thing when drunken punters are around, and as Erik says for making it sit in the corner too, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urban Bassman Posted August 19, 2014 Share Posted August 19, 2014 [quote name='Erik' timestamp='1408458418' post='2530376'] So far I have found the G string side rest very useful.... for putting the bass in a corner! It then rests on both rests preventing the head to contact the wall. But I doubt it that this was what Stagg intended... [/quote] That's what I do with mine! Must say that I've had mine for three months now and whilst it's been tough on the left hand getting to grips with it I'm loving it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Yesterday I noticed that when bowing my Stagg the volume on the lower two strings was considerably lower than on the upper strings. When playing pizzicato there is no difference in volume/balance. I tried tweaking all settings on my amp but to avail. Has anybody experienced this? Any ideas on the cause? I have not tried tweaking the piezo potmeters but as the sound is nicely balanced pizzicato I wonder if these are the cause. The Stagg has Evah Pirazzi Weich strings just as on my real double bass and almost the same string length. On the DB they give me no trouble in volume/balance whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardg1952 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Had mine for a couple of months and love it. My background is guitar so I'm finding this an exciting challenge. Does anyone know of a schematic for the Stagg? Finally tried the mp3 aux in an it's ridiculously noisy. Way worse then the bit of hiss the headphones alone produce. Mine is a used deluxe. Anyone else experience this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 My headphone and line in is a bit noisy too, I never use it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Welcome to the forum though, Geoff from discover double bass lessons on you tube is a member here and his lessons are well worth a watch if like many of us you are getting to grips with upright, in fact I think most players would learn something from them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richardg1952 Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 (edited) Isolated my mp3 in audio noise a bit further. The audio is fine using my phone headphone out. The problem is when I use my laptop headphone out jack. The noise is terrible. I hear no issue when I have headphones plugged into the laptop. I have Band-in-a-Box that I want to use for practicing, but until I can find a way to clean up the signal the best I've been able to do is connect earbuds to the Stagg and then wear can headphones over those connected to the laptop. Irksome. Update: Found an old USB C-Media audio dongle that I had laying around. It seems to work just fine, so I'm running through that instead of the laptop's built-in audio. No more double layered headphones. Edited September 5, 2014 by richardg1952 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 [quote name='Mateybass' timestamp='1389150672' post='2330702'] Yes, most definitely. It's all about pressure on to those piezo elements. The more the better, but too much and they choke... probably why early bridges had the channel cut into the foot. If the bridge is resting on the body then there is less force directly on the piezo. It shouldn't be wobbly inside the socket, but it shouldn't be so tight it is being partially suspended over the piezo element. Also, check the upper bridge is free to slide up and down on the metal threaded adjuster posts. Any resistance here also means you're not getting the full available pressure being transmitted through the bridge to the piezo. Again, not too slack, but not too sticky either. The bridge should be free to move when you adjust the thumbwheels by a quarter turn. The density of the wood grain of the stock bridge isn't fantastic, so the less of the jelly wood the vibrations have to travel through, the better the sound will be. Applying simple physics principles means that if your metal threaded poles are not screwed all the way down into the lower portion of the bridge, then the vibrations are not reaching the foot of the lower bridge as efficiently as they might. The upper bridge rests on the thumbwheels and this is the start point of travel of those vibrations down to the piezo element. If they then go through the metal threaded posts and into the body of the lower bridge, you are introducing a resistance path for the vibrations. If they are screwed all the way down to the bottom of the foot (but not so tight they poke through) then the path only has a small part of the less-dense wood to go through before reaching the piezo. Similarly, if anyone is experimenting with making their own upper bridge (the bit the strings sit on) I would have thought that a rounded bottom would give a better vibration transmission than a flat one, since the thumbwheels would have to be dead equal for the bridge to be sat flat ontop of the thumbwheels. If you make the flat with a round bottom instead, then there is no problem with the angle of the bridge where it rests on the thumbwheels.. If anyone has the woodworking skils to try this, I'd be interested to know the difference. At the very least, a direct copy of the upper and lower bridge in a harder wood will have benefits on vibration transmission regardless, and differing wood grains or types will transmit different tones from the strings. [/quote] So last night I finally got around to dealing with the tight bridge. I sanded off all the horrible black coating which revealed that the bridge itself is a rather rough and ready affair with lots of high and low spots covered in that thick black goo of a paint. I also noticed that the screw posts are only set into the bass of the bridge by about 1/4" and that mine are starting to 'break' out the wood at the top of the holes due to string pressure. Anyway, after reassembly and re-tuning, I didn't notice any improvement in the bass side response, with the E string in particular still sounding a little weedy by comparison to the D & G. So today I've done a little further investigation and by a process of elimination, I've managed to confirm that the bass side transducer is producing no output. To prove this, I swapped the transducer wires on the preamp board in various combinations which showed that both 'sides' of the preamp board are functioning correctly, but that the bass side transducer is kaput. I've fired an email off to my local Stagg dealer but in the meantime, does anyone know whether replacement transducers are available from Stagg? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 People who had trouble with the early pre amps had a good service from stagg with most of them sent out a whole electronic unit with questions asked so hopefully they will look after you, at least you know what it is now, that's half the battle won Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsat34 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I Bow mine and its actually not too bad, The gap on the strings is tighter but its possible and you sorta getta muscle memory in changing the bow angle - I just practiced open dtring for a while. As for sound, I found out when having a lesson, that turning up the bass boost works with the bow (not much use wither finger style, though) and a final thought, the noisy electronics seem to be affected buy energy saving light bulbs..........as you move away the noise reduces...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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