Archer "Professional" double bass

[fatgoogle]

Oh yea if the compnay can send them they can do it fairly cheapo, The String Emporium told me they could ship me a bass for $250. I dont know. Were did you order youre double bass. ^

[velvetkevorkian]

I got mine from [url="http://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/1408-AULLYY_AVVDDBBLLAAIINNBASS.html"]Bob Gollihur[/url]. He has an excellent reputation on TalkBass, and his service was pretty good, despite some cock ups at the factory.

[OutToPlayJazz]

The Thomann DB I was mentioning is the fully carved Romanian one. Search under "Thomann Kontrabass 44 4/4."

[fatgoogle]

Ah ok, Youd think the price difference might lead to alot more bass, maybe not.
Ive been looking at the 33 or 22 3\4 depending on funds.

A comparison would still be greaty though. Do you play in an orchestra? Its really the only reason i need a better one to an extent.

[OutToPlayJazz]

Yes, I do some orchestral work still these days - Mainly operas, shows & big band jobs for DB, though. I'd save a little more and get the fully carved 44 model if I were you. It looks really good value. I'll order the Hora in a few weeks and we'll see how it shapes up to the mighty Archer...

[27 frets]

[quote name='fatgoogle' post='761913' date='Mar 2 2010, 03:44 PM']You reptty much cant ship a double bass, i was going to get a gear4music for my first double bass, but they dont ship to ireland so i thought ill have it sent to my aunty in london and ship it across from their.
A whole day on the phones to couriers,
750 was the cheapest i could find to have it shipped across.

Theirs not much over here im afraid.[/quote]
It's worth looking at the solid body basses from Gedo Musik on eBay, cost around £1500, made in Czech Republic, but finished in their own workshop in
Germany including full set-up, and a decent ebony fingerboard (adjustable bridge, better strings etc would be available at additional cost).

Not sure what the shipping would be to Ireland, but it's around £80 to the UK. Mine arrived in about 5 days, (with option of return if not satisfaied).

Nicely carved 4/4 size bass, nice wood - I can post pics if anyone is interested.

[Greydad]

[quote name='27 frets' post='762055' date='Mar 2 2010, 06:10 PM']Nicely carved 4/4 size bass, nice wood - I can post pics if anyone is interested.[/quote]

Yes please, please post pics.

I looked at all of these but was unwilling to take a chance on buying one sight unseen. All of this is useful input for possible future purchases when upgrades become a possibility...

[fatback]

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='761932' date='Mar 2 2010, 04:06 PM']I got mine from [url="http://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/1408-AULLYY_AVVDDBBLLAAIINNBASS.html"]Bob Gollihur[/url]. He has an excellent reputation on TalkBass, and his service was pretty good, despite some cock ups at the factory.[/quote]


Interesting to know. Did you have to wait long for delivery?

[velvetkevorkian]

The short answer is yes- they build to order unless you order one Bob has in stock. Can't recall how long I was originally quoted (a few months anyway) but it was getting to the end of that period and I emailed Bob asking for an update, and it turned out the factory hadn't started the order for some reason, so it was put back another couple of months IIRC. Not a major issue for me anyway.

[27 frets]

[quote name='Greydad' post='763522' date='Mar 4 2010, 12:03 AM']Yes please, please post pics.

I looked at all of these but was unwilling to take a chance on buying one sight unseen. All of this is useful input for possible future purchases when upgrades become a possibility...[/quote]
OK - Here's some pics of the Gedo Musik 4/4 solid wood bass (furteher comments about this in a previous post on this thread). This one I bought last year was described as 'selected wood', as they also do basses which are slightly cheaper, but still solid-bodied, with less flamed sides and top, they also sometimes have 'master quality' double basses which are more expensive (around £2K, as I recall). Not all of the Gedo Musik basses appear on the UK eBay listings, so it's also worth checking on their (German) eBay shop (which you can access via any bass on the UK listings) to see what else they have.
Besides the Czech-built/German-finished DB, the first and last picture also include my Czech 5 string BG, which I picked up in a music shop on a trip to Prague 3 years ago. The BG is definitely a one-off, and this makes a good little and large comparison.
More on the BG at: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=79776"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=79776[/url]

Edited March 5, 2010 by 27 frets

[BigBeatNut]

[quote name='27 frets' post='765462' date='Mar 5 2010, 06:27 PM']OK - Here's some pics of the Gedo Musik 4/4 solid wood bass ...[/quote]
That's a lovely looking bass

[27 frets]

[quote name='BigBeatNut' post='765597' date='Mar 5 2010, 08:43 PM']That's a lovely looking bass [/quote]
Thanks
It's got quite a nice big sound too

[TPJ]

[quote name='27 frets' post='762055' date='Mar 2 2010, 06:10 PM']It's worth looking at the solid body basses from Gedo Musik on eBay, cost around £1500, made in Czech Republic, but finished in their own workshop in
Germany including full set-up, and a decent ebony fingerboard (adjustable bridge, better strings etc would be available at additional cost).

Not sure what the shipping would be to Ireland, but it's around £80 to the UK. Mine arrived in about 5 days, (with option of return if not satisfaied).

Nicely carved 4/4 size bass, nice wood - I can post pics if anyone is interested.[/quote]
Do you have any other links to the website or ebay. [url="http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://gedo-musik.de/cms/produkte.php&prev=/search%3Fq%3DGedo%2BMusik%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhjBHP9vmUK5-QizXmDzB3fWJsGakg"]All I came up with is this.[/url] Be interesting to see their stuff.

[27 frets]

[quote name='TPJ' post='766014' date='Mar 6 2010, 01:17 PM']Do you have any other links to the website or ebay. [url="http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://gedo-musik.de/cms/produkte.php&prev=/search%3Fq%3DGedo%2BMusik%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhjBHP9vmUK5-QizXmDzB3fWJsGakg"]All I came up with is this.[/url] Be interesting to see their stuff.[/quote]
Try this:

[url="http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1313&_nkw=double+bass+solid&_sacat=See-All-Categories"]http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trk...-All-Categories[/url]
and look for the German ones

or [url="http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Gedo-Online-Musikshop_Kontrabasse_W0QQ_fsubZ303384013QQ_sidZ17832723?_nkw=kontrabass+massiv&submit=Search"]http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Gedo-Online-...p;submit=Search[/url]

their non-solid double basses are easily found on www.eBay.co.uk too

[27 frets]

[quote name='TPJ' post='766014' date='Mar 6 2010, 01:17 PM']Do you have any other links to the website or ebay. [url="http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://gedo-musik.de/cms/produkte.php&prev=/search%3Fq%3DGedo%2BMusik%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhjBHP9vmUK5-QizXmDzB3fWJsGakg"]All I came up with is this.[/url] Be interesting to see their stuff.[/quote]
In fact, nearly all the new double basses on www.eBay.co.uk are from Gedo Musik (those labelled 'from Germany'), but they do come in three grades
Here's what I was told last year:
"First of all, we are working as wholesaler since 1964 in Germany and export to more than 70 countries around the globe.
Right, the cheapest one (approx. 450 Pounds) is all laminate construction, but with proper ebony fingerboards the basses are Made in China and Korea - finishing will be made by our own workshop with 3 violin-makers.
We generally use "normal" steel strings and bridges to be fitted by ourselves.
If you have special requests for better grade, etc., we would be glad to have your corresponding disposal.
Basses in the range of Pounds 630-650 are Made in Korea and Czech, same with the bridge, solid spruce top, ebony fingerboard.
The solid stade models are Made in Czech and improved by our workshop. The price of 1500 Pounds is very fair. They are delivered with German fingerboards, good quality strings and Aubert bridge, upon request."
I was very impressed by their service, and you can return the bass if you don't like it.

[hudson_m]

I have recently bought one of these Archer basses as a return to playing after 20 years of not really doing much and after a bit of setting up - bridge height and some working of fingerboard - it now has a decent action. My previous bass was a quite nice French Jacquet School, but I'm not sure yet about this very nice looking (in terms of the wood) bass.

It's fine for pizz work with the supplied strings - they are actually quite nice and smooth sounding, but for arco work its terrible! My guess is that this is most likely the fault of the default strings and that I need to invest in some better ones. After a lot of reading, I am tempted by the D'Addario Hybrids but does anybody really know that this will make the difference I'm after.

Some more info perhaps:

Slow slurred arco is fine - warm even sound across all four strings.

Slow detached arco - also OK but bow attack needs some effort to ensure consistency (& strong left hand)

Fast detached - terrible scratchy noise - strings hardly speak at all! - and this is what I want the bass to be able to do!


As said, I assume I need better strings, but before I fork out the £100+ needed ... can anyone think of anything else I should try setup-wise first?

Mark

Edited February 21, 2011 by hudson_m

[lettsguitars]

nice looking bass. and all for the price of 5 sets of strings. wowser. £120 what are they? like, virgin gut?

[Thurbs]

I have just bought one of these also!

It is at the Luthers having the bridge lowered and the finger board re-shaped as it was buzzing at 1/2 position and the action was crazy high.

I have on my desk some Innovation Honey's which are going on at the same time. When I get it back, I will mic it up and post some samples.

[51m0n]

[quote name='hudson_m' post='1135979' date='Feb 21 2011, 06:54 PM']I have recently bought one of these Archer basses as a return to playing after 20 years of not really doing much and after a bit of setting up - bridge height and some working of fingerboard - it now has a decent action. My previous bass was a quite nice French Jacquet School, but I'm not sure yet about this very nice looking (in terms of the wood) bass.

It's fine for pizz work with the supplied strings - they are actually quite nice and smooth sounding, but for arco work its terrible! My guess is that this is most likely the fault of the default strings and that I need to invest in some better ones. After a lot of reading, I am tempted by the D'Addario Hybrids but does anybody really know that this will make the difference I'm after.

Some more info perhaps:

Slow slurred arco is fine - warm even sound across all four strings.

Slow detached arco - also OK but bow attack needs some effort to ensure consistency (& strong left hand)

Fast detached - terrible scratchy noise - strings hardly speak at all! - and this is what I want the bass to be able to do!


As said, I assume I need better strings, but before I fork out the £100+ needed ... can anyone think of anything else I should try setup-wise first?

Mark[/quote]


I dont know, Plux's bass has the damnably expensive strings on it. Arco is massive though, unbelievable tone and volume, even I can get a nice note out of it (albeit out of tune).

[CalDeep]

Looking at one of these at the moment, and it appears they're now twice the price! 

 

Glad people are getting on with them, it looks like a serious contender