Well I've stopped dithering, I now own an EUB

[warwickhunt]

I've faffed on for the last couple of years over whether to get an EUB, visiting this section of BC to glean snippets but as an NS WAV came up locally, I took the plunge!

Until I can find a good book and/or good tutor I'm basically playing it like a vertical electric bass and whilst it suddenly feels like I've never played bass in my life I'm sure things will progress.

I've got to take it to a local guy as it has a small split/crack in the end of the fingerboard (past the 2nd octave) but I'm not sure what sort of action to expect on an EUB... is there a consensus on what a 'normal' (subjective I know) action should be?

Guess I'll be back in this strange section of BC a bit more in the future.

[ezbass]

Does the DB section do pics? Good score on the NS, I've "played" them in stores and they seem very playable. I would love to own a proper DB but the ones I've seen and "played" (really who am I kidding?) have huge actions and I think that'd put me off pretty quickly if it couldn't be adjusted to something less Herculean, I mean I can actually get my hand under there!? So what's the score DB chaps, what's the score on DB actions (acoustic and EUB) me and Warwickhunt want to know?

Keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not just a woos

[endorka]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='805792' date='Apr 14 2010, 10:15 AM']I'm not sure what sort of action to expect on an EUB... is there a consensus on what a 'normal' (subjective I know) action should be?[/quote]

The closer you get the action to that of an acoustic double bass, the more it will sound like an acoustic double bass. A lower action will have a greater propensity to make the instrument sound like a fretless bass guitar. I have a WAV myself and the action as setup from the factory was nowhere near high enough; however, it was quite good to get started on the instrument.

If you want to get a decent jazz pizzicato, the strings will need to be sufficiently high off the fingerboard for the meat on the side of the fingers to get a good purchase. There is a recent thread on talkbass discussing jazz pizz technique;

[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=644444"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=644444[/url]

An ideal action depends on several factors, not least the type of music you play and whether you are playing ampified or not, which is not relevant in this case, but according to Chuck Traeger a good setup would have the G string at 6mm off the end of the fingerboard going to 8mm on the E string, with the others inbetween those. I think my WAV may have had a slight curve upwards towards the end of the fingerboard, which is not common on acoustic double basses, so if yours has this you may have to raise the strings a little higher than those figures.

At one time I recall having the action on my WAV as high as it would go, and it wasn't as high as the double bass I owned at that time!

PS, if you want the instrument to sound like a double bass, always use the "arco" setting, even when playing pizz.

Jennifer

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='endorka' post='805815' date='Apr 14 2010, 10:50 AM']The closer you get the action to that of an acoustic double bass, the more it will sound like an acoustic double bass. A lower action will have a greater propensity to make the instrument sound like a fretless bass guitar. I have a WAV myself and the action as setup from the factory was nowhere near high enough; however, it was quite good to get started on the instrument.

If you want to get a decent jazz pizzicato, the strings will need to be sufficiently high off the fingerboard for the meat on the side of the fingers to get a good purchase. There is a recent thread on talkbass discussing jazz pizz technique;

[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=644444"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=644444[/url]

An ideal action depends on several factors, not least the type of music you play and whether you are playing ampified or not, which is not relevant in this case, but according to Chuck Traeger a good setup would have the G string at 6mm off the end of the fingerboard going to 8mm on the E string, with the others inbetween those. I think my WAV may have had a slight curve upwards towards the end of the fingerboard, which is not common on acoustic double basses, so if yours has this you may have to raise the strings a little higher than those figures.

At one time I recall having the action on my WAV as high as it would go, and it wasn't as high as the double bass I owned at that time!

PS, if you want the instrument to sound like a double bass, always use the "arco" setting, even when playing pizz.

Jennifer[/quote]

Cheers Jen (if I may be so familiar )

Oddly enough there is a turn up at the end of the board, which is 'extra' to what I would expect for the normal relief in the neck; i.e. when I finger the string around the 2nd octave the strings bottom out against the fingerboard. When you discuss 6 - 8mm is that with the bass at rest so to speak and what might one expect the distance from string to 12th fret to fingerboard be if you fretted the string at the 24th fret (Oooops hope using the term 'frets' isn't a major faux pa when discussing uprights )?

Not that it matters I suppose, I should just get on with it!

Cheers

John

[warwickhunt]

Whilst looking through some TB threads I noticed that there was talk of the NS WAV requiring a buffer/preamp and spookily one of the comments that Jennifer made (not stalking you honest ) was that she couldn't tell if she needed one or not because the WAV sounded fine through an amp and I'm finding the same thing. I have a preamp on appro from Warwick which I thought I'd try the WAV into before the power section of my little guitar combo and tbh it just made it sound 'different', as I'd expect a bass to sound different if I plugged it into the preamp rather than the front end of the Tech amp!

So if it sounds OK, not saying brilliant as I have no benchmark to compare, is it worth finding a dedicated acoustic/EUB bass buffer/preamp? Actually I've answered that one myself; if I can find one to borrow locally then I will but I'm not buying one blind!

[endorka]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='805832' date='Apr 14 2010, 11:03 AM']Oddly enough there is a turn up at the end of the board, which is 'extra' to what I would expect for the normal relief in the neck; i.e. when I finger the string around the 2nd octave the strings bottom out against the fingerboard.[/quote]

That's the one. I don't recall playing anything that high for real on the WAV so it hasn't been significant. I suppose it could be planed if it became a problem.

[quote]When you discuss 6 - 8mm is that with the bass at rest so to speak and what might one expect the distance from string to 12th fret to fingerboard be if you fretted the string at the 24th fret (Oooops hope using the term 'frets' isn't a major faux pa when discussing uprights )?[/quote]

These measures are taken without any notes being fingered on the strings - I think the measurement you are speaking of will give you the amount of relief in the neck, which is a different measure.

Re: the preamp issue, in theory it is all due to the impedance of the preamp on your amplifier, which needs to be higher than that required for a bass guitar. It should be at least 1 megohm to get the optimum sound, and my amp, an Eden WT330, meets this requirement. However, I've also obtained good results using the WAV with older amplifies, which probably didn't meet this, such as a Trace Elliot commando, which gave an amazing sound, so YMMV.

As you say, I think experimentation and try before you buy is the best approach.

Jennifer