philparker

Congratulations! I miss my Eminence RN4, although I never had to remove the neck it still fit in a normal estate car with half the band gear - great instrument!

Excellent work - I love those bass lines!

I mostly pluck the G String, but then again...

Hey, congratulations, it looks good and now that it's well set up that's a pretty good price for approx £1k and much more suitable for festivals than your 4/4!

It would be cheaper to drive to Frome and get Martin Penning to sort it out properly for you?

Thanks, I will check that out!

Ok, I'm certainly not a specialist, but this one would depend on how much time you had to view or study the music in the first instance. I've just had to sight read some music at a similar tempo on the theme for Superman (don't laugh, it sounds good). What I try and do, and I will get picked up if I don't, is play it as written, just use short bows. Our conductor doesn't miss a thing and if I play legato when not written I will get picked up. If I'm not capable of playing it, I may play legato and tell the conductor it was too fast and I will practise it later!

Three more dates for those further afield - I don't have all the details yet, but can get hold of them if anyone is interested: Sunday 18 March Green Hammerton Village Hall, York Saturday 21 April Appley Bridge Village Hall, Wigan Sunday 22 April High Lane Village Hall, Stockport Details and enquiries at this website: http://www.recitalmusic.net/spweb/content.php?contentid=392

For your diary - for those interested and those who can make it: Saturday 17 February 2018 Wolvercote Village Hall (Oxford, UK) Double Bass Workshop directed by David Heyes. Sunday 18 February 2018 Trumpington Village Hall (Cambridge, UK) Double Bass Workshop directed by David Heyes Sunday 15 April 2018 Purcell School (Bushey, Herts, UK) London Basses Workshop directed by David Heyes & Eloise Riddel 17-19 August 2018 BASS-FEST 2018 St John’s Community Halls, Broadbridge Heath (West Sussex, UK) Directed by David Heyes (UK) with Mette Hanskov (Denmark), Simón García (tbc) & Lucy Keller (UK) 22-23 September 2018 WELLS DOUBLE BASS WEEKEND Wells Cathedral School (Wells, Somerset, UK) Directed by David Heyes (UK) with Gabriele Ragghianti (Italy), Emma Sullivan (Australia) & May Halyburton (Scotland). Sponsored by Recital Music and Martin Penning (www.mpenning-luthier.co.uk)

A bow can be difficult to recommend, rather like a bicycle saddle - what suits one may not suit another. However, a good second-hand Pernambuco bow can sometimes be bought from eBay for a reasonable price. I got lucky, paying about £300 for a bow that may have cost the original owner £1k 20 years ago and it suits me well enough to stop saving for that £2k - £3k (second hand) bow! If you can attend a workshop or mass event with other DB players (a bass bash?) that may be a good place to start trying others' bows.

Always measure from the end of the fingerboard to the underside of the string. Under the E string, I would say that 13 mm is on the high side (depending on what style you play) and 8 mm is on the low side. Under the G - 9 MM is on the high side; 5 mm is on the low side. There are lots of variables on preference and playing side so please don't quote me or this as the definitive.

The next time there is a Wells Bass Workshop, I will place a post with details in this forum.

Some of David Heyes' students are just unbelievably good and very technical - he is a world class educator. I recently had a lesson with Simon Garcia at one of David's workshops, he is a great guy and a fantastic player. It should be a good event - I'm certainly humbled by the young musicians today!

That's a damn, fine idea, Brother Malvis!

Great looking bass - I love the figuring on the back!

[quote name='6feet7' timestamp='1504003057' post='3362008'] I've seen a couple of double bass ebony boards going for sale on eBay for less than £100. Would it be worth looking at getting one of them fitted? [/quote] I was quoted £450 for a new ebony board to be flitted, I don't know what the cost of the new board was, but as suggested above £100 is a good price and if you can get it fitted for about £200 and set up it would still be money well spent. When I bought my first DB the action was very high and hampered my progress - once I got it set up properly it was a joy to play. I spent at least £500 on that bass and I have spent almost the same on my current DB and I still consider it to be money well spent.

Yes, totally agree, that's what I'm doing most of the time; what I meant by 'full advantage' was that if I was an intermediate piano player I could follow/replicate some of her other piano-based lessons. I've been following other good lessons on chord structure and despite being an educated and graded musician on guitar and DB it makes so much more sense when laid out bare on a piano keyboard!

I've recently started piano lessons, to improve my overall musicality especially with harmony & chord structure, and Amy Nolte is one that caught my eye, not just because she is good looking with personality, but as the OP says - she knows her stuff. Unfortunately, I'm too much of a piano novice just now to take full advantage of her sage advice!