Cairobill

Hear hear, My old Nash (which is the one that stacker now has?) is a beautiful sounding j bass. I also had a T63 which I had to sell, the teles are exceptional guitars, especially with lollars on them! Price wise that's not too bad esp. as the euro is going down hill. Almost equivalent to buying it from the states given the guff you have to deal with getting it into the uk. N

I have a bravewood bass (fretless 62 jbass) which is the most amazing thing. Someone was asking about growly jazz basses on BC the other day. I never knew what growl was on a j bass until I played the bravewood. I think the vintage wound bareknuckles have a lot to do with it...this bass really growls...

Scott Colley is a fantastic bassist...love his stuff...

Could you part-ex your EUB for an acoustic? I would strongly recommend learning to play upright on an acoustic. The EUB is a cool thing but is quite a different instrument to an acoustic bass, especially in terms of developing the technique required to get a good sound out of it. Nick

I've just started seriously playing arco on the Bryant and it really is the most beautiful sounding thing. Playability wise mine is set up at a good balance point for playability and sound projection, medium action. It's very playable but it has enough action to dig in while playing pizz. I did roadtest a huge flatback loaner orchestral bass that Bryant had in the shop before I got my solobass. It was enormous and sounded equally as huge. It was much more of a handful though - the solobass is much smaller and the shoulders are reduced/sloped to give easier access to thumb position. I'll get some good recordings done soon and post a review - there aren't many around and people seem to be very interested in what they sound like compared to simliarly priced basses. I can't imagine ever needing a better (i.e. more expensive) bass, the Bryant has a great sound... CB [quote name='gerryk' post='767979' date='Mar 8 2010, 01:57 PM']Hi Geoff I have a lovely Bryant orchestral model. I can highly recommend these basses. A friend of mine who works with orchestras a lot, as well as swing bands and various other genres put me on to them - he has 2 of them, and other bassists in the orchestras rate the Bryant well above the price - nearer three times in fact! That having been said, I recently brought my bass to a guy in Galway (yeah I know, a bit of a treck for yourself) for repair, and he loaned me a Chinese bass priced at €1800 to use while I waited on mine to be done. The bass blew me away, and I almost decided to buy it for gigging situations where I wouldn't want to put Bryant in the firing line!. He sets them up himself, and really gets every last ounce of quality out of the instrument, with excellent playability that really left the Bryant feeling like a monster after getting used to the silky action on the Chinese one. The Bryant is optimised for arco, with highish action and no adjustable bridge, and to be honest, the bow showed the shortcomings of the Chinese one compared to the Bryant. In any event, I'm really suggesting that you check out some of these cheaper basses, as they can surprise. If you're interested in contacting the luthier I refer to, I can send you on contact info. His name is Tom Barrett, and he only spends 6 months in Ireland before returning to States each year (in may I think). he likes to clear his stock before returning, so you might get a good deal in April... Cheers, and happy hunting, GerryK[/quote]

Just noticed that you mentioned Bryant already...must read posts all the way through before posting His basses are very interesting, primarily because he builds each one from the ground up rather than finishes off parts that he buys in. It's simply amazing that he sells them for such low prices. Very nice guy too - his basses have a lot of character... N [quote name='geoffbassist' post='767025' date='Mar 7 2010, 04:38 PM']Hi nick. Yeh they are great instruments at fantastic prices. I was there last week and tried them. All really great but he's finishing off a nice roundback which I'm hoping to take on trial. I've previously played a Bryant solo and was very impressed. Thanks for your reply cheers geoff :-)[/quote]

I've got a Paul Bryant and it's magnificent. Very punchy, rich and dark tone. Not super loud (mine is the solobass model with a slightly reduced body size. I have played others of his and they sounded huge) but a great sound. They cost a bit (4.5 to 6K?) but it's handmade in England by a single luthier. Lots of orchestral players use them as second basses... I had mine up for sale during a moment of madness but soon thought the better of it...they are veeeery sweet... Check his stuff out here... [url="http://www.bryantbasses.com/"]http://www.bryantbasses.com/[/url] Nick