Rabbie

I slap 70% of the time and I play guts. Even when playing pizz I am used to my high action. I could not slap and play with the physicality I like with a 5mm action: it would actually be physically impossible with my size of fingers to get under the strings and pull them up to produce the slap. Volume is also important to me and a low action does sacrifice it. Instrument setup is subjective, I am only offering my experience politely. I am truly sorry if that would have made Ray Brown angry, but I think I will survive the disappointment.

Contender for best reply ever Paul.

Just to play devils advocate here. Fast playing and low action may be great for speed and fingertips, but it may sacrifice a bit on volume, tone and the ability to swing. I play with a rather high action 13-16mm and gut strings. I can't do fast and flash with my setup, but I will be heard on the moon, amp or not. This power actually helps me swing, allows me to slap and leaves me no shortage of gigs. If I don't need to be loud, I can just play softer, the fingers have the scope to control your sound. All I'm saying is that it may come the time when you get a gig which requires these characteristics and having a very low action will preclude you from it. In short, as very well advised above, at least get yourself some good adjusters which leave you a good bit of room at either end of a "standard" action. Hopefully I have made some sense.

I would start by keeping money in your pocket and playing as much as you can, getting a couple of lessons to avoid potentially dangerous bad habits, listening to A LOT of music featuring DB in all sort of genres, and finally reading A LOT about the double bass: books, forums, watch YouTube videos etc. Do that for a few months, then, when you know how you should sound like, let the string bug commence. Hopefully this way you will find YOUR sound without having to talk to the bank manager. And especially you will fall and stay in love with the double bass forever.

+ 1 for the bass wheel for me. I don't have one but I have seen one in a website like Golihur or Thomann or similar and it looked brilliant for pushing your bass along the city pavements whilst in a soft bag. I am sure that an Eminence bass or similar would satisfy your needs but they would cost you all the money of your DB sale and then you'll miss your sound IMO.

As beer of the bass pointed out already, check also the height at nut, which makes a huge difference to how your fingers perceive the ease of playing. My advice is not to lower the action at bridge too much as otherwise you will have a wimpy acoustic sound and too much unwanted string clatter on pizzicato, plus a total inability to play slap if you ever felt the need.

Looks like the TSA employees' heads are just as empty as Patitucci's bass...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1401658827' post='2465666'] For those too far away, maybe a big-screen 'Skype' session could be incorporated..? I organised last year a bash in France and did a 'live' web-cast, which was watched in several countries; with the current version of 'Skype', it could be interactive..! Just an idea. [/quote] Excellent idea

Good on ya sir. For me there is no other string but Gut. Yet I do understand the predicament of those who bow a lot.

Try the eq first. I used to have an underwood and a shuttle 3 and with the settings above I had a great sound (within reason)

The eq you need to scoop to get rid of finger noise and quacks is not the high, it is the mid. Try to forget the preamp, plug in straight int the genz shuttle, keep low and high around 12 o'clock, mid down to 7-8 o'clock and the mid frequency dial turned to taste somewhere between 1-4 o'clock. That should give you a bassy sound. You can the add mids to taste if you want to cut through more. After that, adjust low and high to taste. Scooping mids will also help feedback.

1000% NOT plain gut. But on the positive side, they must be well made because look at how well the taping and especially the windings have lasted in 50 years. Bottom line, do they sound good?

Simple: 1) Blast Cult Low life's strings 2) Mag pickup 3) Crank it up to 11 Done

+ 1 beer of the bass. The bridge will be in its raw form and will require a massive amount of mods to fit to your bass. This is standard luthier work. I'd say save the money, take your bass to a luthier and adapt your current bridge by adding adjusters and have him tweak the action to your requirement.

50 years ago they had no nylon strings. If they look like gut and they are really 50 years old they are gut. Unless whoever gave you them told you a porky (or a genuine wrong info) and gave you a set of weedwackers.

Ps if they look like a taped string they probably are not plain gut. Post a photo, like suggested and you'll soon know

50 years old?!?!? Joke I take it. I'd say a tad of wear and tear is forgivable then. If they are not regularly clipped and oiled, gut strings do fray. I oil mine regularly and they still fray a bit. Guts are also not meant to be put on and off a bass regularly: that process does mangle the windings at peg end. Honestly though: 50 years old??? If they are in pristine condition after that time they may never have been used in which case there will be no fraying, so in theory it is possible. Put bass gut strings in google and look at the images: they should look like yours.

+ 1 to Rev. I do the exact same, although I use different amps whatever is provided as a back line on gig, doesn't matter much to me as it's only used as monitor. I normally just dial out most of the bad mids on the stage bass amp, keep the rest flat and eq the fishman to my liking, which is then also the signal going FOH. If I really can't get to grips with the stage amp, I do go in the effect return as volume is not important when it's only used for monitoring. I ask the engineer not to change the character of that sound and adjust bits and bobs to fit the room. Most of the time it works. If playing a gig with small PA I will take my own amp with one or two cabs and go straight in there (GB shuttle) with no fishman at all. Works for me, so far...

Cancel this please. As I wrote above, Chadwick is superb for customer service already posted replacements. The guy knows how to keep a customer: hats off.

Hello friends, The tuning machines of my folding bass are knackered: possibly a mix of frequent tuning/detuning, age, thick strings and bad luck. I think I am pretty sure they are at the end of their life. Now, what do I change them with? The folding bass is modified by Chadwick but it's a Shen laminate bass, with Shen tuners. Charlie Chadwick is a fantastic guy for customer service and has offered to send me some replacement tuners, but I was wondering if I could save him the trouble of shipping them from US and source the same tuners here or even better, swap them for better quality ones. Does anyone have any knowledge on either where to source Shen tuners or if any other tuners (ie Rubner) would fit with no mods needed?