NickA

Anyone teach slapping? Right hand technique ( decent pizz, let alone slap) is a mystery to most classically oriented bass teachers. Being a classical and mainstream jazzer ..It's not something I'd ever wanted to do ( tho I admire the skill of some people who do it) but was in a big band playing Mingus' music this year and the parts were sometimes marked "slapped". Well I tried but with highish tension strings it didn't work well. Back in the day there were no amps, strings were gut and most of the players had to slap to be heard ... by the late 50s it was applied ironically or nostalgically, but those guys could do it. Dying art?

Only 2 of my electric basses ( and an acoustic bass and a viola da gamba) have those. I find they make things more difficult tbh. We are!!! Don't go!!!

I play electric bass one finger one fret as I can reach..though 1 2 4 would be more comfortable in lower positions. I play the double bass 124 with some back and forth extensions. Really, they are quite different instruments with different techniques. The only thing in common is the tuning of the strings. Technique does matter if you want to expand what you play. Lack of technique or a personally derived technique will likely limit you. It sounds tedious and snobby, I know, and there's a lass in my town who plays in "Americana" bands by just clamping her whole hand around the neck at a root note..then up a string for a 4th, down a string for a 5th.works ok .but she's kind of stuck playing only that style. Nb: that very nice " realist sound clip " pickup whilst excellent for jazz and for classical players wanting occasional amplification....probably not what you want for rockabilly. Stick it up for sale and put proceeds towards that shadow system probably.

Great strings. Awful! Actually they sound ok, bit brassy but solid fundamentals. They just take ages to start sounding, the bow kind of skates over them. You can bow them if you have to but they're not really intended for it.

That pickup is £300+ worth. Go for it, but factor in a new bridge and probably a decent set of strings down the line ( another £250 ) It won't get you in the LSO but decent to learn on. Nb: my own bass (£10k worth of antique German timber) has a fingerboard bevel. You don't need it but it's pretty harmless and I've never needed to get it altered - they were for bowing with floppy gut strings.

Probably as useful and the amp will appreciate it 🙂

Portable Appliance Test. Hence PAT test is, like PIN number, a misnomer. but everyone says it. Checks electrical equipment that's connected to mains to ensure no-one will get a belt off it ...in theory. The test...Checks the plug earth pin is connected to any exposed metalwork and checks there is no leakage from live or neutral to ground. Venues and health and safety oiks think it makes electrical kit safe to use and that it's lethal otherwise. I have a PAT machine and a roll of stickers and a log book of stuff tested. Easily done, I'm m not convinced it's worth the fuss but easier to do it than convince a health a safety oik that it's a waste of time.

A Shout out for bassbags simply as they are local and have always been helpful for me ..and also my local emergency luthiers.. and they do get a discount and do pass some of it on. For a set of Eva's, I didn't find anywhere cheaper. But Amazon and eBay do indeed throw up all kinds of occasional bargains. Big question is...do you really need guts, and all their expense and inconveniences, when synthetics are so very good these days. Personally I like steel wound steel rope core strings best for pizz ..but the rest of my orchestra would rather I didn't 😂.

Not sure I've ever seen such abysmal repair work. Having recently had far less serious renovation done on an old cello and a new neck on my bass ..you're probably talking £5000 or more to bring it up to scratch, more still to fix the cosmetics. Taking the front off is major and expensive work..... and is that a crack in the heel of the neck? Might be possible to pin it, might need a new neck.. and that's £4k or so straight away. But, nice wood and a pretty shape. I'm guessing German factory bass late 1800s, fully done up it "could" be worth £10k in a sales room ( IE you won't sell it for that, but a dealer might), but maybe only half that.

Yes, they are made of unicorn intestines, hand wound by Bavarian nuns, high in the alps. I think they were originally aimed at pro level classical soloists playing basses that cost £50k+ . A louder and more projecting sound than eudoxas. Not sure about pro double bass players these days, but cellists seem to have given up on them and switched to steel and tungsten ( Larsen and thomastik) which are cheaper, stay in tune and last forever... and sound very good. Even pirastro recommend using Eva Ps for the A and E rather than olives across the board.

😂😂😂. Personally I dislike playing through a pa only as I want the sound of my bass to be near me and come from close to where the bass is. When PA is a must I still use my little pjb combo and di out of that. Realist pickup, rarely have feedback issues....then again pub &club not stadium volumes.

Groundbreaking that was. Up to then Synth players had been using guitar amps ... now all my keyboardy friends use ...guitar amps.

True, a local player who subs for my orchestra has a 5 string one. Huge fat round bottom end 🙂 phwoar. A sound I really like. A lot of fine "classical" oriented basses sound to me like big cellos, which doesn't float my boat. However the T&G may not work so well for jazz. I'd ask for a try, but pretty sure it has those "bowing only" strings on.

Mahler and Elgar (amongst others) didn't seem to know the normal range of a double bass 😂. I doubt extensions existed back then either. I've had to retune to DADG or CGDG on occasion ..a friend has a BEADG 5 string which is the best way to go. Extensions are awkward and ugly imo. No fan of Mahler anyway. But T&G Martin make some lovely basses ..if yr loaded enough.

Made by political prisoners in China perhaps?

Deliberately "punchy" according to David Gage. Whereas I'm using a realist sound clip, which you move around the bridge, pad with cycle inner tube and mess with counterweights till it sounds right.

Rarely touch the eq on my pjb rig. Maybe tweak the bass for room acoustics. My old trace certainly needed a big smile on it tho. Guess the trace was designed to sound impressive and the pjb to be flat response.

Really? Interesting. My cobra was black and white. Had to upgrade to a gp12smx to get the green glow.

Avoid cheap fibre glass or "composite" bows, basic wood bows ok, carbon bows around £1k probably beat wooden bows at the same price point. The very very best bows are probably wood, but you're talking £3k+. There's a Hobgoblin in Edinburgh that have a few bass bows, but it does seem a bit of a bass desert. Caswells or Bowspeed will send you a box of bows to try out. Tell them your budget and they'll work out a selection for you. Go 4/4 bow length unless you have very short arms. Bow length unrelated to bass length and you can always use more length.. " I always think playing with a bow is like making love to a beautiful woman; first you get out your stick, admire the wood and give it a gentle polish .........etc etc" 😂 Can't speak for teachers, I only ever had two bass lessons, but was taught the cello at an early age ... which helped

Carlsbro in trace clothing. Always sounds better with a green front panel 🙂

I guess this is one reason the bass room is comparatively cheap; with most dealers you agree a price including all the things you want done; that ticket price should include making everything "perfect". I got lucky in that the people I bought my bass from recognised I knew nothing, took pity, told me what I needed, and included it in the asking price. However, if as Philparker says, the bass rooms proprietor is a top bass restorer and builder ..then surely you just have to talk to them when buying a bass. Bass Bags, whilst always friendly and helpful are not really "top luthiers" ( I've never found out who actually does the work), so when I broke my bass I took it elsewhere.

Do let us know if it works. Did my last gig with my right index finger super glued together 😂

Fantastic. Love a bass project. My 1890s German bass had the same neck damage (it fell over). Also had ( mysteriously) some big brass screws holding the neck to the dovetale bit at the bottom. New neck, inc grafting the original scroll onto it, cost ( the insurance) £4000! Great to see someone doing a DIY .