NickA

It is nice to be made welcome. But once they know you have a double bass, you'll never get to play electric again. Same goes for my clasical playing; no one wants me to bring my cello ( except for a tiny chamber orchestra in a tiny church, where the dB just doesn't fit!)

I got a thing called a ganglion years ago.. hard hemispherical lump near the first joint on my ring finger; calcium buildup on a tendon or something. Had it sugically removed. The doc said it would probably go away, maybe, and sometimes you can squash them away by slamming your hand hard on a table...... .... see a doc and ignore the above "advice". Presume no history of Dupreyens in your family ... as you'd have heard about it. Tends to make your finger bend before any lumps appear ( my wife and mother in law have it). Ps long haul that Messiah, especially the aptly named continuo parts. Need to be fit for that!

Low D! Back before it was made illegal I used to play slap in a funk band, the guitarist for some reason wrote some tunes in D requiring a D slap pedal note. Used to down tune ( then forget to up tune ). Slapping D on a 5 just doesn't sound the same. Sometimes fewer strings works better. But I'm keeping the 5.

Left hand = totally different. The scale is too big for one finger one fret. You need to use 1:2:4 right the way up to first finger on D on the G string, then, usually 1:2:3. Evidently this means more position changes and it's easy to get lost. I think some nxt basses have a little "false heel" on the back of the neck, where the neck of a double bass would join the body. Thumb on that and your first finger will be on a D on the G string. Total godsend. If it's not fitted, fit one. It's perhaps the dullest book on earth, but the Simandl New Method ( it's ancient) is a good foundation for upright bass technique. Also David Heyes "daily exercises for double bass" is a good workout. On the other hand there's a lass in my home town who never got beyond clamping her whole hand around the fingerboard ( bunch o bananas style ) and simply moving her whole hand up and down. She plays in tune, can sing whilst doing it and knows a million bluegrass tunes .... she gets loads more work than me ☹️

Youd think czech-ease would be vat registered, so able to knock off the Czech vat before exporting. And there's no duty to pay on imports from the EU. Hence only UK vat to pay. Though the shipping company has to collect the vat from the importer and charges a fat fee ( plus vat) for doing so. Then the importer has to claim the VAT back again! I was at Tim Bachelor's a few weeks back and he was complaining about all the hassle of eori numbers etc, says brexit has almost killed his import business too. What a total mess. Still, if there is a demand, maybe someone with import export knowledge, VAT registration and a eori number, (bass bags perhaps), could be persuaded to be a UK dealer.

Do you find you're using higher positions on the 5? I can do it if I think it out but still drift back to 1st position on the top 4 strings a lot. On the other hand, found some useful 4 string fingerings I only found through playing the the 5. Must say, the 5 string feels cumbersome after the 4s... but sure it will be worth having if I ever master it.

Phase switch. If only more bass amps had them. My acoustic bass guitar with peizo pickup is a feedback monster, but it has a phase switch that kills it dead. Double bass has a realist sound clamp, feeds back badly if screwed down tightly, but I clamp it to the bridge more lightly, with a bit of bicycle inner tube between bridge and clamp. No feedback.

Ugly as f#£& but Esperanza Spalding and Dave Holland play them ... So who's to argue.

TC unitune as it's cheap and simple. Works well on the bridge of my double bass and finds bottom e and drop tunings to c easily. Also finds the bottom b of my five string electric when clipped to the headstock. Took ages for it to arrive though .. stock shortages.

Maybe comes down to the fact that fenders are basically simple factory made instruments that are easy for anyone to make. So why buy a fender fender. Does make me wonder about Warwick Vs Rockbass. MusicMan Vs Sterling. G&L vs Tribute etc.

Looks awful to me ( only own coffee tables 😉). But yes Squires Vs Fenders ... Played a random squire p in a practice studio once; much nicer feel and sound than the genuine fender jazz they also had. Truly the kind of value that puts real hand made bass makers out of business!

Indeed. My full rig is 12 X 5". Brilliant with a double bass. Wouldnt recommend it for death metal though.

Fender has most zing, but the stingray sounds more interesting. Surely even better slap basses out there though ( Warwick, Status, Modulus)

You could sell it to the bloke who joined my orchestra last week. He had a small 3/4 laminate bass with a dodgy end pin. Last night he lent heavily on the bass and the spike and bottom block disappeared into the bottom of the bass, opening up a gaping split between the back and the ribs. Though he continued through Tchykovsky's 5th without too much trouble. This would be a real upgrade for him at potentially less than the cost of repairing the one he has. Meanwhile I directed him to "thedoublebassrooms" for a browse. But if you list it, I'll point it out to him.

Not a lot! Carved front is good, and looks in decent nick; damaged painted fingerboard, not so much. A new undamaged stentor student is about £1000 and I'm guessing there's no advantage in buying an older one so regardless of work done, it won't be worth more than that. Provided there are no cracks,splits or strange buzzing or rattley noises and on the basis it needs a new bridge which will cost someone £200 or so to get fitted, maybe £400? The need for any major work eg taking the front off, would probably make it a write it off as the work would cost more than the value of the mended bass.

You poor sod. Awful thing. My wife has it, but it comes and goes. At her worst she'd struggle to sit on a bass stool for 5 min, let alone lift a bow, so you're doing ok. 6 months time you may be right as reign ... then 6 months later knackered again. It's stinky poo basically. Anyway ... Would a German bow be easier? Bit less weight on your arm, but more push and pull and harder to push down on the strings. Did you try German hold on the French bow as a test? ( my bass was with Tim Batchelar for some mods last week, he was playing my bass with my French bow, but holding it German style). Also, did you ask Martin's if they'd do you a swap? I see they do the same bow in German. Buy a cheapy German one and keep the nice French one for when you're better maybe? Not much help I'm afraid, just being sympathetic.

Recall someone brought one to a double bass bash a few years back. Sounded good ( though I preferred the steinberger nxt personally). Weighed a ton. Did kk forget to hollow them out? Indestructible and feedback proof though (unlike a double bass!) Enjoy, though in a few years you'll doubtless want the expense and hassle of a "real" double bass 🙂

Double basses are not like bass guitars. The make is not really important, it's all about how they feel and sound to you. The provenance of most basses is a mystery. Some of the world's best basses are from unknown makers. Usually you can tell the region it came from and the likely age. My own bass is certainly German, maybe from Markneukirchen maybe Dresden, around 1890 ish, maker unknown. One I nearly bought ( for £10,000 !!!) was "likely English but maybe hungarian, most likely 1900 to 1910". If you like it and can afford it, just buy it. But try lots to get a feel for what you want and how much that will cost. Fwiw that bass looks like a laminated one, so likely Eastern European, but maybe Chinese. we'd need more photos to say more!

There is no one place. Be prepared to travel. But: tell us what country you live in, approx what your budget is and an idea of what you want to play on it... and we'll provide a list!

Just got my bass back from Tim Batchelar. He re-used the bridge Malcolm Healy fitted for me some 25 years ago (it's very good quality apparently and just needed re-fitting a bit) and fitted it with aluminium adjusters. £230 all told including the re-fitting to the bass's belly and the fitting of my new set of Eva Ps in place of the spiros; he also replaced the rubber thingy on the end of the spike. Including the £200 for the Evahs and petrol to Leicester and back (twice) that's over £450 I've just spent !!!! Ahhh people spend less than that on a whole bass. It does sound good though .. much more mellow than with the Spiros on it, scratch free bowable from the outset (and the Evahs should play in over the next few days). It shows up all the mistakes with astounding clarity as the bass now speaks so quickly! Also it was nice to get it checked over by an expert ... who said it was just fine. NB: Evah Pirazzi Mediums... on the advice of David at Bass Bags. He reckons they bow better than EP Weichs and are better suited to the "larger" bass (mine's 40" scale) and as I'll put the spiros back on for classical free periods, they don't need to be A1 for Pizz... also he had them in stock!! Wonder if I could tell the difference.

Apparently ... I'm being taken to Cornwall for a weeks holiday, and we're going tomorrow. I thought we were gong next week! Holiday 🙂 cornwall 🙂 missing bass bash 😞 Shall miss seeing you all and your basses. But me and my Wals will be there next time. Enjoy