NickA

My bass is so big that I'd have to stand on a box to get the nut at eye level!!! Exageration: standing up to play pizz, the nut is a couple of inches above eye level. If it's comfy, do it. I'm guessing you can reach the upper registers more easily on an EUB than on a DB as you don't have all that wood work to reach around!

Thinking about this ... some really good jazz and session musicians. Martin Elliot, Rufus Phillpot, Percy Jones with a Mk2 5-string, Jason Henrie (check out "brief eclipse") has two (as well as an Alembic fretless) . Go to the Wal facebook pages and there are loads of very good semi pros and amatuers (mostly "of a certain age", admitted) playing them ... along with some (pretty pointless IMO) Rush and Tool Karaoke. Check this one out (Francesco Pirolo on 5-string fretless Wal) .. I couldn't find anyone playing a 6! : Edit: oh yes, Francesco IS playing his fretless 6!!! Thanks Luke 😉

Danny T is a pretty big bloke, he's standing up and his bass isn't huge; he already has the spike a long way out; it doesn't look that unusual to me. Also, he holds his bass rather "sideways on" compared to the current norm. So maybe not perfect by a teacher's standards anyway. I'm around 5'9" and have a rather long scale 4/4 bass, probably have it a bit higher than Danny (only 4" of spike out), in part to get my bowing arm in a comfy place and also to reach the higher notes, a teacher noted that I was bowing over the fingerboard and raising the bass would put my bow lower down; if playing purely pizz it can go down a bit. I wouldn't obssess about bass height. It's comfort and being able to reach all the notes you want to play that matter, if you put it too high then half and first position will be uncomfortable (your lower arm is higher up and will tire quickly, and too low will stop you reaching the highest notes (if you ever go there) - combined size of man and bass DT can doubtless reach all he notes he needs with the bass fairly low. Have a look at the recomended music to listen to thread and you'll see all kinds of stance - including people playing "new dutch school" method in which you sit with both feet on the floor, the bass quite low and sloped a long way out, more like a cello. One of the wonderful things about double bass is the variety (in size, shape, sound and method of playing the damned thing).

Basschat .... where else?!! Doesn't get played much tbh as I rarely need a fretted bass and the Wal has a useful extra string .. and a heftier sound. The dolph is easier to play tho ( thin neck, great ergonomics. )

Price of collectables aside... The gallery is an excellent shop. They let me sit in a corner and try every stingray in the place and the prices of those were all quite reasonable. Didn't buy one mind ... bought the mk2 Wal instead!

The knobs are critical to the sound too ??? Whodathunkit! 😂

Not helped by Scott Devine shelling out $20,000 for a basic fretted Wal custom priced up because someone held it whilst miming to the live aid video. On top of the previous price hoik caused by Tool releasing an album (on which JC could be playing anything behind all those effects), combined with low interest rates and a falling stock market that make buying "stuff" more attractive ... followed by the order books closing! Perfect storm. By comparison, £12.5k is pretty reasonable for a rare 6 string ... I reckon prices will plummet when blokes my age (who fell for them in the 80s) start dying off ( along with the remaining rush fans ).

Right, so the cut of the top arch rather than the bridge itself. Can be hard to bow only the required note at big volume with the flattish arch. But the curve of the bridge matches the radius of the fingerboard, so a steeper arch would mean an uneven action. Not going there. Adjusters are a marvellous thing. Changed my bass greatly for the better.

I pluck with one finger, or more accurately the side of one finger. I used to use my middle finger but now gravitate to the index finger sometimes alternating with the middle one ( string crossings), thumb hooked under the fingerboard for purchase. Some orchestral players pluck with both fingers at once, but they're usually playing fewer notes and plucking at right angle across the strings to get an accurate and clear "plonk", whereas I'm after a jazzy mwah noise ( Eddie Gomez style).

Orchestral bridge? Jazz cut? Can you explain? I've had the same bridge for 33 years on a bass that was "set up for jazz" in 1989. But I play in a symphony orchestra as well as a jazz band. Took a few mm off the top to lower the action once and recently had the feet reshaped and adjusters fitted ( to raise the action again!) But it's "just a bridge", not a particular kind of bridge, that I know of. So what's the difference? Flatter top for jazz and a smaller radius for bowing? Or something I've never thought of?

Very true ... But I'd like a single coil mode on my Wal. Nice clean harmonics. Not that I get to play such things in public. Slap and harmonics being largely a private affair 😉

.. some people don't have cellos though😉

Little and often. Lots of left hand in 1/2 position and playing semi tone runs. Really boring but gets your hand strength up. Don't pluck too hard or always with the same finger. Blisters stop you practicing.

Does wonders for your forearm muscles too! Especially in thumb position.

Get another of those bridges run off and @funkle might buy it off you. He seems to be a bridge short of the exact Wal sound .. perhaps 😉

Probably another "tiny percentage" thing ... but don't you still have the pickups wired like a Wal pro-bass not a Wal custom? As I recall, that means the individual coils are loading eachother slightly whereas on the custom they are all buffered individually before being summed; that's going to rob some treble .... maybe. I'd hack back through the thread .. but it's gotten a mite long!!

Pressure moulded from what? The real ones are machined aluminium.

Sometimes just needs moving around a bit. I think the placement is more important than the thing itself. Sometimes they slip or fall over and get put back wrong then need repositioning. Still a skilled job though.

Why buy new? 2nd hand is cheaper and you get to try it out before you pay for it. Spent £4k on a 2nd hand bass once though ... but it's actually worth more now, so doesn't count ;¬)

DIY project? That Smithalike neck joint looks pretty professional, but the headstock, cavity cover and the huge knot in the body wood ... not so much. More importantly, how does it sound?

I find that one quite upspetting. Having proudly worked it out in the original key at bass register, I watched originally to see what fingering and key she used .... Only to find she plays it AT PITCH. It's not massively easy on a cello ffs. I don't agree with her bowing mind ... I'm a bit of an Anna Bylsmer fan 😉

I tend to just play that stuff on my cello! But there is a satisfaction from plumbing the lower depths as well as soaring to the rosin dust ... and some things I originally learned on the cello, just sound better on a double bass ( Bach2 serenade, Rachmaninoff Vocalise for starters).

Talk to lots of people, dealers included, they know stuff. Try different basses with different strings. Get the set you like most with the most recommendation and stick with it. In end the notes you play matter more than what they sound llike. In the 35 years I've owned a bass it's had three sets of strings. Should have dumped the helicore hybrids 10 years ago mind.

Changing the bridge height. I got Tim Bachelar to put adjusters on my bridge, so now can change the action. High bridge makes the bass more sensitive and improves the bowed tone greatly. Low bridge great for jazz with a softer sound and more of that "mwah". This explains something another luthier once told me which was that you should raise the bridge to get the best tone ( more pressure on the front of the bass) then raise up the finger board to get the action you want. Ideally you'd probably need a highish bridge and some mechanism for changing the neck angle. But an adjustable bridge is much simpler.

I have those Facom wire cutters and a halfords bicycle cable cutter too. Tend towards the bike cable cutter as I don't want to damage the Facom (have you seen the price of them now?) 🙂