NickA

..was the issue with my analogue octaver; but a digital (polyphonic) one should just halve the frequency of the whole waveform.

I was a cellist first and a bassist much later. It would be really weird to play a cello in 4ths for me. What fingering to use? If you do simandl (as I do n a dB) your fingers may not fit. If you do 1f1f ( as I do on an e bass) it should work ok with the option of getting a 4th by string crossing or fingering but if you're not a 1f1f player it's another hurdle to jump. Get a cheap cello bow, it will work better than a good bass bow. I've tried a pickup and octaver on a cello. It wasn't good. But that was an old analogue boss oc2 .. a modern digital one should drop the pitch ok, though the timbre still won't be that of a dB. Try a TC electronics sub and up, very clean sound. The cello repertoire is a lot easier to play in 5ths ... But its not clear what you do want to play. Double bass parts with less finger stretching?

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/pirastro-oliv-take-care-durability-life.1101558/ Conclusion = sound nice, suprisinly good for pizz, don't last long especially under changing temp and humidity. Slap will likely kill them. Go specialist slap strings or compromise on Evahs.

Spot on with point 1. Owning a 5 has improved my 4 string playing.

My first bass has been modified so extensively that the only bit left of the original is the neck plate, which says "made in Japan" though the body and neck are from Derbyshire (Alan Marshall), the electronics from Northampton (John east) and the bridge and pickups German ( schaller and Delano ). I guess the gotoh tuners are Japanese. 🙂

Extreme classical bowing strings aren't they? My experience of top end pirastro strings is that they don't last long and don't take much abuse. Doubtless someone will disagree.

Old instruments often have modern strings. In the case of cellos and violins they've often been heavily modified to project better anyway. Plenty of 1700s instruments fitted with tungsten wound steel strings. I like the sound of my 1880s double bass with low action full weight Spiro's on it. I can hear what I'm playing and have some sustain. But yes, if people ( drummers and pianists) would play quieter and sax players would forgo the microphone we could all maybe learn to like gentler strings. NB: used to use silver wound gut on my cello, loved the gritty woody sound, but they we always out of tune and frequently broke .. now using silver wound synthetics and steel larsens.

Point! 🙂 .

My new cello bridge cost £154 fitted ( no adjustors of course ) the blank was the best (despiau, grade A, C02) one they had in stock at £84, fitting £70 (an hour's and a bit work I guess). They didn't do all the fancy stuff of removing and shaping bits of the bridge blank that some people insist on.... but it fits the belly and the finger board curve perfectly; for a £10k istrument it's fine .. seemed a bit harsh at first but now played in nicely. If I had a £100k cello I might be more fussy! The nearest equivalent despiau 4/4 DB bridge I found is £117, same price with adjusters pre fitted if you drop a few quality grades. Quite adequate for most us amateurs I'd imagine. Admitted, if you want the finest grade A blank, custom carved, then fitted with the finest ebony adjusters, it's going to cost! NB it's not the Jag technician you're paying for, it's the fancy show room, the massive tooling cost, an overweight management structure and the profit margin that heads off to India! 😉

With Squires out there why would anyone buy a Columbus. Back in the 70s /80s a real fender was £400+ (three weeks wages for me). There were no Squires. But after rent (£10 a week) beer money (£3) and living expenses (£20) I saved for a 2nd hand £90 jap jazz copy ( Grant not Columbus, but same ilk). It was aawful( dead ply body, low output pickups, slippy truss rod, bumpy fingerboard) and over the years had a small fortune spent on it ... still have bits of it. Just buy a squire... better still a Yamaha 😉

Trouble will be the cost of bringing it up to scratch. Any buzzes, rattles, soft spots, you may be talking £2k+ to fix ... in order to get a £5k bass. But yes, German. Likely Markneukirchen. 1890s at oldest. I have quite a similar shaped one, though the back on mine is carved not flat and the condition is better. Mine was valued at £7500, but I think £6500 is nearer the mark. Doubt a dealer would pay me more than £4.5k though (sucks teeth, "may need a lot of work before we could put it in the showroom")

Spot on. I've found the same .... but when playing the 4, sometimes try to find note on the missing B string

Good to see no-one has recommended Simandl !

Certainly is. Whether or not it makes a difference .. I don't have a clue. Ouch!!! just OUCH. That seems unreasonably expensive. I was going to get an adjustable fitted to mine ... now (being somewhat unemployed) maybe I won't.

took a shop bought cake to the first one I attended ... and took it home uneaten. So many much better home made cakes. There are bakers among us.

Lovely condition. How old is it? .... who made it, what's the scale etc etc etc.

Us double bass players don't play over the fingerboard to control the amount of dig in ... It's just that it sounds nicer playing further from the bridge. May also buzz the strings off the ebony for more mwAh? not sure. Also on a dB you do need something to brace your thumb against because the plucking force is BIG, side of fingerboard is handy ... Never felt any need for a ramp on an electric .. but that article is food for thought.

Not a problem for Bassbags who now own a vast converted mill building in little Eaton. Acres of basses and bass bits.

Not heard of KBS. Looks a bit violin biased. Basses are special ...need a bigger workbench for one. Still, ask them, might be worth us all knowing about.

Plus 1 for that. Though I heard their bass expert, Helen, had left. Not too far to Leicester where you can find Tim Batchelar https://www.batchelar.com/ Or Derby where Bassbags also do repairs ( they did my dB end pin and put a new bridge on my cello .... Not sure who actually does the work though)

I've been trying to play them on the cello for 45 years. Still a challenge. "Selected movements" only on the bass ( easier on electric .. specially a 5-string. ) No3 prelude will be MAJOR endeavour on a double bass ... all those spilt chords. My book of bass transcriptions doesn't even include that one!