NickA

Tried gigging my TC polytune this afternoon. Put it in the signal chain between bass and amp so that turning it to tuning mode blocks the signal to the amp. Good for swapping between the electric and double basses. Works very well, locks on right away all the way down to the e basses bottom B string. Very accurate in single pitch mode and good for a quick check in "poly" mode ( it swaps automatically ). BUT the double bass does act as a big microphone, so external noise ( the vocalist and guitarist warming up even ) gets into the tuner a bit and can switch it into poly mode. Isolating the sound of the dB from everything else, I guess, is the problem, especially if a pa is pumping out electronica behind you. Now understand the issue!

G strings handles "just". In fact at a recent gig I did a list minute check of my fretted bass and adjusted it to the tuner ..which was set to JUST!!! Sounded awful. Never ever ever use just on a fretted instrument! As for orchestras, really good ones ( especially " authentic performance " ones) will use " just " or other carefully chosen non even temper; then the base key will sound perfect and contrasting keys will sound Different. In my kind of amateur orchestra we tune to the same A, then everyone does their own thing .. cellos and violins tuning strings in perfect 5ths, double basses in perfect 4ths ( which is an argument for tuning basses in 5ths!). If you get a melody line then it's usually played in just ( avoiding open strings) but no one is good enough to play say an A minor melody in natural temper of E major! Anything with a piano in has to be even temper anyway .... though I gues if you're lang lang you can get your piano specially tuned for a given performance ?... probably ( I guess not ). Bit of a pet subject 😉

I use gstrings tuner app on my mobile. Set it to 5 string bass guitar, put it on my bridge at orchestra ( much more accurate than listening to the oboe) and put it on my amp when doing jazz. Free, accurate ... does the job. I have just bought a tc polytune tho ... impulse buy.

Nice to see Christian is using both index and middle finger ('cause that's what I do). I used to play with the middle finger only and got awful blisters. Most people seem to use the index finger only. Once had the chance to ask Alec Dankworth how to avoid bleeding fingers and he said a) share the duty, b) turn your amp up (ie don't pluck so hard) and most important of all c) practice a lot!

O Oh Ohh Simandl. I hate it. It is the dullest book ever written. Full of tuneless sequences of notes. But sadly it is a hell we all have to go through to get the basics down (tho you do need to read music). There are other techniques, but this ancient tome, designed for classical bassists playing gut strings with a bow and an action measured in inches, is kind of baseline standard. I've seen so many rock and bluegrass bassists stalled with a bunch of bananas technique trying to change notes by shifting their whole hand about ... I'm not convinced you can injure yourself doing that, but it's severely limiting.

Yes, very. Theorbo best .. but the guitar and harpsichord grew on me. Been playing Bach and correlli on my 5 string bass guitar .. now have to find some Visee to play

Hard to find anything that works really well for DB and EB. Best compromise I found was PJB (the neo-speaker range, BG-150, BG-300, PB-300 etc) but if you found EA too "HiFi", the same will probably apply here - and they only have one input, which means the dreaded ABY switch or fiddling with leads between songs (I switch between passive for DB and active for EB, and generally keep the EQ dead flat except for room acoustic compensation, so that's not an issue). PJB's "piranha" speaker range (BG-400) seems to have a bit more sparkle and has two separate channels as well. Might hit the spot, but does come with a weight penalty. I note that an increasing number of DB players are using Markbass amps, which are also well liked by EB players. Worth a try if you can find some (lots in the Gallery in Camden, but it's a way from Wales).

It's also on Mr Morewood's own site ..https://elitevintageguitars.com/category/wal-bass-pro-ii-e/ Better photos and, yes really, a jg build plate. seems the last two jg basses (1152 and 1153) were pro 2es. This then could be the FIRST Pro2e ( well, some of it) And it's ash not "mahogy".. Thanks to Mr Raggarts Wal history ... from which I have cribbed with impunity 🙂

Know OF him. Through similar Wal selling attempts. He usually has two or three Wals, they are often proclaimed to be for sale, but prices are rarely mentioned. This Wal, specifically, has an unexplained replacement neck ( no bad thing for a player, tho a collector wouldn't like it ) also has a knob missing which, in this case means the shaft is broken or gone; needs a new pot soldered onto the PCB and short of 3d printing one , a new knob would be hard to find. At around £3000 it might be a decent budget way into Wal ownership for someone prepared to do or commission repairs & renovation.

Ah the great and well known Joey Morewood. For a man with so many lovely guitars and basses he appears to know nothing about any of them. Disingenuity I fear, in pursuit of a greater margin. Wouldn't touch this bass with a bargepole at anything near that price.

The wedge on mine is a much more subtle affair! About 5mm thick at the thickest bit, so no effect on the neck profile. Certainly a very skilled job, but much lower impact than taking the whole neck off. Also it allows for adjustment of the side to side angle of the fingerboard, ie you can change the action more on one side than the other which is usually what's needed on an old bass built for gut strings being converted for higher tension steel. It's still going to cost a few £100 - normally the kind of thing you negotiate into the price when buying from a dealer .. ie "I'll pay you £5k for that if you change the action, fit a new bridge and add a new set of spiros"

You may not need a neck reset. They can put a wedge under fingerboard leaving the neck as is. Mine has one put in by Malcolm Healy when I bought it. Made a huge difference to the playability. For complicated reasons the action ended up too high again and I was advised to have a new wedge put in ... I sawed a cm off the bridge instead and it's just fine, no change in sound, just easier to play ( especially in high positions ). I think somewhen I may go to a mender and have an adjustable bridge fitted, can tweak the mwah on the fly then - and crank back up for classical stuff.

2nd / 3rd hand strings received from @Clarky today. Thanks mate. The bass indeed sounds huge (it IS quite large) - but it's the extra attack, sustain and articulation that are so nice to have back! The Helicores (though bowable) are dull and thuddy by comparison. Thomastik Spirocore - there is no substitute. Others may be more subtle, but these babies swing! Dont try slapping though, they'll have your thumb off.

Those perpetuals have a good write up: "Extremely energetic with very little effort and a juicy right hand feel when played pizzicato, yet strong and complex with good stability under the bow." Maybe true at the price (though still less than Eudoxas!) Anyway, that's an offer too good to refuse. PMd you. Why do the Ds always give out first? Just cause it's the longest string and there's more to fail?

Had a look on his site (https://thedoublebassroom.com/) whilst poking about for cheap basses; everything he lists is over £3000 (and very well priced at that for the quality). Does he have a hidden back room (a "bargain bassment" perhaps?). +1 for an old and well setup ply bass btw No setup will make a bad bass into a good one, but even a good bass won't work without being properly setup and, unlike an electric bass, it's not something you can do by yourself . Decent dealers and owners will sell basses that ARE properly set up .. Thomann etc probably not. Worth factoring in when comparing prices.

Realising that I have only Jazz to play until September; I decided to take the D'Addario Helicore Hybrid strings off my DB and put on my old set of Thomastic Spiros. The Spiros have been sitting in a box for 20 odd years (!!) and when I dug them out I found that the D string has a knot in the peg end (must have snapped some time) and the E has gone AWOL. So, off to my local bass shoppe on Monday to buy at least a new E .. probably a D too ... oh sod it, probably a whole new set (£166!) Has anyone tried both Siprocore Medium and Spiroco Light (weich)? What is the difference in sound? I think my spiros date from when spiros were spiros and the three different tensions weren't an issue. I quite like the idea of a lighter string that's easier to hold down - but don't want to sacrifice tone. NB: the bass is a fairly hefty 43.5" scale German affair - solid and loud with a big fat tone when bowed, and pizz sustain that goes on and on and on and ..........

I'm not really sure £600 is enough to get you into a double bass. Double basses cost £1000s not £100s. A £600 double bass is kind of the equivalent of a £50 electric bass - there is just so much more material in them. The cheapest new bass at Bass Bags is £1100 (not set up) or £1280 (perfectly set up) The cheapest new bass at Thomann is £598 (and a new set of strings for it will be another £100 or so, full setup around £150) Still: toe in the water and that. Sounds like the plan is to play acoustically, in which case something half decent would be good - but if the band will let you hide a small amp, then fitting a magnetic pickup (yet another £100) gets around most issues with the bass itself and just amplifies the strings; it will sound a lot like an EUB, but look more authentic and get you closer to the day you want to spend bucks on a really nice double bass! Second hand will give you a better bass for a given cost ... generally. In time you may end up spending money on it; but it spreads the cost at least; a quick scan through the usual places, shows only this at under £600 ... but it might actually do the job. This one? https://www.gumtree.com/p/double-bass/double-bass-3-4-michael-poller-beautiful-condition-/1348333529 (reviewed here on an old thread : Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Meanwhile here is the wonderful Esperanza playing her CzechEase (her full size bass has a nicer tone - but this is not something you'd complain about).

I guess that's one reason I bought it. The boot is tiny but the car is surprisingly voluminous for its external dimensions. Literally has "a wheel at each corner" which keeps wheel arches out the way. I load the bass bum end first through the passenger front door, pushing it in far enough that the neck then slips into the footwell. Lots of vids on line of people doing it. Here's the one I learned the method from. Note the bit about supporting the body using a pillow or the headrest, so the weight doesn't go on the neck. The neck will "probably" survive but it bends the tuners.

My 4/4 fits in my Skoda Citigo and frequently does, along with stool and music stand! Recline front seat and feed it in neck down the foot well and bum side on the back seat upright. The bloke at Bassbags reckons he can fit a bass in anything, though a BMW 3 series saloon was a challenge!

Stops him looking at his fingers I guess. But he must have an incredible memory for sequences of notes. I need a chord chart for an 8-bar blues and once forgot the opening bass line to Miles Davis' All Blues (the pianist had to play it to me so I could join in)! As I struggle to learn 5-string bass after decades playing but four strings ... I am increasingly amazed at these people's skill. (not a Theorbo but an 18 course baroque lute with 24 individual strings to tune) ... my experience with (my Dad's) viola da gamba is that it has too many strings, which are tuned in unequal intervals (not even the same intervals as a guitar) and all the music is written in the one clef I never previously had to read and POLYPHONICALLY so you have to read lots of notes in a strange clef at once. It was my, retired professional 'cellist, Dad's retirement project and out-witted even him! Theorbo and lute music seems to be mostly written out in Tab - which is something else I've never mastered. :¬)