NickA

No no don't do it! The complicated stuff is all in the fingering hand so you south paws have an advantage over the rest of us! And swapping the bass bar over, fitting a new bridge and reprofiling the fingerboard is an expensive way to de-value a valuable instrument!

There's a VERY early 4-STRING Smith in the for sale section at the moment if this is giving anyone painful GAS. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/338291-new-pricedrop-smith-pas-ii-1981-new-york-a-piece-of-my-history-quote-from-ken-smith/ Big pricey .. but I believe it's negotiable. Have to get a go on a Smith sometime, bass bucket-list material.

Maple fingerboard on a fretless? Why exactly? Won't it wear out a bit fast? Epoxy maybe?

... but did it make you sound like him? it didn't work for me :¬). I fear it's all in the fingers (and the two Acoustic valve amps .. and the custom pickups and the delay line between the two amps ...and on the Joni Mitchel recordings at least, the double tracking).

So ..? Was it the missing Amati or firewood .... or more likely something in between.😉

Unlike the strings which are super zingy out the packet and dead a few weeks later 😆

Esperanza Spalding too. Pretty much full scale so no deep note issues, just quieter ...THIS could be your solution. There was a bloke on here trying to make one from a normal laminate bass ....

My first upright was a Ply Boosey Hawks 1/2 size ...... a HORRIBLE little bass (probably not an excelsior mind)... I hated it with a vengeance and vowed never to play another plywood bass ever again. Muddy tone, little sustain and no bottom end whatsoever. I have since been persuaded that some laminate basses are really rather good but I'm still not converted to tiny bodies. THIS ->https://piccolomaestro.com/#shop/341-double-bass-1-2 might convert me .. but at around £4000, so it should. Gary Karr hates big basses, but still played a full 3/4 : "Many conductors request that their double bass section players use large instruments because they incorrectly assume that these will produce a bigger, warmer and more projecting sound. As I have found in my own performances and listening to those of other players, this assumption does not stand up to scrutiny. For example, a student of mine insists on playing a large, 7/8-size instrument, which she believes has a loud, projecting voice. In a small room it does indeed soar, but in a capacious hall, when compared to a cheap, 3/4-size plywood bass, her instrument sounds half as loud. In spite of this she continues to use her instrument: like many conductors and double bassists, she has a mindset that cannot be changed." I have a 4/4 myself, not really due to the horror of the B&H, but because 4/4 basses turned out to be cheaper, quality for quality, than 3/4 ones - and indeed it does sound better to me than my orchestral colleagues' 3/4 basses - which may be because I got more for my money or maybe because (like the lady above) I'm deluded. Epilogue: after I gave up on the 1/2 size bass and went back to the 'cello for 10 years, my school friend Karen, inherited it and went on to get a distinction at grade 8. Hey ho.

@DanOwens .. sounds like your strings are a little short for the bass!

"....the peg-end silk IS important, but the bridge end isn't?" I'm not sure about the peg end silks to be honest. I'm guessing that the peg end silks traditionally protect wooden tuners from the sharp wire. But some string designs taper down to just the core at the peg end, so the silk is keeping the end of the outer winding in place and stopping the thin end of the winding from coming un-wound. On the other hand my electric basses have d'Addario NYXLs on which have no silks at either end and work fine. I've also had to fix the odd snapped string on my double bass, which has brass tuning pegs .. and on my 'cello, which has wooden tuning pegs .... with bare un-silked bits of string now and then with no harm done. Depends on the string design then! But surely you could trim back the bit that protrudes over the nut.

Fair nuff. Mine's a full 4/4 so a 1/2 would feel like a toy. Try some, report back. Meanwhile, good comparison chart and advice on the always excellent gollihur site: SIZES_DOUBLE_BASS_SIZING_FAQ.html

Yes you can, yes it will unravel, no it doesn't matter. The silks are purely decorative.

Why a half size? Mostly played by children and hard to get a good sounding bottom E due to the short scale. All the same, if you want one ......Carved or Laminate? New or"Pre loved" ? Budget? Check out bassbags.co.uk they have a good range of smaller sized mid price range basses .. many in stock to try out.

When I bought my dolphin, the seller sent me a photo of nirvana with a dolphin and a Trace Elliot gp12 combo ( which is what I then had)... apparently they'd had a load of gear stolen and had to borrow replacements to record nevermind with. Not what you'd expect .. but the dolphin / trace combination was pretty good. Jazz on steroids is one of the sounds it does ( both pickups, bridge one single coiled )

Good comparison here: https://forum.warwickforum.com/threads/dolphin-pro1-vs-pro2.15701/ Different shapes it seems .. as well as different woods, pickups and neck/body construction.

There is indeed a dolphin 6, not included in the official price list, but I bet you'd need a mortgage to buy one.

Don't own a 5 .. .. but my dolphin 4 is very comfy with excellent balance. Lovely feel to the slim, wax finished ovangkol neck. Needs to be worn unfashionably high to take advantage of the concave back, and the comfort is somewhat biased to playing in higher positions ... it's a long reach back along that endless neck to find a bottom F. The through neck merging into the body is lovely too .. knocks the ergonomics of my Wals into a cocked hat. Heavy .. 4.6kg ..but I have heavier basses. all in all: looks weird, feels great, sounds "distinctive" ( though less so than a thumb )

There's a knob missing too. You'd have to solder in a new pot with a fixed shaft then find a matching knob. Mr Morewood has an enviable collection of basses and sometimes sells some beauties, but his Wal descriptions are generally cut and paste and often plain wrong. Barge pole, touch with, probably not.

More power to your elbow .. looks good as new. Had to buy both my Wals 2nd hand. Wouldn't even contemplate a new one at "prices FROM £6050". 2nd hand is definitely the way to go with these exotica .. you don't even lose out when selling on, so effectively free! Not that I could bear to sell on.

Less than a Fodera or a Wal ... or anything but the most basic of alembics. Bit of a bargain ... relatively speaking.

Salt and Vinnegar??? To what end? Do you do cheese and onion too😁

I've a bass like that, spent a fortune on it over the years ... market value = ziltch. Think we just have to keep them and get them out now and then for a bit of reminiscence .. finally handing them over to a grandson or nephew ... who will go " yeh, whatever" and stick it under a bed.

Blasphemy, It's BACH, The BEST music there is! Though frankly it does sound better on a cello 😁.