Cathode_Follower

Something I remember @geoffbassist saying is the biggest reason to be able to play standing is that in a lot of scenarios that will be the only option because of limited stage space (this is certainly the case that I've found). In addition there's the practical consideration of having an extra thing to transport with you to gigs! My advice would be learn to stand first. Sitting is much easier to learn afterwards than the other way round. As Staggering On said, you're going to be aching a lot to begin with anyway, don't let that put you off! p.s. - anyone else use their left knee as a 3rd point of contact when standing? I find it gives me as much stability as sitting and I'm still able to retain a good posture.

@TPJ Yes that's going to be interesting.. we're hoping to be able to do the conversion without removing the top, so any work on the bassbar will have to be done by practically crawling inside the instrument! I've also read anecdotal evidence on the CE website that suggests the bassbar design was a key factor in getting the CE to sound right, another reason for wanting to get those internal shots.

@mybass Do you mean in a CE? I'd assume it's situated in the normal place but that's definitely something that would be helped by having internal photos. If you're referring to the donor-bass, I did check the soundpost before restringing and it was luckily still in the correct position!

Greetings Basschatters, Like many on these forums, I have long been lusting after a David Gage Czech Ease bass. Sadly the £5000 or so price tag has always been beyond my reach, which has had me thinking for a while - how possible would it be to create a budget clone? Recently I've been lucky enough to make the acquaintance of a skilled luthier. Julie currently works as a guitar builder but she's also previously built and repaired violins which are fundamentally the same as uprights (yes, sadly it turns out that double-basses really are just big violins). Together we hatched a plan to build our own 'abbreviated bass'! Also, why not try making it headless, as an extra space bonus? Ultimately we'd like to create an instrument from scratch, but as a proof-of-concept it seemed sensible to purchase a cheap 3/4 on which to experiment. We went to view several potential victims in the £300 range, before settling on a marked-down Gear4Music for the princely sum of £360, plus £11.99 postage (RRP £450, surface damage to the finish). She arrived today in the included hardcase in mercifully un-broken condition, and I took a few minutes resetting the bridge, which had been removed for transit, and tuned her up. She really doesn't sound too bad! Good strong voice across the whole range, no dead spots, plenty of sustain, modern sound but not overly nasal with the cheap steel strings. I should at this point make it clear that this project is being undertaken with sincere apologies to Mr Gage! I hope he would find it amusing and not an insult to his years of work and experimentation that went into creating the magnificent Czech Ease! I'd like to state now that any proprietary information that comes to light in the process of reverse-engineering his work will not be shared. Deepest respect and love to all the David Gage team. To that end, I'd like to reach out to any CE owners out there who would be interested in contributing to this project in the form of providing information on the build of their instrument. We'd love to be able to get some pictures of the inside of one, for example! Please PM me if you can help. More to follow! Rich

Well said sir. I do in fact have some discreet dots left by a previous owner that are impossible to remove, and as you say, they are indeed occasionally of great value 'in the heat of battle' as you put it! I suppose everyone's experience is different, and some may find it easier than others to 'come off the dots' so to speak. But I would certainly counsel the OP to at least try sans-dots to begin with. Especially if they have spent their EB days always looking at the fretboard, it may be a hard habit to break. Having the opportunity to start afresh on a new instrument has a lot going for it. As has been mentioned, being in a position where you can see the fingerboard is often not condusive to good technique re. hand and arm positioning. While it's true that an experienced player can hold the bass in all manner of different ways depending of the environment etc, for a beginner - where the focus on basic technique should be the highest priority - I feel it's most important to develop a good feeling of the instrument in the most balanced, natural stance possible. Of course it is up to the OP to make their own choice at the end of the day. The dots debate is age-old and has probably been discussed to death on these boards many times over already! Perhaps dots on the fingerboard face viewed in a mirror is a good compromise?

An adjustable bridge will save you the cost of several non-adjustable bridges. It's a no-brainer imo, if you're playing a lot you can wear a good 3 or 4 mm off the action in under year, more if you're a slapper I imagine. Just keep raising the bridge to compensate (and have a luthier take off the excess above the strings, or do it yourself) and you'll be set for years. Hundreds of pounds saved and a consistent action that will benefit your playing. Point being, get a new, high quality adjustable, have it set up by a qualified professional, and it will pay for itself.

Tried to edit my post but quoted by accident I think. Not sure how to delete, this is a redundant post now. See below!

Dang, I don't think I've ever charged more that a tenner an hour for my repair services. Sod being a musician, I'm off to buy a fresh reel of solder and make my fortune!

I used to play drums in a (for want of a better term) punk band where one of the guitarists had an SG into a silverface twin running through a 4x12 loaded with two greenbacks and two golds, with a pharaoh fuzz in front. To this day it is the most meaty earth-shattering tone I've ever heard. People used to ask him "what tuning are you in, drop D, drop A?" nope, just standard. Mindblowing stuff. The line 6 spiders don't sound half bad if you keep them on clean and crank the master. For me the worst sounds I've ever head have always come out of Ashdown gear.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1473764922' post='3132857'] As is speaker break up. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to reproduce this at low volumes over than software modelling. I think the OP needs to identify what parts of the valve sound are important to him (pre-amp valves, power amp valves, speaker break up) and work from there. [/quote] Weber make some attenuators that are absolutely top-notch stuff with moving coil components that provide a proper inductive load that interacts with the output stage of an amp like an actual speaker, definitely worth looking into. [url="https://www.tedweber.com/gadgets/attenuators"]https://www.tedweber...ets/attenuators[/url] Of course you're still not actually driving your output speaker, but I guess if you push the attenuator you'll get a certain amount of that in the audible side of the output circuit.

+1 for Bristol. Loads of stuff happening across all different spheres, massive audience of music lovers, good pay, great busking scene if that's what you're into. Can't recommend it enough.

To me the live sound never seemed to come close to the studio recordings. I don't think I would have bothered to go see them even back in the glory days. Heaven and Hell on the other hand, they definitely delivered the goods on stage! Too bad I never got round to seeing them before RJD left us.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A4_TxChxTA[/media]

Yes, clearly had a bad fall at some point - the neck needs resetting + new bridge too

Just spotted this bass back up for sale on Gumtree currently at £350: https://www.gumtree.com/p/double-bass/artia-excelsior-double-bass-3-4-jazz-size/1214834452 I viewed this bass last month and pretty much everything that could be wrong with it is wrong with it. Bristol Violin Shop estimated repairs would be in excess of £1500. Anyone thinking of snagging a steal on a nice old B&H import should steer well clear. This bass is more or less worthless. However if there's anyone out there with the time and skills, it might be worth making an offer as the body seems solid and from what I gather they're a great quality ply bass. It's just damn-well everything else that's knackered. Happy to go into further detail on the issues if anyone's interested

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1486054156' post='3228884'] I did exactly the same. Thundercat is a member of the West Coast Get Down collective that originated out of a Californian state programme to encourage musically talented kids. They've all been been playing together for over 20 years, despite the fact that most of them are only in their early/mid 30s. They all play on each others solo projects, so Thundercat is on Kamasi's album and vice versa. Another member of the collective worth checking out is double bass player/vocalist Miles Mosley. His album came out recently and is well worth a listen. [/quote] Nice, cheers. I've definitely heard of Miles Mosely. Might be from the liner notes of The Epic, but I'm sure I've seen him playing live with someone else on my radar, maybe Hancock or Metheny?

I think I remember that character. Wasn't there a sketch where he was doing a DIY show and ended up with both hands (and possibly his face) superglued to the table? My first experience of Everett was at the tender age of 10 when my primary-school headmaster lent me the taped-from-tv cassette of a programme on siege engines we'd not finished watching in class. The feature finished and Kenny wobbled into view moments later. I don't think I understood a lot of it at the time but I loved it!

I've busked a lot, playing some pretty 'out' jazz stuff. Apparently it doesn't matter how dissonant you go, how obviously not a pop covers group you are, somebody will always request Wonderwall. I usually tell them I've never heard of it