Beer of the Bass

I've loaned my double bass a couple of times to people we were on the bill with (who I knew were competent bassists) to make their travel arrangements easier. And I did once finish a guitar gig with a guitar borrowed from another band as the pickup selector packed up on mine. With three bands in a basement in a city centre with poor parking, it's simply not feasible for everyone to bring multiples of everything, even if that might be a reasonable plan in other settings.

I've never really thought of it as a small bass, it's a fairly standard 3/4 size old flatback, probably Czech or German. I'm about 6'1", and I think the spike there is slightly higher than I usually have it - I'd probably set it before I put the piece of wood underneath.

Though I'm sure he's said that he was doing jazz double bass gigs at the same time as he was studying cello, to the disapproval of his tutors.

I have quite a bit of home built gear (basses, cabs, pedals, guitar amps) which is inevitably going to be British. I do like the idea of supporting smaller quality makers wherever you can afford to, but I'm not patriotic about it.

The bar ends are similar to Innovation strings from a few years ago. I don't know if the silk colours correspond to a particular set though.

I know these contraptions have their fans, but I'm not sure an old aluminium tripod bridge with two feet would sell for anything like this amount, at least without a bass attached! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOUBLE-BASS-BRIDGE-VINTAGE-TONEMASTER-/164007215631?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

Givson are a real company, they're in India and I think most of their stuff is sold domestically. A local guitar shop had a couple of their archtop guitars a few years ago; huge bodied and quite crudely made, but also pretty loud and IMO potentially fun instruments.

Taylor's thing about the French is curious, given how much of his career is based on the old Hot Club de France material and style.

As much as people complain about so many amps using the same few power amp modules now, at least there's a much better chance of a tech being able to source the right ICEpower module a few years down the line compared to proprietary ones unique to one model.

I've been getting some quotes from Interparcel to send to the potential buyer. AFAIK the prices they quote are pre-VAT. Does anyone know if that would be added at checkout for an item being sent from the UK to USA?

It's clearly dated on the label inside the soundhole as being built in 1987 - I'm not sure if that would be sufficient evidence of being pre-CITES.

Which couriers have you used? If I can feel reasonably confident that it's properly insured, and the buyer is fine with the costs, perhaps it wouldn't be too bad.

I have an instrument advertised (not a bass, hence it's on another site) which someone is asking if I would ship to the USA. None of the woods used are covered by CITES as far as I'm aware - it's cedar, mahogany and ebony. But it does have some MOP inlay which I've read might be flagged under the Lacey act. It does have a hard case, but obviously I'd still need to gather packing materials and deal with the customs paperwork and live with the risk involved. I'm somewhat on the fence about whether to consider it, as it seems like a lot of additional work and I don't know if any carriers really have worthwhile insurance. The instrument is advertised at about £500, so it would not be a small loss if it all went pear shaped. I know a fair few of you have shipped instruments around, so I'd be curious to see what people think.

I'm not sure if people will be aghast at this idea, but for low volume home use with a low powered amp, a small closed-back guitar cab might well do the job just fine.

Some suggest that the double bass may have some heritage from the viol family, which are usually tuned in fourths. The differently shaped shoulders compared to the violin family, and the frequent use of canted flat backs would also support this idea. And with the string making techniques of the time, a low E or low C would be likely to be fairly unsatisfactory, hence the higher tuning of the old 3 string double bass. When the fourth string was added, continuing the existing pattern of fourths tuning would seem logical.

Likewise, I had a 100 watt Carlsbro valve PA that I genuinely can't imagine me needing more than. And with my current Ampeg PF-50T, we've had one gig where I felt I might have liked a touch more headroom, but it was also a decent size room with limited PA, and I'd only brought one cab due to limited vehicle space. The second cab would probably have got it where I wanted it

If you set the 2x10 to 12 ohms and ran the two cabs in parallel, you would have a 3 ohm nominal load, and the 2x10 would get 1/3 of the total power (which would mean equal power distribution to each 10"). Most valve amps are unlikely to have any problem with a 3 ohm load on the 4 ohm tap but you could always check in with the maker to see what they think of the idea.

Usually the uke only came out for that song and the rest was on the whole kit, but sadly I can't find a clip. Later he changed to a cajon as the kick, and a little miniature snare that packed a bit smaller and wasn't so loud.

A friend I played with for years did something similar, though theirs was a plastic Samsonite type job.

It's hard to gauge the exact shade from the photo, but possibly Thomastik Superflexible. Do they have barrel shaped aluminium ball ends with an O on one side and a Roman numeral on the other? It that's them, they're not bad strings, quite high tension steels similar to Spirocores but a little less bright, though that set looks old.

I don't really try out instruments in shops unless I'm genuinely in the market for something, and that's not often. So it's not something I've had to deal with so far.

The reverse sweep is a big chunk of what I like about my Mutron work-alike (a Madbean Naughty Fish), so leaving it out would take away the fun for me.

Where does the standby switch come in relation to the first filter cap? I've seen some articles suggesting placing it after the first cap, so that it charges slowly as the rectifier warms up. That's meant to be less taxing on the rectifier too. http://valvewizard.co.uk/standby.html

Older Rotosounds didn't have the coloured balls, though the smaller ball end on this one does look like my Thomastiks.

I've done it with two or three nuts to move back a tapered string where the thinned section was overly long. But that was less that 1“ of adjustment - if you needed to make up the difference between long and medium scale that would seem a bit ungainly.