Bloopdad1

1. Get a teacher (if only for basic posture and technique) 2. Get a bass bow (you teacher will advise you on one) and remember that plucking a bass is limiting yourself to only 10% of what a bass can do - arco is where its at! 3. Buy bass specific rosin (Nymans, Pops, Carlsonn, Leatherwood etc etc) and learn how to apply it properly. NEVER USE HARD POWDERY VIOLIN/CELLO ROSIN 4. Stick proper double bass strings on it (Pirastro Evahs, Thomastic Belcantos, Spyros etc etc your teacher can advise) 5. Practice little and often at first. 6. DO NOT THINK THAT IT'S LIKE A BASS GUITAR every note comes from your biggest muscles. 7. Do not pluck with your finger tips like a bass guitar, they're too weak, pizz with the side of your whole fingers where the muscle mass is. A 41.5" string length is a lot of string to move! 8. Enjoy it and have patience. (and get a teacher!) 😜 Oh, forgot to say, bow lengths doesn't really matter. It's all about the ribbon width, balance, "bow spring", how it feels, how it grabs the string and how the frog feels in your hand. The bow draws out the tone of the bass. A different bow will make the same bass sound completely different. Most importantly it's about the weight. 128g is too light for me, some section players trialed super heavy bows at around 170g about 15yrs ago. The "norm" is around 140g for a decent bow (I prefer slightly heavier - my main bow is 148g) but it's completely subjective.... And everything I've said relates to a French style bow, German patterns are completely different and a whole different conversation! But remember, the bass is a bass, the bow is the amplifier and what provides expression! (you can't make a note considerably louder once you've plucked it! With a bow, you can - and SO much more).

1. Get a teacher (if only for basic posture and technique) 2. Get a bass bow (you teacher will advise you on one) and remember that plucking a bass is limiting yourself to only 10% of what a bass can do - arco is where its at! 3. Buy bass specific rosin (Nymans, Pops, Carlsonn, Leatherwood etc etc) and learn how to apply it properly. NEVER USE HARD POWDERY VIOLIN/CELLO ROSIN 4. Stick proper double bass strings on it (Pirastro Evahs, Thomastic Belcantos, Spyros etc etc your teacher can advise) 5. Practice little and often at first. 6. DO NOT THINK THAT IT'S LIKE A BASS GUITAR every note comes from your biggest muscles. 7. Do not pluck with your finger tips like a bass guitar, they're too weak, pizz with the side of your whole fingers where the muscle mass is. A 41.5" string length is a lot of string to move! 8. Enjoy it and have patience. (and get a teacher!) 😜

Also depends on the music you're playing... I tried Leatherwood rosin (40% & 50%) for a season. Found it only "OK" for lighter styles like Mozart, Haydn, Purcell etc but it "gave up" playing heavier rep like Shostakovic, Mahler, Stravinsky, Brahms and Berlioz etc. Best I can describe it was after about 20mins of heavy playing my bow hair looked like a ribbon of sellotape...! No individual hairs, just all clumped together in one shiny band. Very strange. I've spoken to a few bassists and they have found the same. Weather it works better with gut I can't say... But I've stopped using the stuff. Can't comment on the oak rosin... Not tried it. Plus all my basses have metal strings, no gut. Have you tried Carlsson rosin? Looks like Nymans but not as sticky. I used that for a while, great stuff. Also an American guy I used to work with swore by Wiedoeft rosin but again I haven't tried it. I'm back using Pops because it's cheap and easily available (although it does splatter the front of my nice 200yr old bass with dusty white spots!!), and as you say it's very prone to melting and escaping out of its pot all over your freshly ironed black concert shirt... Grr! 😂

My desk partner (using his wonky German bow!) swears by Sam Kolstein Rosin (Black rosin in a gold pot), He also uses it on his baroque bow and bass strung with guts. Not my cup of tea as its a "hard powder style" rosin...rubbish when I tried it on my steels. But to be fair he makes a very decent sound. You could also look at Leatherwood rosin and ask for a specific blend suitable for gut? (but it is horrendously expensive).

Nymans.

Hi Me again....! Just checked out the ebay link and it definitely looks like a bow! Although I'm most concerned with its length - it's listed at 705cm long!!!! You'd be able to bow a full section of 8 basses all at once with a 7m bow! 😂 Obviously a typo... But it is advertised as a 3/4 bow which would be far too small for an adult OR the seller could mean that its for a 3/4 bass?? Which would make it a "full size bow" suitable for 3/4, 7/8 and full size basses (including 5 stringers) .... If the seller can't get the basics right I'd be wary, plus looking at it I'd be surprised if it is indeed 140g (if it is 140g then the balance is definitely in the wrong place simply by looking at the stick!) The only way to buy a bow is with a trial (if you can) and also be advised by a teacher who will assess your needs. Oh, don't forget the rosin, that makes a HUGE difference - buy a pot of "Pops" or "Nymans" (about £14'ish), swipe/melt loads on and use slow, heavy, grippy bow strokes using the power of your upper arm and shoulder (DO NOT USE CELLO/VIOLIN HARD POWDERY ROSIN when you're learning, it'll set you back months) plus it'll screech and p*ss off the missus, cat, neighbours etc etc Oh, and get a teacher just to set you on the straight and narrow (only for 2 or 3 lessons) Also have a look on Gumtree, there are a few decent used bows on there right now.

Congratulations Sean on your new bass (get a teacher, you cheap skate!!!!) 😜 and well done for realising you must take a different approach to playing it, compared to a soulless plank with pickups 🤣 Oh, boy... Where do I start.... A bow is VERY subjective and personal. Its the thing I have the most difficulty explaining. The best way I can explain it is that the bass is the instrument, the bow is the amplifier. The bow DRAWS the sound out of the bass... Or, a Ferrari is the "bass" and the super sticky Pirellis is the "bow".. As you're just starting out it'll be a really alien thing... Go for second hand, cheap carbon fiber or "student" bow around £250?? The more you spend the smaller the gained improvements.. The money isn't in the hair, ferrule, screw, frog or inlays... Its ALL down to the stick. (Go for something around 140g). I can't begin how to explain about feel/balance and how the stick flexes minutely to grab the string, I just don't have the vocabulary. The feeling from the bow playing spicatto or ricochet, even double takes is addictive when you have a decent bow. Different bows really do draw a different sound out of a bass. Some enables the bass to project much more and others are much more articulate. I reckon I can play 80% of my rep on a standard £500 student bow and make a decent job of it. I have a "bog standard" but heavy Andrew McGill bow at £3500 and a gorgeous Tunnicliffe bow at +£6000 - the difference is tiny between the two, could the McGill do what the Tunnicliffe can do? Of course it can to about 99.99%... Do you need to spend that much? - of course not. Can a £12000 Fodera play a 12 bar blues better than a Mexican Squire? Possibly, but maybe not £11500 better... Bows = a minefield of subjectivity and trial and error. My first bow cost £50 made of plastic and was wonderful. Get a teacher! 😂

Agreed... (thats if the OP wants to turn to the dark side and go down the arco path!) My old teacher said "for beginners a rough guide is to spend about a 1/4 of the value of your instrument on your bow." (or something like that!)

When you play bass you don't actually look at the neck (just like a violin, viola and cello - you physically can't see the neck on those instruments as your playing them). Fretted instruments are much simpler to play but also quite restrictive (frets confuse me if I look down at them... Nasty little finger traps as I call them! I find it easier and more natural not to look!) It's all about string stop, neck heel, arm shoulder and head positioning and most importantly practice practice practice...

Nice one. Great job done - plus it's nice to see that the 3 tuners have been fitted to the correct side of the peg box leaving the other 2 on the "bass" side. Bowing - buy a pot of "Pops" or "Nymans" put loads on and take it slowly with lots of bow weight. Enjoy

Yes, it is a superb performance of the famous Grand Duet played by Rinat and his daughter. (did you know that Bottesini originally wrote it for 2 double basses! But his buddy Paganini was jealous of the gorgeous tune so tweaked the first bass part for violin...) I was responding to the OP who wanted to clarify my original comment of "Oh, and don't think like a bass guitarist... Its a TOTALLY different beast"... The DB is my lifelong companion but I was concerned that if the OP didn't get the basics right it could do some physical damage and lead to injury - I strongly suggested not to underestimate the DB and get some basic lessons. Do not tackle the DB with a BG technique or mentality! 😉 The Bottesini - you're right in saying it's definitely not a beginners piece (I've had a lifetime of playing and I can still only get about 80% of the Bottesini... Its a beast!). I was just giving an example of what a bass can do and how differently the 2 instruments are. I use two differing thought processes on how I address each instruments technique. One day I'll nail that bloody Bottesini properly (and the Dittersdorf plus that superb solo by Stanley Clark and of course Victor Wooton's Amazing Grace!) but for me the way Rinat plays the Bottesini is truly inspiring. (annoyingly my much younger desk partner can play it to about 95%!!... But not like Rinat could 😍) RIP Rinat you were one of the greatest bassists ever...😥

I'll attach one of my favourite YouTube clips... Regardless of your musical style and genre watch it all the way through just to see what a bass can do. I love my bass guitars (especially my '72 P bass) and it's great to groove on Superstition or Mr Brightside but it's just all too easy to play loud and fast, nothing compares to the real thing in dynamics, speed, range or satisfaction.

It'll literally take pages and pages to describe the difference.... Ive been playing double bass professionally for over 35yrs and I'm still no where near mastering it. I reckon the bass guitar can only play about 20% of what a double bass can do (especially with a bow and a lifetime of playing! 😂) Bass guitar is a plank with pickups to capture the fluctuating magnetic field over its pickups. On a double bass the whole thing "breathes" YOU generate the sound by physically vibrating a 42" long string with HUGE forces and vibrating masses. If you want louder you can't turn a tiny knob and get instant volume. The dynamic range of a DB is huge, you can literally shake windows unamplified, but YOU need to generate that sound. You use muscles you didn't know you had. Humidity/temperatures and environment have an enormous effect on how the bass "speaks" (some days you'll get to the concert hall and it's like the thing says "I'm cold, nope you'll not get a note out of me today, put me back in my case"!) Strings, nut, tail piece, spike, bridge, sound post and bass bar all have an enormous effect on your playing enjoyment as do your fingers. Be prepared to answer some funny questions going into Disney when they try to take your fingerprints... You won't have any! Bass guitar lightly pluck with finger tips, DB, you pluck with the side of your fingers and whole hand arm, shoulder, back and your hips. Going for a true FF the note has to start with your biggest muscles, and then play the Bottesini and you'll need the litest of touches, flexibility, with finesse and the dexterity of picaso applying the finishing touches to his finest masterpiece! If you think it's just a big bass guitar then you're only using it to 5% of its capabilities or you're not playing it properly... Oh,top tip - the bass will have sh*t or knackered strings on it. Budget for a set of Evahs or Spiros to wake it up (£220 for a set of Evahs these days) Seriously consider a teacher..

Don't forget once you have your instrument, contact a local teacher and get yourself some basic posture and technique lessons. Just a few to set you on the straight and narrow. It may save you serious pain/muscle strains and avoid some common bad habits. Oh, and don't think like a bass guitarist... Its a TOTALLY different beast. Most importantly, have fun!

You need a High Pass Filter. You don't mention what pickup you're using of if you're going through a preamp. It often helps if you can switch the phasing 180° but unless you have that facility then get yourself a HPF to cut all the mud/boominess below your "boom" threshold.

I tried one... Complete disaster! Avoid! (IMO) If you want the best, fit a Yamahiko pickup. They've been around for +25yrs,completely bomb proof, superior tone, great arco sound and if you buy the one sensor version its only just a little more expensive than the Realist and Full Circle (that is based on the much better yamahiko)

My AI Clarus SL 2 is so good It wouldn't even cross my mind to start trialing valve amps... (I go through a Barefaced cab which gets as clean as you want)

Give them a call, perhaps they've stopped adding the straps? On the other hand it makes your choice easier. 😊

It's been a while since I ordered a Tuff Bag. Give String Emporium a call and have a chat... They were very accomodating and even gave me a discount (as there are not many in the UK I suspect they were eager to help out...) plus they're trying to replace the great reputation of Mooradian with their own Tuff Bag brand. I think it's worth a phone call, you never know... 😏 I'll try to weigh mine when I get it back (currently out with a student). But it's definitely lighter than the SW.

Just a thought... Now that the wonderfully informed and patriotic public has voted Brexit (*shoots foot off #idiots) 🤦 you'll probably be looking at import duty and tax, shipping the SW case over from Germany...?

Hi. Me again....! The Soundwear trolly isn't available any more (they were crazy expensive when they were! - no one bought one either). Once the bass buggy came out it took over. Its just so simple, indestructible and safe. I don't know many players that still use their bass wheel (don't even know what happened to mine? May be in the garage somewhere?). The problem was that it always rolled... You couldn't stop and relax, or stop to chat, every time you opened a door it would roll off somewhere plus to reduce the shocks of pavement gaps, gravel etc I would have to run it almost flat to cushion the "ride" which made it a right pita! Get a Bass buggy it's the new industry standard and not too expensive. Plus you can stand the bass up when it's on and relax. It's not always "on the move" that needs constant attention like a wheel. As I mentioned before my 200yr old £110k English bass ONLY EVER goes in the Soundwear. My other basses happily go in the excellent Tuff Bag (that should give you a clue as to how much better the superior protection is... 😁) I seem to remember during a phone conversation with the Tuff Bag shop that they marked up the package as gift (or repaired item) or something like that so I definitely did not pay any import duty, but it was something like £50 postage. Can't remember to be honest.. Definitely much cheaper than the SW. Ultimately its a tradeoff, top money, best protection but very heavy =SW. Lighter, more padding, better straps, (I think the zips are better too) cheaper =TB If you have a priceless bass that needs ultimate protection go for SW for anything else the TB will be perfect. If you want to have a look at my cases feel free to pop in for a coffee and a chat. (and if I can find my wheel you can have the little bugger as well!) Happy hunting.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I haven't mentioned Messina cases (the recognised number 3 best case) is that occasionally the stitching pulls out after about 3 - 5yrs...😉🤔

Cases are subjective and have various prices (obviously). The 2 standout cases used by most professional players are Soundwear (in Europe) or Mooradian (favoured by US players). Both have rucksack style straps. Soundwear =THE best case money can buy as agreed by most pros. Plus they were around £800 but are now around £600. Ive had mine for over 20yrs and it still looks new, no failures or tears etc (I go out 3x a week) and it's the only case I trust to put my 200yr old English bass in. Mooradian, bad news is that unfortunately they are now not being made but you can buy a Tuff Bag which are absolutely identical to my eyes with the addition of even more padding, extra handles and other improvements. (off the top of my head they're around £350??) You can contact Mooradian and they will make you a custom one-off (mega bucks) but general production has now stopped. The story goes that the Mooradian guy packed up but sold the pattern to Tuff Bag then they improved it. Lighter than Soundwear but it has the main zip on the "wrong side" - left hand side of the bass - but that doesn't take long to get used to. I have owned one for 5 yrs and its also like new - I use it to safely carry my big 5 stringer. (much cheaper than the Soundwear but you have to import one from the states) but the tuff bag (Mooradian) is actually easier to carry and load as it has more handles. Both cases I can whole heartedly recommend. Over the years I've seen many others fail, I'm sticking to the best 2 available. Recently a friend had her bass in a Julius and Roth case on back pack straps that snapped and the bass fell directly onto the spike pushing the block up inside the bass and splitting the front and back (it's currently being repaired at around £2900!!) as it was on her back she couldn't react to catch the bass.. Cases with built in wheels - don't do it! I've seen so many tears and rips around the wheel areas over the years plus they can snag and get caught (I've literally seen 10 - 15 students with split cases from the wheels - Tom and Will cases seem to really suffer from this after a couple of years or so. Get a "bass buggy" you'll never use back pack straps again - problem solved. (I'm not a Tuff Bag (aka Mooradian) or Soundwear fan boy, just that in 40yrs of playing I've not found any others that come remotely close in quality or more importantly security for a very expensive instrument) 4/4 case fits a 7/8 bass. Yes, there are many cases available but I can definitely recommend the Mooradian (Tuff Bag) and Soundwear. Let me know if you need any further information. Ta

Hi all. Feedback for Gareth. Just bought a very clean and well looked after (as new) Acoustic Image Clarus SL-2 amp. Lovely bloke, easy to communicate with, an all round gentleman. I wouldn't have any issues dealing with Gareth. Buy/sell with confidence. Cheers Graham