jdstrings

[quote name='Gnarlythotep.' post='1125047' date='Feb 12 2011, 03:39 PM']Hi there, Sorry but I'm not buying. The reason I wanted to get in touch is that I'm a student at Newark school of violin making and in my third and final year. At the moment I'm making two 3/4 double bass to the design of a William Tarr bass. I was wondering if you have any pictures of the bass that your friend has and would be willing to send them. I'm finding it hard to get pictures of the scroll in particular. I can't offer much in return but if your interested could send pictures of my basses as they come on. Thanks.[/quote] If you can get hold of Raymond Elgar's "Looking At The Double Bass" there is a photo of a Tarr pegbox and scroll from an 1847 bass. Also in Peter Chandler's book "So you wan to make a Double Bass" there is a photo of an 1834 Tarr bass. I believe that he also supplies plans for this (and other basses). If you can't find the Elgar book (it's been out of print for many years) let me know and I'll see about emailing you a pic.

I know that you've already decided on the leather dye (I've never tried that one) but thought that you and others might be interested in a couple of other options. Chestnut products sell an acrylic 'ebonising lacquer' in a spray can. This produces a good finish if a few layers are applied and rubbed down. In the past I have also used a french polish with either black spirit dye or even powdered colour (iron oxide) added. This produces a slightly 'less black' colour but also has good finish. If the fingerboard looks nice unstained I would consider just treating it with linseed and enjoy it as nature intended! Hope that the leather dye works ok...

If only.....

I used to (many years ago!) own 2 JDs and have a few recollections. One of them was a GA24 that had been defretted. It was a lovely bass and sounded great as a fretless, but in the end stretching down to the far end of the neck just got too much for me! Those first couple of frets are a long way away.... The other one was a classic series one; it was also a lovely bass but was replaced by a 70s stingray which has been my sole companion since! If I was ordering a nice shiny new one I would: Not worry about the XLR socket (though you say it's free so why not!) I don't think I used it once... Upgrade the knobs to either metal to match the string anchors or wood (to match the pickup covers) Rather than blue LEDs, if I had the funds I'd get something 'personal' inlaid on the fret board. I also agree that the headstock/neck binding adds a certain amount of class to a JD! Enjoy it when it comes (I see that Mr. D is quoting a 16 month delivery time -eeek!)

Get thee to a luthier who will asses your bass and fit a suitable bridge! Bridges come in many many different sizes and shapes -I keep a stock of about 20 different bass bridges but even then occasionally a bass turns up which none of them are quite right for and I have to order another.....

There's a great book by Knut Guettler (I think it might be published by Yorke?) which details much double bass technique. It includes a description of the physics of how bowing works. I found it very helpful to know what was going on physically between the bow and string and therefore what leads to good note/tone production and what results in unpleasant noises!! (They used to have a copy at the City Of London Library at the Barbican if that's any help.....) Also, as has been mentioned once or twice, some lessons from someone who knows what they are talking about are a good idea...

Someone else has been seeking my advice on this one a few days ago. He seemed to be under the impression that it was a carved instrument which it is not. It appears (as already mentioned by OutToPlayJazz) to be a smallish (possibly even 1/2 size) plywood instrument. It may be from the 40s or before, but remember plywood does not improve with age unlike solid wood. Elderly ply basses can often suffer from the long-term terminal illness of de-lamination! I would also hazard that this instrument has been revarnished at some point. The one point of interest is the back of the pegbox which appears to have been carved with far greater care/style than is normal with these instruments. I can't see why it merits the descriptions "rare" or "early".... However, as they say: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

That certainly is an unusual looking bass! Is the mahogany effect painted on...?? I can't quite tell from the photos. My preferred strings these days are the Evah Pirazzi (weich)(ie lower tension). I mainly play pizz, but also do a bit of slapping (jazz) and bowing. They work well for me.

I had a (brief) go on a couple of the Kremona basses at a show last year. They seemed good value for money to me and if I remember rightly they are made in either Romania or Bulgaria. (Garry who runs the business is a bass player himself and seemed like a nice chap -he was also working on a new pick up design...) Check out www.jeromedavies.com -there are a few basses for sale, though the ones available at the moment are possibly in a slightly lower price bracket than you are looking??

Jonathan Githero in Witney -doublebass specialist. Get back to me if you can't find him and I'll dig out his contact details...

I played on gut strings for a couple of years (Lenzner). I liked them and once they'd settled down (after quite a few months!) the tuning wasn't such an issue... I did suffer from a couple of strings breaking; once was following the bass being left in a car overnight on a cold December night. Freezing temperatures lead to very low humidity and I think that must have done for it... Luckily the break was at a point where I was able to tie a knot in the string and have it between the nut and tuner - I continued using that string for months after that with no more problems. I have reverted to more modern strings for general use and now use Pirazzi normal/wiech. I've tried plenty of others sorts on many basses (both my own and ones which I've been doing repair work on). There's a 'house' bass at a regular gig I do which is strung with Rotosound Superb. These seem to be even lower tension than the Lenzner and took some getting used to but do feel and sound closer to gut than any others I've come across (other than gut itself!) I've tried various of the innovation sets and haven't been won over by them, but that said I think they are good value at their price. A couple of thoughts with my luthier's hat on... It's worth remembering that if you swap between gut and steel (etc.) strings the bass may need adjustments to get the most from it. String height and the nut and bridge grooves are obvious points, but also the amount of tension can really affect the sound by putting more or less pressure on the front of the bass. This can be compensated for to an extent by raising or lowering the saddle, adjusting the soundpost, or even fitting a different bass bar or adjusting the angle/height of the neck. (Ok, that's getting fairly radical but sometimes that's what is needed!) For example, a lot of older basses (many of the classic C.19th German instruments that are so common) were originally built as three stringers with gut strings being the only option. To withstand the pressure of four steel strings these instruments often benefit from a new and more sturdy bass bar and sometimes from a raised saddle to help reduce the increased pressure on the front. However, every bass is different and some may actually perform better with more pressure on the front...

Hi Rayman, I too would advocate getting some lessons from a professional double bassist. I myself didn't start playing double bass until I was about 24 and had lessons for about a year (not a lot -just a one or two a month) from a great classical player. This gave me the basic technique on which I could build. [I now make a living from playing double bass (mainly jazz etc) and never had a jazz double bass lesson in my life.] I'm probably about half your size (well at leat half your weight!) but double bass playing can be very demanding on areas of the body which perhaps are not used to doing certain tasks -especially if you're starting later in life. I think it's easy to run into problems down the line if you pick up bad habits or go about things in an 'incorrect' way. I know many bassists, some of whom were self taught, who have had physical problems as a result of bass playing. Also, I would recommend learing to play with a bow -it does wonders for your tuning, tone and sustain. I also know at leat one player who learned to play unconventionally and has found that this acts as a barrier to improving their technique and progressing. Once you get going I would also reommend trying to get hold of a method book by Knut Guettler(?). I think he's a professor at the conservatoire in Oslo and I remember this book was fundamental in my understanding of how playing the bass works in a mechanical/physical sense. This may not sound like a bunch of laughs(....) but it was really good to understand the science behind playing -why it works and what might be causing it not to work! Good luck!

What a subject! Over the years I've been recorded using so many different mics and methods that I can catagorically state that there is no 'best' mic or 'correct' method! Firstly, it depends on the sound of your bass, secondly on the sound you want to capture, thirdly on the environment you're recording in, and forthly how the bass needs to sit/cut through in the mix. (There are probably many more points, but these four seemed like a good start!) Here are a few random thoughts which might be of interest... Generaly I prefer a mic only option. Many engineers will try to take a line from a pickup as a 'backup' or 'safety option' which is a bit lame -they wouldn't try to do this for any other instrument (except maybe guitar). However, as others have mentioned, under certain circumstances eg. recording in the same room as a drummer, adding a little bit of DI can really help to define the bass sound. Many times when recording in the same room as a drummer when line checking the bass the sound is wonderful however once the drums are bleeding through the bass mic, the bass just seems to get overwhelmed and looses all it's tone and character. Having said that, I remember recording an album once where the engineer used a Coles 4038 (an old ribbon mic originally designed for the BBC). It was a home session and I was in a large cellar kitchen/diner with a drummer and guitarist (his amp was in the larder!). It was all very makeshift but by careful placement (as the coles has a figure of 8 pattern) to keep the drums out of the way the results were very good. On another session with one of the top engineers in Prague (at the Rudolfinum) we recorded a seven piece band in one large room with lots of baffles/screens etc and top notch equipment -Neumann valve mics and the like. When we came to mix the album we ended up re-recording virtually all the bass in isolation as it just wasn't sounding good or coming through strongly with all the spill from the rest of the rhythm section. If a nice sounding bass is being recorded in isolation then one mic should be perfectly capable of capturing the sound. It is always noticable whether an engineer actually spends any time listening to your sound in the room (many don't seem to at all) so they know what it is they should be hearing back in the control room. I find that the better engineers will actually take time (by listening a foot or so away from the front of the bass) to find where the best spot to place the mic actually is. I remember there used to be a penchant for wrapping a mic in foam and poping it between the bridge legs -I haven't come across anyone trying to do this for quite a few years which is probably a good thing! On another session (again in a home studio) by the time it came to mic up the bass all the 'good' mics had been used. Out came an SM57!!! I was less than impressed and was expecting a truly dreadful sound. However in the mix (singer and jazz quartet) the bass sounded absolutely fine. I'm sure in a more exposed situation this might not have been good enough, but it was perfectly adequate that day...

[quote name='LeftyJ' post='599901' date='Sep 16 2009, 09:18 AM']Didn't that make the bass lean forward, requiring more pressure from your right arm to hold the body upright? I'm curious about the modification of the TS. Could you post some pics? Here's my topheavy bass: I'm the guy on the left, the instruments pictured are Longbows (but in my bands they're more often referred to as [i]tafelpoot[/i], the Dutch word for tabe leg, and I'm often asked if I bought it at IKEA ). Longbow is (or was, their site has been taken down) an American company that built these cute instruments. One huge log of maple, two beautifully recessed Hipshot monorail bridge parts, strings through body, single string stacked humbuckers, and an amazing lot of fun to play. I used to own the one on the right but it was actually a righthanded instrument (I can feel a lot of pun coming my way, but yes, there is indeed a difference) and balanced very poorly on a strap because of the positioning of the strap buttons. When I got the chance, I ordered a new one lefthanded (and had them add 2" of extra scale length on top of the regular 30"). The strapbuttons are on the bottom and on the back of the... uh... well, 'neck', I guess, at the 5th position. As there is no body whatsoever, the bass tends to hang exactly horizontal on a strap, whereas I prefer to play it in a more or less upright position. Maybe I'll try to make a strap system like that of an NS Design EUB or bass cello one day.[/quote] Liking the table legs! What are they tuned to? I made a similar 2 stringer for a collegue who wanted it for a solo version of Big Noise From Winnetka for a cabaret act: [attachment=32971:slap_good.jpg] It had a piezo pickup under the (wooden) bridge and inbuilt volume and tone controls. In the picture it has bass guitar strings, but these proved not to be up to the job and were replaced with double bass strings. The main design problem was that it had to be played upright and had to be self supporting at about waist height. In the end it had an attachment (which just about worked!) to secure to a snare drum stand!

Well, that opened up a can of worms! And some interesting ideas. I guess the suade strap has got to be the easiest method if it does the trick (I don't think it would be enough in the case of my EB3...?). I realise that I've overstepped the mark as my original post counts as advertising without clearance to do so-apologies to all. I've attached (hopefully) a couple of pics of the modifiaction so all can see and have a go yourselves if you are so minded! It may not look too elegant in the pics, but when the bass is being 'worn' it is less obtusive and importantly doesn't interfere with the left hand. The strut is contoured where as it runs along the body to keep the profile as low as possible. The other benefit (for me) is making the bass hang further to the right -it now hangs far more like my musicman which is my main instrument. (Years ago I had a JD fretless with a two octave neck. It was lovely but had to go as trying to reach the first couple of frets and play them in tune was akin to medieval torture!) The parts used are: Wooden strut (mahogony or similar), 2 cap head allen key bolts, 2 threaded wood inserts, 2 plastic washers and some sanding sealer, varnish and dye. The original strap button and screw are reused. The reason I suggested that fitting would be required on any bass other than an Epiphone EB3 is that the correct balance point would have to be established for any particular model; the EB3 lacks the elongated upper horn of most basses and therefore requires a different method than that for a Fender or Warwick etc. I'd be interested to hear if the short scale EB's do the same trick? I did consider replacing the EB3 with and EB0 and then swapping the electrics (including fitting the second pickup) but realised that life is just too short... [attachment=32939:16092009554.jpg] [attachment=32940:16092009553.jpg]

A few weeks ago I bought a shiney red Epiphone EB3. It was one of those "I've always fancied one of those, and I really could do with a spare (cheapish) bass, and look! there's one going on ebay and it's a bit of a bargain REALLY" sort of purchases. I picked the bass up on the way to a gig and at the soundcheck decided to give it a bash. The bass looked good and seemed to be made to a high standard with good finish and fell to it. I prepared myself for a bit of classic rock as I slipped the strap over my head. But no, thoughts of Jack Bruce et al quickly dissapated as the headstock slowly sank towards the floor! Hmmm, I thought I won't be playing this on the gig tonight... Fast forward to today and I'm standing with one beautifully balanced EB3 hanging from my neck with no hint of 'head-wilt'! It is now benefitting from a small modification which both balances the bass and makes it hang slightly more centrally i.e. the headstock is not quite so far away and it's a damn sight easier to play down that end of the neck. I guess the lack of balance is at least partly due to the fact that it was originally concieved as a short scale bass and by lengthening the neck by almost 10cm does throw the basic design out of kilter. I haven't gigged the bass yet, but will be taking it out a couple of times at the weekend and am looking forward to getting better aquainted with it. If anyone is interested in this modifiaction I can supply a kit with all the parts needed. It does entail drilling one hole in the back of the bass but given the value of the instrument versus useability there's no contest in my opinion. Drop me a line and I'll send more info/pics. If there are any other basses that suffer from similar design faults I would be happy to make adaptations for them, but would need to fit the kit myself. Now, back to Jack Bruce...

Hi, I do repairs and setups on double basses and often have one or two for sale of the sort you mention. Also I can supply a panormo model bass made in Europe by Calin Wulthur (and set up in my workshop) for a little over £3000. Check out my website for more details of available instruments... www.jeromedavies.com Good luck finding one! Jerome Davies.

Hi, I do repair and set up work to double basses. My website is www.jeromedavies.com. I'm based in East london -contact details on website