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Acoustic Bass


grogg
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This was my birthday present to myself this year, re-strung with Daddario chrome flats, and it's a serious challenge to play well but I love it:

https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/en/products/view/dragonfly-fretless-5

Yes it's hard to play, but worth it. As said above, you have to play an acoustic bass hard. The Fishman electronics on this are superb, give you real control and subtlety in your tone, even a "notch" which can tune out the exact frequency which gives you feedback from the body cavity, so you don't need a soundhole cover when you're plugged in.

I can take it out to play with friends who don't have amps (!?) which is important, but also it's a joy to play and really does pull its weight in the small venue, blues / folk I do.

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I just can't see the point in acoustic bass guitars for the most part.

They do have a distinctive sound with fresh bronze strings, but that 'twang" quickly gets swallowed up in any kind of mix. Inevitably, you'll have to plug it in and make use of a rudimentary pick up or piezo system, battling against feedback issues that you wouldn't get with an electric solidbody.

That's before you even consider that even expensive, handcrafted acoustics that play 'well' still don't play or sound as good as a cheap electric bass. Leo Fender invented the Precision to do away with the problems of using an upright bass in a live setting. If he can defeat an instrument as big as a grown man with hundreds of years of history behind it with a simple P bass, what hope does a chatty ABG have?

Part of the problem now is that sh*t acoustic guitar stuff is popular in the charts and bandleaders with no real musical knowledge or experience want to see the acoustic bass guitar simply for 'the look' or 'the brand'.

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A friend of mine has successfully toured the world with jazz guitar supremo Martin Taylor playing an old Aria semi-acoustic bass. I've absolutely no idea what model it is, but to does sound very pleasing, and Martin Taylor must like it.

Edited by ambient
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