zbd1960 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Severe GAS attack... whilst I wait for my nice 4 string ACG to be built decided I'd have an experiment with 6 string basses. I play the viola da gamba aka viol which is a 6 string instrument. The bass viol is tuned DGCEAD, so 4ths with a weird 3rd thrown in in to confuse you. It's played with a bow and it's fretted - the frets are pieces of gut string that you tie to the neck and you have to move them to tune them... The bass is similar size to a cello. The violone is the ancestor of the double bass and is GCFADG - so the bottom G is a 3rd above the E of the double bass in pitch terms. I don't play that but the tenor viol, which is pitched an octave higher. Anyway, viols have 6 strings, tenor and bass use bass and alto (C3) clef, but you do get lyra viol repertoire that uses English/French lute tablature, which fries your brain. Anyway, the Spector is a Legend 6 Classic with burr walnut top and pau ferro fretboard. Standard tuning BEADGC at the moment. Included a pic of my tenor viol and some lute tablature just for fun 🤣 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2112 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Tuning an instrument by moving the frets sounds like a nightmare. An acquired skill, I assume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 No real reason to deviate much from BEADGC. Unless you need Drop A tuning. Sixes are great for chordal playing. I miss mine (Though it wasn't a Spector) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Gorgeous looking bass. Some sizes look a bit cartoonish in their proportions but that just looks perfect. It is a Spector though, they all seem to look perfect! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zbd1960 Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 12 hours ago, Chris2112 said: Tuning an instrument by moving the frets sounds like a nightmare. An acquired skill, I assume. Yeah you tune the strings... then you tune the frets. If you're playing with other viols you tune to A=415Hz rather than A=440Hz. The first fret in particular is difficult as it tends to move. Gut strings are an absolute pain to tune. Being organic in origin, they 'breathe' - they absorb or release water vapour according to the temperature and humidity. This means that if you take the viol out of its case and the environment is different, it can take a couple of hours for the strings to reach equilibrium. As the mass of the string is constantly changing, so is the tuning. This is why you see players of gut stringed instruments constantly tuning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 I’d often wondered what strings our guitarist used…… 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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