Ouch, or how to turn a double bass accident into an acoustic improvement. Possibly.....

[jazzyvee]

On 20/11/2025 at 19:52, Beedster said:

What can be done?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slight digression. Is it common practice to have position marker dots on a DB?

[JPJ]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

Slight digression. Is it common practice to have position marker dots on a DB?

I think the purists will say no, but I have them on mine as I’m a Newby to the big bass and I generally double between the DB and the fretless bass. 

[NickD]

It's common practice in my house, and beyond that is none of my business! 😂

[Burns-bass]

7 minutes ago, JPJ said:

I think the purists will say no, but I have them on mine as I’m a Newby to the big bass and I generally double between the DB and the fretless bass. 

I used to be a purist until playing a festival stage at night and having every member of the band laugh as I started a song a semitone up.

[Beedster]

2 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

Slight digression. Is it common practice to have position marker dots on a DB?

I have them because they reduces error, I rarely use them, but when I do I’m glad I installed them

[Beedster]

44 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

I used to be a purist until playing a festival stage at night and having every member of the band laugh as I started a song a semitone up.

I’ve been there, although ironically the worst gig I ever did (reminiscent of the famous Richie Benaud quote ‘there’s only three things wrong with English Cricket, they can’t bat, they can’t bowl, and they can’t field’, albeit in my case I was out of tune, out of time, and out of style) I was asked to join a Jazz Trio by a member of the audience who turned out to be quite well known….🤔

[Rosie C]

3 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

Slight digression. Is it common practice to have position marker dots on a DB?

 

I used to have electrician's tape on my bass, but it encouraged me to look rather than listen so I took it back off. That said there is a little burr in the neck wood just where the fourth 'fret' would be, for emergencies!

[Beer of the Bass]

I have two dots on the face on the fingerboard at the octave and a fourth above (where the 12th and 17th frets aren't). Some people are quite scathing about the idea and it tends to get shot down in online discussions, but then a surprising number of better players than me have dots up in thumb position so I'm not going to feel bad about it. It does help me to feel a little more confident in venturing up there, and I'm using the small side dots from a set of guitar dot stickers, so it's neat looking but easily undone. 

Edited December 20, 2025 by Beer of the Bass

[ezbass]

There is a snobbery about this kind of thing, when all that really matters is that the end product sounds good. Having listened to numerous DB players, some of whom are revered, some dots (other markers are available) would help immeasurably. I’d rather see lines and dots than listen to pitchy playing.

[Beedster]

14 minutes ago, ezbass said:

There is a snobbery about this kind of thing, when all that really matters is that the end product sounds good. Having listened to numerous DB players, some of whom are revered, some dots (other markers are available) would help immeasurably. I’d rather see lines and dots than listen to pitchy playing.

I think we often take our lead from orchestral players while forgetting that when there’s 8 or more players in a section individual tuning matters less. And yes, I’d prefer to be in tune whatever it takes 👍

[Beedster]

…. suspect some new soundholes are going to help 👍 

[NickA]

Or buy a pack of these and see if they help:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292979806418?var=0&shprz=EBAY_GB_619&_ul=GB&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&toolid=20006&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338986375&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=9046416&adtype=pla&customid=Cj0KCQiA0p7KBhCkARIsAE6XlalW5IfZcd_Uf--FTf6ENEaToqvPpylhUhmEwS2j7VKA9ACQm9NAxNkaApXuEALw_wcB|null|null&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20398737499&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0p7KBhCkARIsAE6XlalW5IfZcd_Uf--FTf6ENEaToqvPpylhUhmEwS2j7VKA9ACQm9NAxNkaApXuEALw_wcB

Edited December 21, 2025 by NickA
thread drift. waffle deleted

[Happy Jack]

Fascinating stuff, but presumably this only really works when you're playing acoustically? 

[Happy Jack]

14 hours ago, Beedster said:

I think we often take our lead from orchestral players while forgetting that when there’s 8 or more players in a section individual tuning matters less. And yes, I’d prefer to be in tune whatever it takes 👍

 

I've mentioned this before but during Covid I had to take a bass down to Laurence Dixon. Opened the door to the 'showroom' and there were maybe a dozen DBs lined up on the floor, just in from a big London orchestra for fettling and/or repair.

 

Every single one of them had faint but clear pencil marks on the neck where the dots would be ...

[Hellzero]

9 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Every single one of them had faint but clear pencil marks on the neck where the dots would be ...

And this is the trick I was told to use when I started playing double bass. 😉

[JPJ]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

And this is the trick I was told to use when I started playing double bass. 😉

I used to use a china white pencil but eventually realised I needed the dots so I installed proper white plastic mini-dots.

[JPJ]

The latest update from Gary at Upton Bass. I’m liking what I’m hearing from the additional sound holes 🤔 Here

[Hellzero]

13 hours ago, JPJ said:

I’m liking what I’m hearing from the additional sound holes 🤔 Here

So am I.

[Happy Jack]

But why on Earth did he play something different in a different style for the second part of an A/B test? 

[Hellzero]

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

But why on Earth did he play something different in a different style for the second part of an A/B test? 

That's a question I'm almost always asking myself when people are reviewing instruments or anything musical.

 

Play the same thing each time, bloody hell, it's the only way to compare things.

[Beedster]

4 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

But why on Earth did he play something different in a different style for the second part of an A/B test? 

 

To annoy the internet 👍

[Beedster]

19 hours ago, JPJ said:

The latest update from Gary at Upton Bass. I’m liking what I’m hearing from the additional sound holes 🤔 Here

 

I'm going to open up my hole a little (Stop Sniggering Nicole), and using a similar test get a feel for the sound, and perhaps understand what design I might need for mine. I'll update, I might even A-B playing some bluegrass root-fifths on guts in A and a little bit of Jazz on some steels for B 👍 

[Happy Jack]

Any excuse to re-post this ...

 

 

[Owen]

On 20/12/2025 at 14:01, jazzyvee said:

Slight digression. Is it common practice to have position marker dots on a DB?

As I have mentioned somewhere else on here, you will find that most players have at least some reference points in the grain of the neck. However, you will also find that people who are playing classical professionally have YEARS of muscle memory to rely on.