Bass versus Bass

[Bass]

This is going to be a lot of fun, and informative too. Your participation is encouraged! Please answer the following questions for any bass with which you have substantial experience. This thread will become a valuable resource for people interested in purchasing a bass. When sufficient responses are available for any particular model, we can have a look at the data and have discussion.

1. Make.
2. Model.
3. Year.
4. Laminate, Hybrid or Carved.
5. Shape. Gamba, Violin, Busetto
6. Fittings. Ebony, Rosewood, Ebonized, Other
7. Size. 3/4, 7/8, 4/4.
8. Hardware. Good, Fair, Poor.
9. Tone. Good, Fair, Poor.
10. Neck. Thick, Thin.
11. Set-up. Good, Fair, Poor.
12. Price.
13. Comments.

[Bass]

OK, I'll get things started! Who's next?

1. Make. Upton.
2. Model. Hawkes.
3. Year. 2006.
4. Laminate.
5. Shape. Violin.
6. Fittings. Ebony.
7. Size. 3/4.
8. Hardware. Good.
9. Tone. Good.
10. Neck. Thick.
11. Set-up. Good.
12. Price. $2000.
13. Dealer. Upton.
14. Comments. Body size is 7/8 with 3/4 string length. This is the European model, prior to in-house builds.

[drurb]

1. Make: Upton
2. Model: Concert (with upgrades)
3. Year: 2008
4. Type: Carved
5. Shape: Violin
6. Fittings: Ebony
7. Size: 3/4 (whatever that means )
8. Hardware: Excellent
9. Tone: Excellent, HUGE projection
10. Neck: Just right
11. Set-up: Pristine
12. Price: $10,500
13. Dealer: Upton
14. Comments: 42" string-length, made in USA. Notes have great "bloom" to them even above the neck on the G. Arco in the lower register is thunderous.

[drurb]

1. Make: Romanian import, one of the "Calin Wultur" basses
2. Model: Panormo
3. Year: 2003
4. Type: Carved
5. Shape: Violin
6. Fittings: Ebony
7. Size: 3/4 (whatever that means).
8. Hardware: Good
9. Tone: Fair (for a carved bass in its price range)
10. Neck: Just right
11. Set-up: Pristine
12. Price: $5500
13. Dealer: Upton
14. Comments: Benefits of carved top obvious, sweet tone but somewhat quiet and a bit thin.

[Brandon Tuomiko]

1. Make. Kay
2. Model. C1
3. Year. 1951
4. Laminate,
5. Shape. Gamba
6. Fittings. , Other
7. Size. 3/4,
8. Hardware. , Poor.
9. Tone. Fair,
10. Neck. Thick,.
11. Set-up. Fair,
12. Price Free
13. Comments. Its only good for pizzicato. Arco is a little thin and rough.

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

1. Make. KC Strings
2. Model. Richard Williams
3. Year. 2008
4. Type. Carved
5. Shape. Violin
6. Fittings. Ebony
7. Size. 7/8--43"
8. Hardware. Top notch
9. Tone. Full, clear, punchy
10. Neck. Medium/ 1.5" fourth finger half position
11. Set-up. Very good
12. Price $9k
13. Comments. For a new bass, it has been very good. A recent soundpost adjustment really opened up the tone. Surprisingly, it sounds and plays very good with Obligatos. A player with a bass about twice the price sat in recently and raved about my bass. It is big, heavy and worth it.

[dchan]

1. Make: Mathias Thoma, Germany
2. Model: Dunno at the moment
3. Year: 1969
4. Laminate, Hybrid or Carved: Laminate
5. Shape: Gamba
6. Fittings: Ebony
7. Size: 3/4
8. Hardware: Good (not sure what you mean by this, but the bass is fundamentally sound overall)
9. Tone: Good
10. Neck: Thick
11. Set-up: Good except for the fingerboard
12. Price: Free, minus setup and string costs
13. Comments:

The bass came to me with a lousy setup - the bridge was cut by an amateur and warped, the strings were old, and the bass was wolfy as hell. Although it was in good shape overall, much of the top-layer laminate in the back was missing out outside the purfling, the edges overall were chewed up, and there is evidence that the neck was broken sometime ago - it was repaired solidly, however.

That said, it had a very deep and sonorous sound. Physically, it wasn't much to look at, but it sounded great. My first luthier improved it markedly by planing the fingerboard, cutting a new bridge and nut, putting in a new soundpost, and installing new strings.

Currently, the bass has become much easier to play under the work of Jeff Bollbach. He re-cut the bridge and nut, installed a new soundpost, put in a aircraft cable tailgut (huge), and put in a new endpin assembly. The bass has never been easier to play. I just need to get my fingerboard to be planed and a new G string to make it complete.

[petesenkowski]

1. Make. Shen
2. Model. SB200 Rogeri Willow
3. Year. 2006
4. Carved
5. Shape. Violin
6. Fittings. Ebony
7. Size. 3/4
8. Hardware. Good
9. Tone. Good
10. Neck. Medium
11. Set-up. Good
12. Price. $6400
13. Comments. Wide shoulders, round back, rosewood tailpiece

[Andrew McGregor]

1. Make. Hofner (I think... East Germany in any case)
2. Model.
3. Year. 1957
4. Carved.
5. Shape. Gamba
6. Fittings. Rosewood
7. Size. 3/4
8. Hardware. Good, except for the factory end pin, which I have replaced.
9. Tone. Good
10. Neck. Thick
11. Set-up. Good (recent overhaul by Peter Stevens)
12. Price. Paid NZD 3200 in about 1987 (absolute steal at that). Probably worth NZD 18k now.
13. Comments.

This is a great bass for a factory instrument. Fairly bright tone, powerful.

[petesenkowski]

1. Make. Shen
2. Model. SB180
3. Year. 2007
4. Hybrid
5. Shape. Violin
6. Fittings. Ebony
7. Size. 3/4
8. Hardware. Good
9. Tone. Good
10. Neck. Medium
11. Set-up. Good
12. Price. $800 + 1954 Kay S1 with loose neck joint
13. Comments. medium shoulders, figured maple veneer

[Ed Fuqua]

1. Make. who knows? the only label says "handarbeiten aus Mittenwald". Neal Miner says it sounds and feels like his Juzek, but it doesn't have that little decorative dealy below the button on the back
2. Model. Laetitia Costa. Although the new SI cover girl is a new favorite, Siriusly, see above.
3. Year. The folks at Gage best guess was "between the wars, probably sometime in the '20s". When Jeff Bollbach did the work on it, he said " yeah that sounds about right..."
4. Carved.
5. Gamba
6. Ebony
7. Size. 3/4
8. Hardware Great, replaced by Jeff Bolbach in 2005
9. Tone. Effing great. I love the way my bass sounds. Round, warm, but with an immediate voice and great projection. I do most of my gigs without an amplifier. Arco, the lower strings sound like a pipe organ, since I use Animas the upper register is not as cantibile as I'd like.
10. Neck. Thin. Sort of. When Jeff did the work, he put on a pretty thick finger board, so the result is thicker than what was there.
11. Set-up. Effing great. Jeff does GREAT work.
12. Price. In 89(?) when I got this bass, I paid $2K for it. The overhaul the Jeff did (new fingerboard, bridge, nut, tailpiece, soundpost and tuners) was $2.5K. The insurance appraisal (which is not the same as what I could sell it for) that I got [b][i]prior[b][i] to the work being done was $10K. Given the current economic realities, I could get between $8 and 10K for it.
13. Comments. This bass sounds like what I hear in my head when I think about playing bass....

[M Ramsey]

1. American Standard
2. Serial # 731
3. 1938-1941
4. Laminate
5. Gamba
6. Rosewood
7. large 3/4-small 7/8
8. Original hardware Good
9. Tone really Good
10. Neck medium, not too thick, not too thin.
11. Set-up originally, who knows? Now, very good.
12. Price I've seen $3000-$6000 range
13. Comments: My search is over for plywood basses with this one. Provided my ship comes in, loaded with money, then I may seek out a nice 300-year-old, carved Italian bass.

[Treyzer]

1. Make - Czech..
2. Model Unknown
3. Year. Ex teacher & former luthier estimates about 100 yrs
4. Carved
5. Gamba,
6. Fittings. Ebony
7. Size. 7/8
8. Hardware. Fair (repced original hatpegs about 2001
9. Tone. Fair
10. Neck. Thick
11. Set-up. Fair
12. Price: supposedly 8K to 10K
13. Comments. This bass has lots of sentimental value. I've had it since the early 1970's and a former teacher, Herb Mickman picked it out for me.

[Treyzer]

1. Make Lemur- Chinese- Sunrise
2. Model - Venice
3. Year - 2006
4. Carved
5. Violin
6. Ebony
7. Size. 3/4,
8. Hardware. Good
9. Tone. Good
10. Neck. Thin with a very good & ebony fingerboard that makes it feel much thicker. The neck has also been reinforced so it is very stable.
11. Set-up. Good
12. Price. $4K - $5K
13. Comments. We don't have any luthiers on Kauai and it is almost impossible to keep my old Czech bass in top, playable condition. I bought this bass as my main gig bass because it is fairly new and very sturdy. I have really become attached to it. It is very clear, intonation is good, she is easy to play, has plenty of growl as well as sustain. This bass actually records way better than my older bass IMHO. It also cuts through way better on the bandstand. It's a very pretty bass IMO.

[mjt0229]

Does this thread make sense? Aren't we encouraging the thing that we always tell new forum members not to do? And isn't this all pretty subjective? Is anyone really going to put a description of tone that isn't positive?

[reedo35]

1. Make. Wilfer
2. Model. Heidi Klum
3. Year. 1923
4. TypeCarved.
5. ShapeViolin
6. FittingsEbony
7. Size. 3/4
8. Hardware Good
9. Tone. Complex, warm but punchy
10. Neck. Reinforced
11. Set-up. Ongoing experiment
12. Price. In 91' when I got this bass, I paid $6K for it. The overhaul done by Tobias Festl in Germany (new fingerboard, bridge, nut, soundpost +Top repairs) was $1.5K.
I could probably get between $8 and 10K for it.
13. Comments.This Bass was formerly owned by one of the Pittsburgh Symphony Bass Players and a former teacher. I acquired it when he passed on, so it has some sentimental value..

[Kevin Hsieh]

1. Xuechang Sun
2. Unsure
3. 2000s
4. Carved
5. Violin
6. Ebony
7. 3/4
8. Good
9. Good
10. Thick
11. Good
12. 3700
13. My first bass. I get comments on its quality from bassists that sit in on it at jam sessions in New York

[hirort]

1. Make. Josef und Kurt Wilfer
2. Model. N/A
3. Year. 1972
4. type. Carved
5. Shape. Violin
6. Fittings. Ebony
7. Size. 3/4
8. Hardware. Good
9. Tone. Good
10. Neck. Rather thick
11. Set-up. Good
12. Price. $6,000 paid in 1979
13. Comments. Easy to play with good projection in both pizz and arco.

[JtheJazzMan]

1. Make - Gliga
2. Model - ST 2.4.2?
3. Year - 2006
4. Fully Carved.
5. Shape - Violin
6. Fittings - Ebony
7. Size - 3/4
8. Hardware - Good
9. Tone - See comments
10. Neck - Thin.
11. Set-up - Good
12. Price - $5000
13. Comments: Tone is on the thinner side. still has oomph and bass but it focuses more on note clarity and precision. thumb position is fantastically clear. great for low action and steel strings, go nuts on thumb position solos

[Paul Warburton]

Nice idea for a thread, Bass.

Make. Joseph Bohmann. Five string. Low B.
Model. Hell if I know. Maggini like.
Year. 1888.
Type. Carved. One thin veneer on ribs.
Shape. Violin. With double shoulders.
Fittings. Ebony.
Size. 7/8.
Hardware. Unbelievably gorgeous machines.
Tone. Very substantial. Thick. Dark. Due to the amount of wood used, and the extra weight of the machines....not real loud.
Neck. For a fiver, thin. The fact that Joe laid the FB over the side of the neck to accommodate the B, allowed him to keep the thickness down.
Set up. Medium bridge height w/ Spiro Orchestras.
Price. Many, many thousands of American dollars and cents.
Comments. One of the most ornate double basses in the world. Five piece neck...two pieces of ebony sandwiched in between three pieces of curly maple. Ebony and bone inlaid eyes on the scroll tips. Cast iron, full plates cast over thick brass machines. Double shoulders laid on top of regular shoulders. Triple purfling. Carved lips around f's. Double ebony inlays down the back.
If all that 'twernt enough.....I am the original owner and player of this beauty due to an estate squabble in Joe's family.

Me lucky? You betcher ass.
Is my pride showing? You betcher ass.