Czech Ease acoustic road bass

[Eko]

Hi all! I am considering buying one of this babes, so I would appreciate your opinions & advices! Thanks!

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Click

[gomez hacienda]

Mr Moore played his CE behind Dave Brubeck and Dr Billy Taylor on the Ramsey Lewis PBS show "Legends of Jazz" a few weeks ago. Couldn't really get a great sound from the tele tho. The drag was they didn't mention the band after the set. Great musicians on the stage, but it's like they're just studio players or something.

gomez.

[Roger Mouton]

If you can get his contact information (he used to post on TalkBass) ask Mike Carr about his Czech Ease. I was in the shop in Long Beach, CA (World of Strings) the day he bought it. Mike travels internationally and plays for a living so by now he should have lots to say about it.

[Ed Fuqua]

And does so at great length in the thread Chris posted a link to.
Allow me to say...chuhunh!

Personally I'm kinda intrigued by the Charton travel bass and whatever Ahnoldt has up his sleeve.

[Roger Mouton]

Thanks Ed,

Can you forward that link from Chris or give a clue as to what page it's on? It doesn't jump right out at me.

[Ed Fuqua]

Where it says CLICK in his post, put your cursor on it and CLICK the mouse.

[Roger Mouton]

Ed - Thanks, I didn't realize Chris' post was on this same page. I found MIke's comments and they are indeed interesting. The guy who sold him the Czech Ease, Jon Peterson at World of Strings in Long Beach, CA is very much a traditionalist and I was initially surprised that he even had David Gage's Czech Ease in on the floor.

I must comment on the Charton bass - my instincts are that I want nothing to do with an instrument that has to be "disassembled", strings brought up to tension again etc., etc. Having said that, if Patrick Charton is doing this then it must be "for real". Charton is no minor player in the field of lutherie. For that matter neither is Arnold.

[Mike Carr]

Both the Czech-Ease and I are alive and well in Hangzhou, China. I don't post very often lately, busy playing every night here. The Czech-Ease has been holding up well, no problems at all, execpt for time time it's sound-post fell while I has changing the strings, just like with any other bass, one has to be careful while doing that. I wasn't! No luthiers here in Hangzhou, a real drag because I don't have a setting tool with me, and I'm not sure I'd be able to perform the proceedure correctly even if I had the tool. That night I had to settle for playing a slab I take with me for emergancys. Next day I took the first train into Shanghai to the Shen shop. I had been planning to at some point buy another of Sam's basses to use while I'm here anyway, it's a bit less expensive to buy the Shen's here, no shipping and all. Had been missing my Shen Willow a lot, it's at home in LA, so this time I got one of Sam's hybrid basses. I like it, it's nice! I'll take the Czech-Ease to Sam to get it's post re-set once I get some time, it would have been too hard to deal with two basses on the train that day. I might be settling here in China more or less permanetly. With a nice Shen at home and now the Hybrid here with me in China the Czech-Ease may not be getting used as much as before, so I'm thinking about putting it up for sale, not quite sure yet though because it does do it's thing very well and it's oh so easy to transport. Great thru doorways, up stairs and inside taxis. With a small amp in one hand and the bass over my shoulder it's just one trip from a vehicle to the stage. It's sound un-amped might leave one wanting for just a bit more volume, there's only so much sound it's smallish body can produce, OK for living room jams or other very intimate settings. But plugged in, it works and sounds like any other plywood bass, I used it with it's Realist, an Underwood and a Schertler Stat-B and each of these pickups responds on this bass in a similar manner as a usual sized bass. Even used it once with just a Shure vocal mic on a stand when the club's amp died durring the gig. Sounded fine, even with drums in a large venue. Definatly sounds like a real bass, not like an EUB.

[Marcus Johnson]

Hmmm...buying a Shen when the CE's soundpost falls over...that's brilliant! Sorta the DB equivalent of selling the car when the ashtray's full.

[gomez hacienda]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Hmmm...buying a Shen when the CE's soundpost falls over...that's brilliant! Sorta the DB equivalent of selling the car when the ashtray's full.

I wish I could do either...If I'd only gone to that Donald Trump seminar.

gomez

[Mike Carr]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it sounds funny! But it was allways in my plan to pick up another Shen Bass while I had the chance. I had already booked an appointment to see Sam Shen in Shanghai and buy one of his hybrids the Friday after the post fell. I just ended up making the trip a few days earlier. A nessasary decision, since I had to play that very night. I work seven nights a week here in Hangzhou playing good jazz with my trio and I care very much about sounding the best I can. The club I play in is the first jazz club in this city, brand new, just opened and I'm quite proud of the fact that I was chosen to be the first American bass play to play here. I'm helping to bring jazz to China, many of the people that come hear to listen have never heard live jazz before. I love this music and feel a tremedous resposibilty to present it to the Chinese in a manner that represents it with the utmost of integrity. I'm not good at soundpost setting, never done it before, only watched luthiers at home do it, using proper tools. What was I supposed to do, try it myself wityh a coat hanger and a spatulla? With a gig that night playing music deserves to be heard played on a double bass, not a bass guitar? One of the reasons I'm able to keep as much work as I do is because I really care about this stuff. I guess that's why I could afford to buy a new bass, at the drop of a hat, or in this instance, a sound post.

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Roger Mouton

I must comment on the Charton bass - my instincts are that I want nothing to do with an instrument that has to be "disassembled", strings brought up to tension again etc., etc. Having said that, if Patrick Charton is doing this then it must be "for real". Charton is no minor player in the field of lutherie. For that matter neither is Arnold.

There's a nice little section about Daniel Marillier playing the Charton bass at the ISB convention in the last issue of BASS WORLD, that may allay your insticnts somewhat.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Mike Carr

What was I supposed to do, try it myself wityh a coat hanger and a spatulla?

Chopsticks, Grasshopper.

[Jeremy Allen]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

There's a nice little section about Daniel Marillier playing the Charton bass at the ISB convention in the last issue of BASS WORLD, that may allay your insticnts somewhat.

Is that the same as the article about the B21 by James Ham (in the current issue of Bass World)? It has some interesting info about how the dis/reassembly process takes place--the soundpost is held in place with a pin or screw, the top has markers for where the bridge goes, and so forth. Ham digs the bass, but of course he is himself a luthier with ideas about bass construction some consider wacky.

I think the Charton is a beautiful instrument and it sounds fabulous in Daniel Marillier's hands. I too am a little freaked out about taking a bass apart frequently and putting it back together, but flying with a bass in a flight case is a disturbing proposition anyway (even though some of us do it lots). If I had 22,500 Euros on hand I would order one of those suckers...

Another luthier on here has mentioned off-site that he may have come up with a way of doing a removable-neck thing on any bass, so that one's own axe could be retrofitted or one could have it done to whatever bass they chose. I'll let him make any announcement about it if he ever feels compelled to do so and will be interested in checking out the finished product if he does. Flying with a bass ain't gonna get any easier.

[masmasbasso]

I love mine. It's not a bad sounding bass and it really does fit in a back seat of most 4-door cars. I can keep up with most acoustic instruments in rehearsals without using an amp.

I think they are a little too neck heavy, but I think they did that so it feels like a real bass leaning into you. It makes it awkward when you pick it up and put it down. Like when I lost my balance and fell down trying to pick up the bass on a totally quiet stage in front of 400 people. Bruised ego more than anything else even though I did land right on my left hand.

The bass is a blast to play because of the small shoulders. Thumb position is so easy on the bass. I tried several portable basses and I just couldn’t find an EUB that I felt comfortable enough with to use for an entire jazz gig, even though I do mainly use the Czech-Ease for singer/songwriter road work. I forget that I’m playing a non-traditional bass after a few minutes on the Czech-Ease. It sounds nice with a bow, but there is no place to put a quiver.

I’ve only flown with mine twice, but it has held up well in the trailer. I really wish the case wasn’t so expensive, but it’s a necessity if you are really going to travel with it.

[winston]

I just saw Mark Dresser play a Czech-Ease the other day, and he sounded great. He has pickups embedded in the fingerboard so he can pickup notes on both sides of the left hand.

The bass went through a custom preamp and two Boss volume pedals into a Walter Woods head and Meyer Sound Labs speaker. He was doing experimental improv stuff with a pianist and two laptop jockeys running Max/MSP with special MIDI controllers. Dresser used quite an array of extended techniques to draw intriguing sounds out of the bass. A fair amount of the time the volume pedals were all the way down so the sound of the bass was unamplified but came through well in the smallish room. I spoke to Mark for a few minutes after the show and picked up a copy of his recent solo CD "Unveil"--good stuff.

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Chopsticks, Grasshopper.

Well, I've already got the shaved head! And very much enjoy hearing Curtis Mayfield's classic R&B rendering of "Kung Fu", not to be confused with the more popular tune from the same time period, "Kung Fu Fighting" by another artist, Carl...can't remember his last name, one hit wonder, I think. There is a temple here in town, now if only the good monks could set a sound post for me! But as I think about your comment Marcus, it makes me want to try to at least try it. Maybe use chopsticks to try to grab the post, then kind of tap it into postion with some other kind of impliment. Nothing to lose!

[Roger Mouton]

Mike, Thanks for all your informative posts. Don't know if you remember me but I was in Jon's shop the day you were test driving the CzechEase. As I recall you were sold but trying to choose between the D and Eb neck. As we were both playing the instruments and trading them back and forth I couldn't really tell that much difference in the two. I think I was mesmerized by that Kolstein in the shop and wanting one of those but hey, I rarely ever travel with a bass and if I do it's by car.

I left the shop before you decided on which bass but a few weeks later I was in the shop again and saw your trade-in (Kay as I recall?). I'll be seeing Jon in a week or so........you could always import him to Hangzhou but good luck making contact with HIM by email.

[jgbass]

Here's a large thread on this topic, similar to this thread, with info from owners of this bass called: Czech-Ease