Fairly impressed with a Shen

[pauliebass]

Hi all,
I just wanted to share an experience I had last night subbing with a college orchestra. I was hired to fill out the bass section, and the student next to me was playing the school owned Shen willow Germunder. Man, that bass was loud! The section really had no idea of pianissimo playing and this bass didn't help. We essentially had 7 pitch centers going on, but this is not the point. I asked to play it at intermission, and man that thing put out like a fog horn. It really pushed back in a pleasant way when unleashing the right arm. It vibrated wonderfully and was hard to "over play" the strings. This kind of really makes me intrigued about willow as a tone wood. The sound was rough around the edges, but it was always present. It seemed with proper playing this bass would continue to open up. I think this would make an excellent second bass for me someday. Something to reek sonic havoc in the bass section for "heavy" music. My 150 year old bass throws forward and isn't always the best "under ear" in a section, but this shen created a bubble of sound. I don't know how much it was pushing forward, but I imagine it was. I would like to spend more time with one to see if my initial "5 minutes on stage" impression was true. Putting all this together, including price, this really seems like a great buy if it's setup properly. I just thought I would share.

[LeslieD]

I've heard that that's a pretty powerful bass. I've got the Shen Willow Rogeri and I have no problem getting it to blend in with the 3 or 4 other basses in my section (which are mostly a mix of German carved or hybrid basses). I really like willow and wasn't sure what to expect as it matures and opens up. My bass was made in 2007 and I've had it for 2 years. Compared to my two previous carved maple basses (one from a Canadian maker and the other an Eastman 305), I've been pleased with how nicely the bass sounds in the dead of winter.