Help Please??

tallbassist · #1 07-01-2007, 07:38 PM

Hello, I need some help or more guidance to do with different scale sizes of upright basses, I'm a electric bass player and I would like to learn how to play the upright but I'm not to sure on what sorta size I should get - I'm farley tall I supose I'm about 6ft 5''. I've been looking around the shop's for some time & some places say I should go for a full size & others saying 3/4 is the standard & should go for that, so basically I need some people's ideas or opinions' on what would be best to get, Please - any help would be graciously excepted.

Chris.

CamMcIntyre · #2 07-01-2007, 08:01 PM

Ok-i'm also a doubler [started on BG].

Here in DBland the idea of 3/4, 4/4, 7/8, etc is a lot more blurred than in bass guitarville. Most players will play some sort of 3/4. My bass is a large 3/4 small 7/8s last i read. In bass guitar, the common "full size" is 34inch scale length with others being available. I've never played a 4/4 double bass and i cringe thinking about that string length. I think the string length/scale of my Cleveland is right around 42inches.

I wouldn't worry so much about if a bass is 3/4 vs. 7/8 or anything like that. As long as the bass fits you-that's what counts. Granted, i don't advise buying a 1/2 size, but the point stands.

It's well worth it to learn. Get a teacher.

take it easy and if you have any doubling questions-feel free to ask.

Kevin Hsieh · #3 07-01-2007, 08:18 PM

Get a bass that sounds gud

size really isn't a big deal as long as you can play it comfortably.

Cathead · #4 07-02-2007, 12:10 AM

Size becomes important when you go to buy accessories like strings, gig bags, etc. The common size is 3/4. It's hard to find some accessories for the 4/4 bass.

Silversorcerer · #5 07-02-2007, 03:44 PM

I have a 4/4 bass. I'm 5' 11". I did have a little trouble finding a bag tall enough. But you really only have to find one once, and I found a really nice one with some help from some members of this forum. Strings have never been a problem. I can get them locally or on the web, no issues.

Size is not really important. But fit is important. So if you are tall and have long arms you might end up with your elbows bent a bit more than is optimal or your neck at an odd angle with a 3/4. One tall fellow had a problem (reported here) finding an endpin long enough to get a 3/4 instrument up to a comfortable height and he was standing it on boxes or crates or such. He was about 6' 5". I actually think a big person playing a small bass might be worse than the other way around. And there are 4/4 instruments out there. And they can also be custom ordered for not much more than a 3/4 custom ordered. If you are 6' 5", my advice it to seriously consider a 4/4 instrument. You will not find as many to play, but consider: not as many people are looking for those, so that gives you a bit of an advantage if you do find one and you really only need to find one.

I agree that size is not important, but fit is very important. And since size isn't important and fit is, it makes sense to get a size that fits. Try them both on, pick the one that fits. Anyone who wants to argue should try wearing some shoes that don't fit for a few days before they post. Think twice, post once.

Silversorcerer · #6 07-02-2007, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cathead

Size becomes important when you go to buy accessories like strings, gig bags, etc. The common size is 3/4. It's hard to find some accessories for the 4/4 bass.

Cat, will you provide some details on exactly which accessories you found hard to find for your 4/4 DB?

And Cam, in most cases modern full size instruments have 42-43 inch mensurs. One experiences that inch difference in small fractions of an inch at any one position. I speak from the experience or moving from a 3/4 with a 41.5 inch string to a large 7/8 - 4/4 with a 43 inch string. I found the issue of the E-flat neck to D neck to be more of a problem to get used to than the string length increase. And the 4/4 is far more comfortable for my long arms. Things like the shape of the neck, the height of the strings, etc. seem to be far more important in terms of playability than mensur within the normal variations encountered.

I know everyone's experience will be different with 4/4's so I'd like to hear from those who have had experience with basses to big for them or the other way round.

Cathead · #7 07-02-2007, 08:25 PM

Well, the web sites that I visited in the past when I had my 4/4 bass would list their strings for DB and the majority would say, "For 3/4 Bass". And, once I was browsing for a gig bag and had trouble finding one for a 4/4 bass. It has been a couple of years now, but I don't even remember if I ever found one. I remember finding several 3/4 gig bags. Was I looking in the wrong places?

Silversorcerer · #8 07-03-2007, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cathead

Well, the web sites that I visited in the past when I had my 4/4 bass would list their strings for DB and the majority would say, "For 3/4 Bass". And, once I was browsing for a gig bag and had trouble finding one for a 4/4 bass. It has been a couple of years now, but I don't even remember if I ever found one. I remember finding several 3/4 gig bags. Was I looking in the wrong places?

Perhaps. I needed to replace a G string recently, a Helicore orchestral, and I just walked into the string shop here in Decatur and they put one on. I guess it could have been the same for any of the 5 strings on there. It didn't seem like a problem. I know that shop stocks a couple of choices for the B string at least.

It might depend on the brand of string maybe, but the Helicores are described on the manufacturer's website as having a certain tension at 110 cm. That is a little over 43 inches. So the Helicores are assumed to be going on a bass with mensur in the 4/4 range, or at least these are designed to accommodate that mensur. How long was the mensur on your 4/4? I know some are longer because the size really isn't standard. Most of the modern 4/4 or "full size" basses sold by Lemur have a mensur of 42 or 43. Longer than that is very rare these days.

In the case of the cases, Mooradian (3 color choices at Lemur), Music 123 (cheapo one), Amazon.com (has a medium priced one), Bobelock, and Reunion Blues all make bags for 4/4 instruments and probably others do as well. I just did some cursory googling and there's plenty to choose from for a 4/4 bag. I know some of the more limited suppliers may not have them in certain types of bags, but even some of those specialty shops do have the 4/4 bags from some manufacturer if not every type they sell. I'm not saying that it is just as easy to find;- but it certainly wasn't that difficult. I just googled 4/4 bass bag.

The size difference for the strings is over hyped. I think just about any manufacturer's strings would work with 110 cm. mensur. One might pick a different tension string than for a shorter mensur, and different tension levels are common with many manufacturers. 1" is just not that much difference. Consider that the Cleveland DB mentioned above is a 3/4 DB with a 42" mensur. It just isn't that big a deal within the sizes found most often on modern instruments. Now if the OP found one with a 45" string length, that might be an issue, but it would be a rarity indeed.