High Altitude Bass

[LouisF]

Hi guys,

I am looking to purchase a bass for the school I sometimes teach at in the High Sierras (Deep Springs College). The school is at @7,000 feet, the climate (even in winter) is very dry and there are EXTREME fluctuations in temperature (having said that, the place is spectacular, www.deepsrings.edu).

In the 8 or 9 years I've been going there, we've run through Christopher and Korean carved basses that just split in various places and we now have a Chinese plywood and my Argentine bass (which is under lock and key when not used!).

So...

In the under 5K range (the bass student(s) are always improving under my inspiration!! - and beyond the Englehart etc level) we're wondering what to do:

The short list is the usual carved/hybrid candidates -
Gollihur, Wan, Eastman 305/605, Shen & Romanian carved or Hybrid- or plywood/hybrid La Scala or Upton. But the big concern is the stability/ability of the instrument (even with room-sized humidifiers) to last up there.

Any one with this climate experience? The bass will get a lot of wear and tear, as well as TLC

Thanks

Louis

PS God forbid we should have to go to fiberglass basses. We're using fiberglass bows up there - everything else warps!

[Jake deVilliers]

Surely you should consider the New Standard laminates Louis?

There seem to be quite a few in the hands of satisfied TalkBass members.

[LouisF]

That's sort of where we're leaning.

[emayric]

Hi Louis,
In my school here in France we use carbon fiber instruments for such situations. No more problems !

[LouisF]

Which ones? Quintus? I'm not sure they have agreat reputation here, but I've never tried one myself. Thanks.

[emayric]

I don't know about quintus. I never saw it. Here we use COSI basses (you can find some topics about it in this forum)

[hdiddy]

Unfortunately, I think all Carbon fiber basses might be out of your price range. I think the Quintus basses go for $7-8K and someone reported from NAMM that COSI basses are very expensive.

[LouisF]

Interesting. My hunch is that for the money Arnold's ply La Scala would hold up as well and be very hard to beat.

Louis

[emayric]

A full size COSI bass here is about 3600 euro ($4500-5000)

[hdiddy]

How much does taxes and shipping add to that? We're in the US unfortunately.

[emayric]

3600 euro is the french price with french VAT (19,6% !!! ). I've heard that in the US VAT is small compared to France. So with the shipping, I think it will be quite the same price in France and in the US.

[Ken McKay]

Louis, If you get a bass that was made at low humidity or stored at low humidity for years it will be very stable at low humidity conditions. The fluctuation in temp is not too big a problem except that the relative humidity can get pretty low when the heater goes on. So find a bass from the southwest, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, etc... Try www.Robertsonviolins.com and see if they have a bass that has been in their environment for a couple of years. If it has been in dry Arizona and has not cracked, it should be okay for you in your environment.

[LowNote]

I would echo the recommendation to call Don Robertson at Robertson Violins in Albuquerque. Although totally out of your price range, I bought my Hachez carved bass through them and have had no troubles whatsoever for the five years I've owned it, living in Los Angeles. Dan Hachez builds these at his home in the mountains above Albuquerque at almost 10,000 feet of elevation. These basses are super dry and can handle desert climates and low humidity with ease.

[LouisF]

Thanks, both for the Robertson lead!

Louis