Jacque Gray Basses

Patton · #1 06-20-2011, 08:11 PM

Has anyone here owned or tried one of Jacque Gray's basses? I have, and, honestly, I'm considering returning my Shen 7/8 willow flatback and getting one of his. My bass hunt came down to his bass and the big Shen. I was definitely leaning towards Jacque's bass and was already going to get it, but chose to play them for my professor. He described Jacque's bass as more responsive and having a much richer sound, but said the Shen has slightly deeper sound. Due to the deeper sound, he told me to get the Shen. I was happy for the first few weeks because it's a fully carved instrument and is a huge upgrade from my Eastman ply, but now I'm having second thoughts. I'm not as happy with my bass as I think I should be. I feel like I let the better instrument get away. Any advice?

chris1125 · #2 06-20-2011, 08:43 PM

I went through the exact same situation, well sort of... I narrowed it down to my 7/8 willow shen ad a much older 90's maple shen. I was favoring the older shen, but then my instructor came and he liked the willow because it had the deeper sound, it was less responsive but he said that would come with time. I followed his instruction and about half a year later started regretting it. I thought about changing over to the other bass and pondered over it for a couple of months in then one day I went to practice and it hit me, all of the sudden the bass sounded crisp and resposive and still had that great deep sound. I played it for several hours and I didn't want to put it down, I couldn't figure out what had happened. Since then I have been very happy with the shen, I still can't explain why all of the sudden it seemed to get that sound. Now, several years later I am starting to think about upgrading but I can't really find a bass that I like better then my shen. It's the strangest thing.
Maybe that will happen to you, or maybe not. I've neber played a gray bass so I can't really compare.
Good Luck!

Patton · #3 06-20-2011, 09:03 PM

Interesting. I hope that happens in the next few months. My Shen is about ten years old, so it's had a bit of time to open up. I'm definitely going to give it a few more months. I'm going to hold off on a C extension until I'm fully convinced that I love this bass. Thanks for the tip!

The Gray basses are interesting. If you dont live in Central Ohio (Columbus or Lancaster) or the Midwest, I doubt you'll have heard of him. He works out of his home. He is a good friend of Gary Karr, and whenever Gary Karr came to Ohio, he stayed at Jacque's home. During one of these trips, Gary Karr's beloved "Amati" bass had the neck snapped off at Port Columbus airport. Jacque was the man who repaired it. To do so, he had to make a mold of the Karr-Koussevitsky bass. His basses are made with that mold. The mid and high range have the wonderful, sweet tone that the K-K bass possesses, but he added a few inches of depth to the ribs to allow for a much stronger bottom end. So, his basses are technically bustier relatives of the famous Karr-Koussevitsky bass.

chris1125 · #4 06-20-2011, 10:09 PM

Wow, that is interresting? Isn't the kk bass pretty small? I played it once at isb in 2009 and it felt tiny to me, didn't have enough time with it to truley feel it out and the low register sounded like a cheap cello haha! The highs were fantastic though, are his basses in the same price range as shens? I would think it would be a pretty nerve racking job doing a major repair on the most beloved bass in the country lol

Patton · #5 06-20-2011, 10:15 PM

Yeah, I'd be pretty nervous! He is asking $4700 for it. He was originally selling them for $7700, but he is getting older, trying to downsize, and is dealing with cancer, so he just trying to break even at this point. And he let me play his 1675 Rogeri. Wow.

I've played the K-K as well, and yes, it is small. His bass is a bit larger. It's still small compared to many 3/4, and a HELLUVA lot smaller than the 7/8 Shen, but thick enough that I still feel like I'm playing a double bass instead of an overgrown cello.

PRUNEFACE · #6 06-21-2011, 07:54 PM

In my experience an extension actually opens up the sound of the instrument even more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patton

Interesting. I hope that happens in the next few months. My Shen is about ten years old, so it's had a bit of time to open up. I'm definitely going to give it a few more months. I'm going to hold off on a C extension until I'm fully convinced that I love this bass. Thanks for the tip!

The Gray basses are interesting. If you dont live in Central Ohio (Columbus or Lancaster) or the Midwest, I doubt you'll have heard of him. He works out of his home. He is a good friend of Gary Karr, and whenever Gary Karr came to Ohio, he stayed at Jacque's home. During one of these trips, Gary Karr's beloved "Amati" bass had the neck snapped off at Port Columbus airport. Jacque was the man who repaired it. To do so, he had to make a mold of the Karr-Koussevitsky bass. His basses are made with that mold. The mid and high range have the wonderful, sweet tone that the K-K bass possesses, but he added a few inches of depth to the ribs to allow for a much stronger bottom end. So, his basses are technically bustier relatives of the famous Karr-Koussevitsky bass.

Patton · #7 06-21-2011, 10:33 PM

I've heard that many times. I want one badly, but at the moment, an extension would crack open my wallet more than it would the sound of my bass.

PRUNEFACE · #8 06-21-2011, 10:44 PM

well, I don't know as my Shen hasnt been around long enough to truly break in. It sounds WAAAY better than it did on day one, BUT it sounded pretty dang good even then. It just gets better and better with time. But an extension almost definitely would help. This Mr Gray sounds interesting.

Dave Irwin · #9 06-22-2011, 07:11 PM

Jacque is a great guy. I took a few lessons with him and played some of his instruments then. They do play very nice but I never felt they were very loud. Maybe a matter of breaking them in.. That and I don't care for red red or orange red basses. I like the brown of the Shen willow. He only have one of his left?

Patton · #10 06-22-2011, 08:52 PM

He tells me that they were very new and required some playing time to open up. The bass I played was a decent orchestral bass as well as a fantastic solo bass. It already had a C extension on it. Apparently, he has enough materials for six more basses! And yes, Cheetos orange isn't the most appealing color.

bssist · #11 12-05-2011, 09:38 PM

Hello, I just stumbled across this thread while doing some research. Jacques is a great guy and does most excellent, top notch work. I have never known of him to skimp on anything he does, and he has been a family friend since before I was born. I would not hesitate to purchase anything he built and would have him work on my instrument as a first choice luthier.