Jim Laabs Vienna Basses

dplayers1 · #1 03-14-2002, 10:11 AM

Hey, im still searching for my first upright, and i wondering if anyone has tried any of the basses that jim laabs sells. They seem nice and some people seem to like them, but the low price scares me. The thing that also attracts me to these basses is laabs ability to finance the basses. If anyone knows any other shops that do the same please let me know. Thanks for any info, Dana

Bijoux · #2 03-14-2002, 05:40 PM

Those basses are pretty good for the price, very well built, they will last for a long time, I've had two of those basses for about 3 years now and I haven't had any problems at all and I think they sound great with Helicores Hybrids medium gauge, Bob Gollihur sells a good carved bass and the Mathias Thoma bass flatback can be found just about anywhere for about $2500, and they are great I also have one of those, but still for the price the Jim Laabs is the best so far you can get one for under $1000 on ebay, or you may call Troy Laabs direct and he always has good deals, hope that helps.

dplayers1 · #3 03-15-2002, 08:40 AM

Hey thanks for the reply, i think u gave me some info before when i asked the same question. Since you have some good experience with them, would you say that the munich model is worth the extra couple hundred bucks? Also, how extensive of a set up did your basses need, say did they just need the bridge shimmed or did the fretboard need to get plained? Thanks for any more info you can give me, Dana

Bijoux · #4 03-15-2002, 01:26 PM

OK, I have the Munich and the Hamburg, my Hamburg is an older model with violin corners, it has smaller shoulders maybe 19,5" upper bout and 27,5" lower bout, beautiful model, Troy Laabs can order those on special order for about $1300 I think, both models are essentially the same as far as sound, playability, etc, I think that now they are even more the same being that the models are identical, as far as set up go, you'll need strings, a play mostly jazz and helicores hibryds sound best on these basses, Bridge needs work and fingerboard needs little work, I shaved mine, it took a long time, I had a real long straight edge and as I work on it a compared with one of my basses that had the fingerboard done professionally, I really don't know how consistent these guys are, but for the price is the best buy, I've had a Engleheart and a Kay and I think that these is a great upgrade.