Kiso Suzuki DB?

[stevejp]

This my first post here, so of course it begins with a question:

Has anyone here ever heard of, or played a Kiso Suzuki DB?

Having decided to bite the bullet and dive into DB after 40 years of playing electric bass, I purchased a used DB. The label reads: Kiso Suziki, 4/4, Strad copy, #100, 1982. Looking the instrument over, I guessed that it might be a student model. The bass belonged to a gracious elderly woman who purchased it for her husband (now deceased) 20 years ago, used, from a music store in San Francisco. She said he was never able to learn to play it, so it had been sitting in the corner for years.

The top is bookmatched spruce, laminated, I believe. The back is laminate with book-matched birds-eye maple. The back is rounded.The fingerboard is "ebonized" maple, as is the tailpiece, but thy are both well finished. The fingerboard is straight as a string. The neck is somewhat hefty but comfortable to me. There are some gouges here and there, but using a flashlight, and inspecting carefully, there were no cracks, no rattles, and everything appeared solid. However, the sound-post was out of it , and I didn't want to try and play the thing without it, of course. This bass feels a bit lighter than a Cremona I played a while back, and the detail work is much better than the Cremona.

Long story short, I bought the bass without hearing or playing it. But judging from the quality of construction, I rolled the dice and purchased it. The price was, I thought, quite reasonable for a DB beginner. There is a luthier I can take it to for a reset of the soundpost. Until then, I can't report on the sound of the instrument. It might be Christmas, or halloween, or somewhere in between.

If anyone has any experience or knowledge of the Kiso Suzuki
Violin Co., especially he DBs, I would love to hear from you. Thanks.

BTW, this is a wonderful site!

[EFischer1]

http://www.riedstrasviolinshop.com/cellosbass..htm

Here is a link with some Kiso cellos. They are mostly laminate and hybrid instruments, I believe. Certainly "student" level instruments.

[gomez hacienda]

Welcome aboard, Steve. Good luck with your bass. Don't forget to ask the luthier to check the fit of the bridge, etc. The post is necessary, but so are the bridge feet, tailpiece, and so on. If the bridge doesn't have adjusters, I'd certainly recommend upgrading to one that does. I think you'd be much happier in the long run.
gomez

[stevejp]

Thank you you both for your answers. I have searched the net for Kiso Suzuki, and found only a few references such as the one you linked for me, EF. All I've learned is that Kiso (or his company) was building instruments in Japan in the '70's, and apparently into the '80's as well. Perhaps this is the company that became simply Suzuki and later moved production to Korea.

Hopefully someone who knows the Kiso Suzuki history will answer this post.

Thanks for the tips, Gomez. I do plan to order an adjustable bridge, and other upgrades as well, as time permits. There is only one luthier in my area, 30 miles away in Joplin, Mo., so I've learned to do a bit of work myself. But DB is a much different animal. I hope to get my bass in to him this week.
Thanks again.

[Duck Stab]

I happen to have a Kiso Suzuki 3/4 double bass. My father inherited it and a set of vibes from a man who was the father of his best friend growing up when he died. It seems like a nice instrument, and I just put some new strings on it this past Christmas and it sounds pretty good. I am hoping to use it in the jazz band in high school next year. The sticker on the inside says it was made in 1969 and is number 4.

[Ben Rolston]

I actually played one, when my group went to Japan a few years ago. I can't attest to it's playability, it wasn't set up very well, but the instrument itself seemed to be pretty solid.