Martin Sheridan basses?

[levifly]

Are you the Martin Sheridan who used to have a shop in Raleigh, NC? If so,you worked on my second bass, a Jusek that Jack Budrow helped me locate in Cincinnati.
At the time my bass was in your shop your were building a Panormo and I think you may have used Jack's as a model to work from. It has been a number of years ago and my recollection is sketchy at best. If you are the same one let us know of your journey since Raleigh. Mike

[Martin Sheridan]

Mike,
Say hello to Jack when you see him. He had that beautiful Panormo bass, attributed by Sam Kolstein as a Joseph, but I always thought it was a Vincenzo. Beautiful instrument and one of the top two I've ever heard. A bow on the A or E of that bass would make the whole house shake. His wife, Marilyn, is a lovely person too. Both she and Jack play on my instruments and that's a real honor.

Himself has the Wanderlust big time. After leaving Raliegh we moved to our old hometown in Iowa and I worked out of there, but it was too difficult to keep the cash flow going, so I opened a shop in Chicago, downtown. I loved it there, but I sold the shop after about five years and moved back to Iowa to make basses. Trouble was the shop failed under the new owner which dried up the payments and forced me back out on the road for a few years. Three years ago I decided to retire and we moved to Mazatlan, Mexico. After a couple of months of laying out on the beach with a margarita in each hand and a book in the other, the bug got active in me again and I made a Testore model bass, then a viola, then a couple of violins....and there you go.
Our number two daughter gave us a grand child a couple of months ago and the wife wanted to come back to help out with the critter. I've kind of taken to her myself, so I'm currently looking for space here in Sycamore, Illinois and trying to figure out how to be useful to the music community. I just came from a high school orchestra practice and just being there lifted me up. I love working with students, their parents and teachers. And bass players have my heartbeat.

The challange will come when it gets cold again and the snow blows. Don't know if I can re-aclimate myself to that. I have a blues gigue waiting for me in Mazatlan if I want it, and there's a very good jazz piano player who likes my playing, so we will see what happens.

Thanks for asking.

Your mention of the Juzek reminded me that I think I had more Juzeks go through my shop there than I've seen since.
We had one that was in a fire on a cruise ship. It missed the fire but not the blows of the fireman's axes. That was a fun and challenging job. I don't think there was a piece of that top left that was bigger than my forearm but the bass sounded great when it was back together again.

[John Wentzien]

Count me in for the BBQ Martin!

[Caoimhín]

BBQ?

I'll be there Mairtin

I'll bring the Beamish!

(none of that crappy dublin guinness - only the best for yourself)

[Eli_Upright12]

What kind of BBQ is it gonna be? this could be worse than a German bow vs French bow argument. KC vs Memphis vs Texas vs N. Carolina vs Georgia etc etc.

[Martin Sheridan]

OK Bass players. I'm liking the idea of this Bass Barbeque. Thank you Bass Barrister.

Early thoughts.
1. We need some folks who like to barbeque.
2. We need a place.
3. We need a time.

Since I've been asked to host, I'm suggesting my beloved Sycamore. We have a very nice city park here with shelter in case of rain. There is a no alcohol rule which is fine with me, but if we want we can get permission (I'm told), so we'd need to look into that.

This seems fairly low maintanence to me. Everyone brings a side dish, and refreshments and of course their bass. Entertainment chair anyone?

My son in law and a friend are having their 3rd annual Porkapaloosa this weekend in Sycamore and they work it like this: They'll have 6 or 7 or more guys who cook pork (they sign up in advance). They have judges, they award prizes. People eat, drink and be merry. Not much muss or fuss.

Ours could be as easy as every body cooks there own, but there is something to be said for having some people cook who really like to do it.

Ok. Let's here your ideas.

[Martin Sheridan]

Originally Posted by Caoimhín

BBQ?

I'll be there Mairtin

I'll bring the Beamish!

(none of that crappy dublin guinness - only the best for yourself)

Caoimhin aka Kevin,

Oh lad. I was at the son in law's last night and he had the Guinness in the can with the wee exploding device invented by my cousin's pal. Sure beat the Old Style Light lying next to it. Can you send me a bottle of Beamish Irish Wiskey; the Water of Life. Since I know they don't make it I'll settle for Jameson, Bushmills or Johnny Powers.
ish mishe
mairtin glas

[Eli_Upright12]

Hey guys, I am now the proud owner of the 1996 Martin Sheridan bass. Hopefully someone smart will scoop up the other one before too long. Time to go play the new bass.

[Caoimhín]

Eli - how's the bass? Pictures??? Remember, we won't believe you have it till we see pictures!

Martin - if Beamish made whiskey I'd be dead a long time ago

[John Wentzien]

Originally Posted by Eli_Upright12

Hey guys, I am now the proud owner of the 1996 Martin Sheridan bass. Hopefully someone smart will scoop up the other one before too long. Time to go play the new bass.

I am totally jealous!

Hey Martin.
I'll build you a "top-O -the line" electric jazz bass for trade on one of your "student" DB's!

[John Wentzien]

Attachment 129464

[Eli_Upright12]

The bass is great, doing everything I want it to do. I would describe the arco tones as ranging from a sultry jazz singer to a German opera tenor, with the power necessary to grind out the orchestral stuff. Right now with the obligatos the pizz tone I would describe as Lafaro-esque, big and rich, but I can dig and try to do the mingus/ray brown thing, too. I think I'm going to try some Permanents on this bass to get a better arco playability and solo tone. I'm not sure how this will effect the jazz side, but I'm sure on this bass it wont be an issue. Its funny all my bassist friends think this bass is heavy, in terms of weight, but to me it balances well and doesn't bother me. The only immediate change I might make other than strings might be to swap out the hollow aluminum endpin for something else. I'm not sure though. I just like the bass so much, regardless of any additions.

[Eli_Upright12]

Hey guys, lets see if this works or not. This is a photo of the bass from a recent gig I played. I look about 6'5'' because of the handy work of the photographer, but really I'm only 5'10'' on the best of my days. I'll try to get more specific pictures up later.