My Paul Chambers bass. new scroll

[samriley]

Well, it's finally finished. I've got the new scroll that I had carved fitted to my new bass (well, 1960's German trade bass)
I copied Paul Chambers' scroll that he had fitted to his bass.
The bass is 7/8, 43.75" stop, big action and gut strings: Plain Dlugolecki G & D, Kurschner silver wound A & E.
I'm real happy with the result. Looks great and sounds even better!

[samriley]

.

[arnoldschnitzer]

Pretty! Did you carve the scroll? Am I correct in observing that the pegbox is original, and the top part was grafted on?

[oscar pettiford]

yeh Sam , ..... ROCKIN !
... looks like someone i know ....

ive played this bass ,and it sounds really, really good

janis

[samriley]

Originally Posted by arnoldschnitzer

Pretty! Did you carve the scroll? Am I correct in observing that the pegbox is original, and the top part was grafted on?

thanks! no i didnt carve it myself, i sourced a piece of maple and took it to a local wood carver here. he copied pics of p.c's scroll and it took him a good month & a half but i think he did a really good job. then i took it to get french polished the same colour as the rest of the pegbox/and bass.
the head is hollowed out about 3" and it fits onto the top of the bass. we cut the original curly part of the scroll off so that the new head could wedge on top rather than just glue it on.
it wedges on there and its glued as well. that way its just as strong as the original scroll with no chance at all that it would get knocked and become weak or fall off.

haha thanks janis. yeh it looks cool hey. and sounds great, im loving playing it!

[Gearhead43]

Gorgeous bass, I bet the guts sound massive on that bass too. What are the string heights set to?

[brivello]

It might just be me, but I would rather have a bass that is MY bass, then a copy of Paul Chambers bass. As hard as you try you will never be as good at being Paul Chambers as Paul Chambers was.

[Barron]

Originally Posted by brivello

It might just be me, but I would rather have a bass that is MY bass, then a copy of Paul Chambers bass. As hard as you try you will never be as good at being Paul Chambers as Paul Chambers was.

It's not that deep. Let him enjoy his inspiration as well as his creation.


My guess is he's trying to be Paul Chambers just as much as I'm trying to be Les Paul when I play my electric guitar.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by brivello

It might just be me, but I would rather have a bass that is MY bass, then a copy of Paul Chambers bass. As hard as you try you will never be as good at being Paul Chambers as Paul Chambers was.

Oh, come on. The first thing I thought of when I saw the head, was a TRIBUTE to Paul, his work, his bass and just a bit of love in general.
Right on, Sam!
PS...Do us a favor, and fill in a bit more of your Profile so we get to know you mo betta'.

[samriley]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Oh, come on. The first thing I thought of when I saw the head, was a TRIBUTE to Paul, his work, his bass and just a bit of love in general.
Right on, Sam!
PS...Do us a favor, and fill in a bit more of your Profile so we get to know you mo betta'.

spot on paul im not trying to be paul chambers at all. i love listening to his recordings and quoting some of his melodies etc but my playing style is influenced also by sam jones, israel crosby, ray brown, doug watkins, wilbur ware, larry gales, jymie merrit, jimmy garrison, dennis irwin, john webber etc and the list goes on.
i listen to a lot of p.c though cos he plays on most of my favourite albums like the hank mobley, sonny clark, red garland, early coltrane etc albums. this bass is more of an appreciation and tribute to the great p.c rather than trying to be a clone.
sure i'll fill in more of my profile....and measure the string height and take more pics soon

[samriley]

just ordered the heavy gauge kurschner wound gut A string.
the medium gauge krshnr A i've been playing sounds great but is just a bit loose & sloppy. rattles a bit against the fingerboard even with a real high action.
bernd said the heavy gauge wound gut A will be a bit tighter and thicker which hopefully will be perfect!
at the mo i've got a new pirastro pizzicato E on it which surprisingly works very well. i rekon i'll keep that on there

[samriley]

loving the heavy gauge kurschner wound A. absolutely love it. best string i've played.
now im curious about the heavy gauge E. but the pizzicato E is fine for now

[contraruss]

I too am a big fan of Paul Chambers. One of my treasured LP's is Paul's Bass on Top with Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones and Art Taylor. His bow work on Yesterdays is simply great. By the way - love your bass with the carved head. I recall seeing Paul with his carved head bass many years ago.

[samriley]

Originally Posted by contraruss

I too am a big fan of Paul Chambers. One of my treasured LP's is Paul's Bass on Top with Kenny Burrell, Hank Jones and Art Taylor. His bow work on Yesterdays is simply great. By the way - love your bass with the carved head. I recall seeing Paul with his carved head bass many years ago.

thanks mate

yeh bass on top is a great album.
i've just put the new heavy gauge kurschner wound gut A string on it. absolutely love it. big sound, perfect tension and sounds so good. a bit growly and raw sounding, bit like george joyner's sound.
im loving it

[klyph]

"His bow work on Yesterdays is simply great."

+1

[debasser!]

Originally Posted by samriley

Well, it's finally finished.

NICE!!!

There's always one knocker, it doesn't matter what you say!

It will help during those hard gigs to just look a little up and get some PC inspiration!

[Marcus Johnson]

Bass looks great, Sam.

I have a feeling we could hang.... all the guys you list as influences are the ones that really live inside my head as well.

[samriley]

Well I had a slight accident while re-stringing this bass last week. the bridge snapped on one side where the adjuster is. I've never come across a problem like this before, I am always careful to put slight pressure down on the bridge with my right hand while tuning up to prevent the strings, moreso the round wounds, pulling the top of the bridge forward. So I believe it was nice and straight but just was weak enough to give way. BANG!! part of it flew across the room hitting the window, and I found one of the feet behind a chair in the corner of the room. And yes, the sound post fell over too .... was not impressed. and all of this was at about 11pm, when I had a gig the next morning.
(yeh I know, 'why was I changing strings the day before a gig??!' - because it was a short gig, no amp, then I had 4 days for the strings to settle before the next gig, plus I was super keen to try these new guts)
Anyhow, BEFORE the bridge broke, the bass sounded incredible. I havent heard anything like it, especially on my bass. The strings in question, are a full set of NOS Artone guts. Just awesome, this is the tone I have been searching for and come very close to with other strings, but of course each brand of gut string have slightly different tension and gauge, all affecting the sound.
I was running back and forward to the stereo and cranking some old LP's of Paul Chambers, particularly his solo on 'Good Bait' on Soultrane, and his solo walking line at the beginning of the blues on Louis Smith's 'Smithville'. Man this was so incredibly close to that sound I couldn't stop smiling!....until BANG when the bridge broke.
So anyway, I dug out the soundpost adjusting tools and the mirror, and managed to set the soundpost up again in the correct position. And then I spent a good while until the wee hours, sanding the feet on a spare adjustable bridge (off a different bass) to fit the belly of this bass. Took a while but I managed to get it playable for the gig the following morning. But the spare bridge was too high, even when wound right down low, the strings were still far too high about 18mm off the fingerboard and the bass sounded choked. I got through the gig, and took it straight to a local luthier who fitted a new Aubert bridge WITHOUT adjusters. I haven't adjusted the height for a long time, I know where I like the action, about 10-12mm off the end of the fingerboard, so went with the one piece bridge. Best thing I've ever done. Also got him to dish the fingerboard properly so now I have no string rattles.
Picked it up yesterday and very happy. The solid bridge makes a big difference, it has a warmer 'woodier' tone and seems a bit louder. Also I have taken off the big heavy tailpiece and switched to a lightweight plastic one which really frees the bass up, and has made probably the biggest difference to the increase in volume, I was really surprised. Also a couple of weeks ago I made a timber endpin which again I think has helped increase the volume and bottom end especially when playing on floor boards or a hollow timber stage. The metal endpin is now purely for transporting the bass, as it can slide inside the button, whereas the timber one is not adjustable and wedges in there for my height.
This morning the Artones sound amazing. They haven't had nearly the time I initially wanted for them to stretch and settle in before tonight but they are getting there. I am so happy with this setup. Did I mention the Artones sound incredible??
I'll take some pics once I'm finished toying with the string height (I got him to set it up so the action is slightly too high, then I will make the final adjustments and sand the top of the bridge myself)
Just so glad that my bridge didn't break on a gig, but in a way its a blessing in disguise because my bass now sounds better than ever, without the string rattles

[samriley]

[samriley]