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.