Please help. Re: Cremona, Merano, DeVilli Chinese basses

[Janet]

For those people who are not bass snobs.....

I want to get my 17 year old son an upright bass. Money is a huge issue. He started playing in school orchestra in the at age 10. He excelled in orchestra. He moved to Florida where there is no such thing as orchestra (Florida schools stink in the arts).

So, he bought an electric bass guitar and acoustic bass guitar and played those and is in a band. I guess you could say he is kind of semi-professional. I have always hated that he didn't have an upright of his own.

He is now into jazz and wants to get back to upright and hopefully get some gigs.

We have been looking at ebay and online sources that are more in our budget. Cremona, DeVilli, Merona (?) I cannot find an actual store that he can visit to try these instruments.

Can anyone shed any light on them? For anyone who has actual experience with any of these instruments, we would love some feedback.

Many thanks!

[Alex Scott]

I rented a cremona once and it was pretty bad, black ink on my hands, horrible sound, endpin that could have been better and shook all over the place, pot metal type stuff, neck was a little soft, kind of bent around, could not play higher than the octave due to the setup.

If you are budget concious, I think you might be better off waiting and getting an older used plywood bass that has stood the test of time so to speak, because you will probably end up with something similar down the road, and it's cheaper to buy something good once than something bad once, then something good.

When I was 16, I worked my butt off to get a good bass, and it was well worth it. A few years of waiting made it that much sweeter.

p.s. he is very lucky to have someone like you that cares about him having a bass.
Good luck

[ctxbass]

I have heard bad things about the instruments you mentioned.

Here are links to the lowest priced new basses I know of that are not junk.

http://www.music123.com/music123/Eng...t-i52017.music

http://bassesonline.com/roma.html

These instruments will not just fall apart, and can be set up to play well.

Best of luck to you.

[jonly]

I picked up a used englehardt m1 for 600. Just keep your eyes open and wait it out - you can find a playable bass for what they are selling the CCBs for.

[5stringDNA]

Please understand that it is not that we are bass snobs here, but that the instruments you have brought to question simply are not worth playing and will cost you MORE than a decent bass when you factor in all the REAL expenses involved with playing them. After a setup, a usable set fo strings, getting construction problems fixed that come up the first year, replaning the fingerboard, and other issues, you can easily spend in the mid $1000's for a supposed "$500" bass.

Every guy on this forum knows EXACTLY how much these monsters hurt our wallets, and some of us have learned the very hard way that the cheap basses are almost always not cost effective. When all is said and done, you WILL spend AT LEAST $1000 to get a bass, in most cases, that plays and sounds tolerable and doesn't make your son hate playing because it puts him through so much pain.

With that said- Engelhardt makes a very respectable USA made laminate bass (the EM-1) for right around $1000 that is great for a students and has an ok sound. Jonly was very fortunate to only pay $600 for one. Deals can be found. They are very reliable and proven instruments, and I have had mine for almost 2 years, but am upgrading to something nicer. Shen and Christopher also make a good bass that is somewhat affordable- the Shen SB80 and Christopher 100 series both can be bought under $1400, and often close to $1200. If your son is rally serious about this, you should consider selling one of his bass guitars to fund the purchase.

Best of luck to and your son with your search!

[tbassist4]

A Devilli can be a very nice instrument under certain circumstances. I personally own a Devilli 4/4 (actually large 7/8) size bass. I was also in a crunch for money. However, you must be willing to put in a lot of money for repairs.

I bought the bass for $548 shipped to my door, it wasn't in playable condition. I had to find a luthier (most would not take on such a huge repair project) to actually take it on. They replaned and refinished the fingerboard (not an easy process considereing the thick plastic coating on the fingerboard), they added adjusters to the bridge, for it was much too high before, they reset the soundpost as well as checked the other internal parts, they replaced the endpin, and added new strings (the ones that come with are not very good), and I think that's all.

The repairs and everything brought the bass to just over $1000 for the bass + repairs. I then bought a bow for $340, but since your son is playing jazz, the need is not so high, and bows can be found for cheaper.

Looking back on the project, I'm not sure what I would have done, had I known exactly what I was getting into. These gentlemen have provided you with some very useful links, so try all of your options. I was just giving you a heads up in case you choose to go the route of the Devilli. I beleive, however, that I got lucky, it was definetly help from God that got me a functional instrument. I was very lucky to find a luthier who would do the project. So I'm going to say to use the Devilli as a last resort, but first look in other places.

If you have any more questions, feel free to private message me, or just ask questions in this thread. I'll be happy to answer any of them and help in whatever way I can. Good luck!

EDIT: 5stringDNA posted at the same time as I did and his came in first, so let me comment, now that I've read his post. What he says is true. I ended up paying just over $1000, and got myself a bass that actually sounded very nice, up to par with instruments in the same price range. However, that took a fortunate turn of events, and something that could only be described as God's help that got me such a good instrument for the cost. So yes, first look at the Engelhardts, because it is true, my bass was marketed as a $475 bass or somewhere in there, but obviously, after shipping and other things it ended up being, as I said $548, then it needed repairs, or shall I say reconstruction. So a Devilli might cost the same as an Engelhardt, but possibly more. So, there's my knowledge on the situation. Once again, good luck!

[5stringDNA]

Also of note is that the Devilli will most definately have less resale value than an Engelhardt due to repuation. $1k is the magic number- the proof is right there. Thanks for posting that tbassist4.

[Bellbass]

You should also check the "for sale" section on this forum...

[Damon Rondeau]

Janet -- you excellent Mom, you; you must be very proud of your talented son -- the deal with the Cremonas and other ultra lowend basses is that they are actually quite expensive. We're not talking 10 years or 5 years when the neck comes off or the top comes unglued -- we're talking any day soon after you bring it home from the shop. That's when the expensive part kicks in.

The thing to hang in there for is the plywood Englehardt or similar bass -- probably not too many hundreds of dollars more than the Cremona. The former are viable working instruments. The Cremonas and their ilk simply are not, not at all. Trust me, I've got some nasty experiences with one of those things.

[Gufenov]

Originally Posted by Janet

I cannot find an actual store that he can visit to try these instruments.

If you'll give us an idea of where you are located, you might get some advice on the closest place to see / try instruments. Don't overlook rentals, too - especially if there's any chance your son won't stay with it long.

[Steve Swan]

The Palatino and Cremona basses are a double frustration for me. The owners of each of the companies that import them are business friends of mine and if their basses were worth a popcorn fart, I could drive 5 and 10 miles respectively and cherry pick from their warehouse stock out here in the San Francisco Bay Area. For years I've tried in vain to help persuade each of these companies to improve their quality and consistency levels to the level that I see in instruments that come from a company like Shen. It could change, but I'm not holding my breath. I try out every prototype that they come up with from different workshops and factories. These companies have turned out some wonderful mandolins, banjos, and guitars over the years (as well as a lot of poop), so I know that it can be done. They have to see the longterm wisdom of actually doing it.

Steve Swan

[Janet]

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies! We are checking out some of the suggested models and will need to come up with more cash. I had a feeling these ebay "buys" were probably a waste of money but I am glad for all the input and direction!

Hopefully I will be able to report back soon that my son has a wonderful double bass!

So glad I found this site!