Travel basses for the 21st century, starting with Rufus Reid's

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I remembered seeing a very large and very strange brass wheel on the back of Rufus' bass at the Aebersold camps this year, and remembered him mentioning that he'd turned the bass into a removable-neck bass with a special case for travel. I meant to post about this after the camps, but forgot. Since my memory isn't the greatest, I thought I'd email him and ask him some questions about it to post here, especially given all of the "it's impossible to travel with a bass anymore" threads and comments these days.

Originally Posted by Rufus Reid

My bass is a German circa 1805, JOSEF RIEGER. Don Robertson from ALBUQUERQUE, NM, 505-889-2999 http://www.robertsonviolins.com/people/aboutus.html
drilled the hole for the slanted Rabbath end pin. Christian Laborie, luthier, from France, originally designed the carbon graphite end pin. I have it and I now use an end pin made from and “oak” dowel. The sound is much richer and deeper, like back in the day before steel end pins.

Mario Lamarre, a Montreal luthier, did the conversion on my bass. He makes basses that sound and look beautiful. He is a Master Luthier.
Check out his site: http://www.lamario.ca/ Also check this article about a bass from 1840 with a detachable neck: http://www.contrabass.co.uk/spring98.htm

The custom case is made of airplane aluminum. It is a flat box and is cargo friendly and is 101” within the airlines requirements of 115 linear dimensions: W+H+L.
Yes, you still must pay excess charges, but you cannot be denied as the weight is also under 70 lbs. Each bass, as you know is different so the total weight will be different. I only travel with a canvas soft bag. The Moradian case will be too heavy too.

Most airlines weight limit is 100 lbs, but Continental and Northwest Airlines is at 70 lbs and they are strict. This why everyone is moving toward the smaller instruments like the David Gage, Czech-eze Bass or the Kolstein LaFaro Buseto Bass, or some other stick bass, or getting a bass D’Jour! That is not for me if I can help it. When Mario Larmarre told me he could convert MY bass, that was the answer. I can put the bass together and apart in twenty minutes. Yes, I know for most, this is too much trouble, but for me, it is worth it! The bottom line is I can play my bass all the time anywhere in the world.

Hope this has been helpful. I couldn’t be happier! The bass sounds as good or even better than it did before this work. Honest!

I had a couple of further questions, and me embedded the answers in the email. I'll post the exchange verbatim:

1) Is this your main #1 bass you had this done to? If so, that's impressive, and shows a *lot* of faith in your luthier. (RR) YES!

2) I assume this kind of thing can be done to almost any bass? Yes, to my knowledge all basses can be altered. Mario Lamarre could answer that better. What keeps the soundpost from falling? My sound-post is pinned with a tiny pin through the top and back. I never change my post, so that was my choice and it does not affect the sound. He cut a new post, found the “sweet spot” and pinned it! There is an alternate way with an apron that wraps the bass before you take it out of tension. This works well, but if for some reason the apron becomes loosened! :-( I know how to set a post, but I do not wish to do this daily! :-)

3) Last, do your strings get fussy or worn from being taken on and off when you travel? The jury is still out on this! This is the only variable that I am not really sure, yet, especially with the VELVET-Anima strings. I am, however, very careful taking them on and off and that the notches for the strings are well lubricated with soft pencil graphite, so the string moves smoothly over the bridge. So far, this has not been an issue to be concerned about.

I think his solution seems to work wonderfully. I didn't even notice that the bass was altered at first, and it sounded as great as it always had. It's also interesting that he hasn't had that much trouble with the strings.

Anybody know of other basses like this?

[John Wentzien]

Thanks for this post.
Very interesting...

[Marcus Johnson]

This is a great post on so many levels. I look forward to hearing about other people doing it this way. But the first thing that pops into my mind is, as always;

Rufus Reid is one of the coolest, nicest people in the business of music. Imagine if he were willing to check in here from time to time. He could set me straight on a lot of stuff.

PS... I guess there will be people cringing at the notion of modifying an old bass in this manner. My feeling is that if Rufus feels best playing his bass anywhere in the world, he should do what it takes to achieve that.

[charlespf]

My teacher, Diana Gannett has a bass which I believe was made by the same luthier that did Rufus' removable neck mod. It also has a removable neck, and sounds beautiful. I think there are a few pictures of it in a thread around here somewhere.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Marcus Johnson

Rufus Reid is one of the coolest, nicest people in the business of music.

Amen to that. He's a joy to be around and listen to each summer. The camps are exhausting, but the hang more than makes up for it.

[John Wentzien]

Here's his site.
http://www.rufusreid.com/

[hdiddy]

Originally Posted by charlespf

My teacher, Diana Gannett has a bass which I believe was made by the same luthier that did Rufus' removable neck mod. It also has a removable neck, and sounds beautiful. I think there are a few pictures of it in a thread around here somewhere.

I saw it when she came to the Bay Area for the Golden Gate Bass Camp. I immediately recognized it as it's shown on Mario Lamarre's website: www.lamario.ca. Great sound. The scupture/scroll is a little too much for some folks but I love it.

[MingusAmongUs]

You forgot to ask him, "when you played the Keystone with Dexter, and you were playing the sh** out of that bass line on The Panther, did the audience literally get blown back off their chairs, and out the door?"

Anyone who hasn't heard this 3-disc set, (Dexter Gordon, Nights at the Keystone, Blue Note and I believe Mosaic) do yourself a favor and check it out. If you can find it.

[synaesthesia]

Do any of you face a problem with RN necks where your after re-assembly you need a while for your strings to stretch and settle into the general concert pitch zone?

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by MingusAmongUs

You forgot to ask him, "when you played the Keystone with Dexter, and you were playing the sh** out of that bass line on The Panther, did the audience literally get blown back off their chairs, and out the door?"

Anyone who hasn't heard this 3-disc set, (Dexter Gordon, Nights at the Keystone, Blue Note and I believe Mosaic) do yourself a favor and check it out. If you can find it.

[bribass]

Yeah, this is precisely what I've been thinking about doing to my 1920's German shop bass.

I've read that the added solidity of the neck joint (as when a lag bolt is used thru the neck joint on a bad break) can actually improve tone.

I think the string stretch thing may be a small problem for gut and/or synthetic strings, but for steel strings it's no prob at all as I can attest to from tours w/ my RN Eminence bass. But, there IS some a bit of 'settling' involved mainly (I think) w/ the bridge and string pressure and top settling into the tension etc.

I always try to put the Eminence back together w/ as much time B4 the show as possible to let it settle. W/ a real bass and its bigger size I think this prob may be a bit bigger as well, but maybe not.

Thnx for posting that Chris.

BG

[Brent Nussey]

Mario's done work on my bass, and even used the shape of the top of it for a model on one of his other basses. I've had a chance to talk with him a bunch about his various ideas. My bass is Italian, made in 1892. The last time I had it in Canada I thought about it, but just wasn't quite ready to give this a go. If I had the chance again, I think I'd probably go for it. The reason it can be done on old basses is that the way he does it, the alteration is only to the neck itself, and the block. If you consider that most old basses have had neck grafts, or serious alteration of the neck, like blocking up etc, it's not really such a big deal. If you really dislike what it's done to your instrument, you can always have a neck graft done, and you're back to a normal type instrument. If you're really a stickler, I guess the block should be plugged too, but I don't think anyone would ever know....

Fortunately, nowadays I mostly travel around Japan, and the airlines provide their own bass cases and treat your bass like gold, so it's not an issue. But for me, I also agree this is a better solution that a stick/"travel" bass.

[bribass]

Originally Posted by Brent Nussey

Fortunately, nowadays I mostly travel around Japan, and the airlines provide their own bass cases and treat your bass like gold, so it's not an issue.

I saw this done when I was playing there years ago. Literally white glove treatment. It's unreal! Glad to hear they're still doing things that way, over there atleast.

BG

[Chris Fitzgerald]

My question for the luthier types out there would be, how complicated an alteration is this to pull off well, and how many luthiers are qualified to do it?

Also, if anyone could explain to me the exact mechanism by which the neck angle adjusts, and what was meant by the statement about how when the neck angle is being adjusted, it's actually lower tension at higher string height, and higher tension at lower string height. How is this possible?

Originally Posted by Mario

This neck allows you to adjust the height of the strings and to find the appropriate angle with respect to the bass. With the removable adjustable neck, you can set the string height to within almost a tenth of a millimetre, without reducing the string tension. Another very interesting thing happens to the tension of the strings on the fingerboard. If you use an adjustable bridge, the tension increases when you heighten the strings and decreases when you move them closer to the fingerboard. But with the neck the opposite happens. When the strings are moved further away from the fingerboard the tension decreases and the sound becomes more open, while bringing them closer to the fingerboard increases the tension, promoting the emission of sound.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Amen to that. He's a joy to be around and listen to each summer. The camps are exhausting, but the hang more than makes up for it.

Interesting stuff - thanks for posting this Chris!

I enjoyed hanging with some great musicians at Jazz summerschool a couple of weeks ago - but it sounds like your camp is right up there with the best !!

[Brent Nussey]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Also, if anyone could explain to me the exact mechanism by which the neck angle adjusts, and what was meant by the statement about how when the neck angle is being adjusted, it's actually lower tension at higher string height, and higher tension at lower string height. How is this possible?

The way it works is, the neck sits in the block. There's a bolt going through the end of the neck butt that's near the button (the back of the bass). You may want to look at a picture to be sure you see where it is. So as you unscrew the bolt, the angle of the neck to the top of the bass becomes less. The end of the fingerboard is effectively getting lowered closer to the top. So the action is going up. At the same time, the angle the strings break across the bridge is also becoming slightly less, and maybe the distance from the nut to the bridge as well (we're talking small amounts here). So the string tension and pressure on the top become less as well. Maybe it would help to think of stretching a rubber band across the inside of a hinged (folding) closet door....

I don't remember the design exactly, but I think there is some sort of connecting point at the front end of the neck butt to keep that area from wearing down or getting damaged. Someone more intimate with the design will have to help with that information.

[Brent Nussey]

Originally Posted by bribass

I saw this done when I was playing there years ago. Literally white glove treatment. It's unreal! Glad to hear they're still doing things that way, over there atleast.

BG

Yes, I'm happy to report that things still work great. You just show up at the airport with your bass in it's regular bag, and you're good to go. The only difference after 9/11 is that now you have to open the bag and have the bass looked at by the security staff. Pleasantly, this is often a young lady.

[Verth]

Hello,
I've known about this bass for a while.

Haven't tried it though, although I know Patrick Charton enjoys a very good reputation as a bass luthier.

her's the link: http://didacool.free.fr/charton/b21_i.htm

[Verth]

This bass is from 1850 By Giuseppe Baldantoni and he'd already invented a detachable neck.

Perhaps airlines back then also had restrictions

here's the link:http://www.contrabbassi.it/baldantoni.html

V

[Damon Rondeau]

Here's the link to Mario Lamarre's removable neck site (en Anglais):
http://www.lamario.ca/removableNeck.php?lang=english

Is it simply a hand-tightened bolt going into the block? From the looks of it there's an alignment pin too?