At first, I wasn't actively looking for the bass, but I knew I was somewhat dissatisfied with the bass I had been playing. A colleague of mine told of a bass he had for sale: a 5 string Peter Elias (a Canadian maker now living in Switzerland - which is where this instrument was made in 1994). I wasn't particularly interested in having a 5 string but I decided to go and have a spin on the bass.
The instant I saw it, I decided it was the most attractive bass I'd ever laid my eyes on and within seconds of playing it, I knew I was going to buy this bass! Sometimes you just know. After having played so many intruments over the years (some mine, most other people's) sometimes you just know without doubt when an instrument speaks to you.
The bass stands up really well with the old master basses. The last time I subbed with the local symphony, I played beside a Montagnana, in fact, and the Elias held it's own. A few of the guys actually considered the idea of selling their old Italian basses and turning a tremendous profit by switching to an Elias.
Joel Quarrington, who has actually owned several fine Elias basses, told me a story about taking several Italian master basses and his 5 string Elias into a concert hall with an engineer to measure the sound levels and projection of each instrument. If he happens to wander in here, he can tell the story better than I can, but the gist of it was that the Elias was actually the loudest of the bunch and projected the furthest.
Having said that, I still wouldn't mind owning Joel's fabulous Maggini, but since I have no dream of affording a bass like that, I'll stick with my Elias which I love anyway.
