When did you stop longing to get another double bass? (or did you stop?)

longfinger · #1 06-18-2009, 08:57 PM

Hey all,

I'm wondering at what point in your DB buying stage did you go, 'That's it, this bass is it, I'm not looking to buy another double bass."?

Did this happen to anyone upon buying their first bass, or did it take a few basses?

What made you stop looking; the quality of your current bass or lack of funds/space/interest for new buys?

Did your longings ever subside only to be flamed up by seeing some description+price on the Internet, or does it take playing a bass with your own hands to re-agitate longings?

Just curious.

Peck_Time · #2 06-18-2009, 09:38 PM

I bought my Cleveland after 2 years of playing because I KNEW my first bass (Carved Christopher flatback) was holding me back...

Turns out I just needed to do more practice

.

EthanTheBassist · #3 06-18-2009, 09:55 PM

yeah, (though i still want a new one) i stopped looking for a nice db when I found out a nice lefty db would cost me my left arm which would totally defeat the purpose! I settle for (and maybe even like) the one I have, a lefty chinese "Prima" by "violmaster." Its a plywood bass, but it works. Electric bass is #1 anyway. I do love bowing though (even more when I learn exactly how!)

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #4 06-18-2009, 10:04 PM

When I got the current bass, it did everything I wanted and more, so now I just try to practice more in the hope of being worthy of what it can actually do. I look at other basses, but with a detachment that comes from knowing that I'm covered in the personal bass dept.

tomshepp · #5 06-19-2009, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

When I got the current bass, it did everything I wanted and more, so now I just try to practice more in the hope of being worthy of what it can actually do. I look at other basses, but with a detachment that comes from knowing that I'm covered in the personal bass dept.

I feel the same way! In fact, when I got my LaScala, I started a thread with the title "I am not worthy". I love looking at other beautiful instruments, but that only prompts me go and play mine.

Jazzman · #6 06-19-2009, 05:06 AM

I knew it was the perfect bass for me when I played the first note on my American Standard...it was the sound that I had been hearing in my head all these years. No more gassing for other basses. Sadly I had to part ways with her. A couple basses later and I have had the same experience with my current Kay.

MIKMAN · #7 06-19-2009, 05:25 AM

Two months ago i brought from Prague a beautiful fully carved German, made by Albin Lutwig Paulus. The instrument deserves a bassist better than me, since it is a "canon". I plan to close my eternal quest with a Cleveland or (as some respectable friends believe) an Upton Concert. My wife doesn't believe me, my friends don't believe me, my web friends and Talkbass members laugh and mock me, so who am i to contradict so many people? It's not going to stop, there is not any way to stop longing for another double bass.

Paul Warburton · #8 06-19-2009, 07:13 AM

Well, after over 50 years of owning/playing basses....I once owned seven at one time......I'm in the market again. I've been playing my present bass for over thirty years, very happily. It's given me pretty much all I've needed. Great recording sound, great in the section and great for soloing. And, important to me, great to put in a corner and just look at in wonder.
I'm a visual nut-case for basses. I've O.C.D.ed every part....from the scroll volutes to the crutch-tip.

Now I find I need something to go along with my one-and-only. Something to help me go back to where I began all those years ago. Something that projects, in NO uncertain terms, acoustically with no electronics.
When I had all those basses in the house at one time, I'd stop on the way out the door with my bass and think....maybe I should take that one instead tonight. Nope....never did.
I don't know where it is, but I know it's out there....waiting.
Call me wacko, but I love this ****.

Marc Piane · #9 06-19-2009, 07:18 AM

I think the key is a solid instrument with a good setup. I also think people sometimes use the quality of their instrument as an excuse for their ability. Only one thing fixes that... practice. I will say that a instrument that is fun to play can make practicing suck less.

I used my first bass exclusively for 10+ years and never really yearned for something else. It is a pretty good quality ply. My dad is a music teacher so we consulted some friends of his before we bought. I quickly developed a relationship with a luthier that knew my preferences.

When I bought my Shen it was more for the tone than the playability. I wanted a carved bass with a more complex tone.

I still have the ply and use it for most outdoor stuff.

I also always remember something my dad told me. I was taking tennis lessons and I had a wooden racket. The oversized aluminum ones had just hit the market. I pleaded with my parents to buy me a new racket or I just couldn't compete. My dad looked at me and said "John McEnroe would still win with a wooden racket"

Point is (barring some of the serious POS bass shaped objects out there) the bass does not the player make.

Personally I am GAS free when it comes to basses.

christ andronis · #10 06-19-2009, 07:36 AM

For me, I bought my first bass not really knowing what it was I was looking for. I bought it from a respected luthier who gave me as much good advice as he could considering my enormous limitations. As my facility on the instrument improved (the word "practice" is never used enough in these conversations, is it?

), what I wanted out of a bass, and the limitations of my present bass became more apparent. I now own a hybrid Strunal-type nuclear varnished bass as my backup and my carved Chrissy, a nice but lacking in some areas, bass. Still, to go out and buy a "better" bass will not necessarily make me a better player. There's still lots of improvement in my playing that i can bring out with the basses i have now. Someday though..........

drurb · #11 06-19-2009, 08:09 AM

I started playing on a Kay C-1. At the ripe old age of about 14 or so, I learned what a carved bass was. The GAS started immediately. By high-school, it didn't help that the county equipped the brand new school with multiple carved Juzeks!

It was decades later that I was finally in a position to buy a better bass. I bought a hybrid. Ah... now we were talking (playing). I figured it was all I needed..... until the GAS set in and I longed for a fully carved bass.

Trading the Kay and the hybrid and coughing up some $$$, I got a sweet fully-carved Romanian bass. I figured it was all I needed..... until the GAS set in which was helped along by playing my teacher's fine old German bass. I wanted THAT sound. I wanted to be able to vibrate an entire room with an open G! I had Upton build me a Concert model. GAS is gone and likely to STAY gone. Anything that might tempt me is so far out of my price range that it's academic. I can also play other basses with that "detachment."

I agree with those who have brought practice into this discussion. For sure, buying a better bass will not, by itself, will not directly make you a better player. I think it can help to make you a better player, indirectly. For me anyway, finding a bass having a sound and "feel" that I love only makes me want to play it more and more and pushes me to improve my own musical expression that is in no way limited by the instrument. The bass is "better" than I am.

So, I'm satisfied, happy, and asymptotic (to invoke a geek-azoid concept).

Sam Sherry · #12 06-19-2009, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longfinger

I'm wondering at what point in your DB buying stage did you go, 'That's it, this bass is it, I'm not looking to buy another double bass."?

I've never had a bass that made me say, "This bass is it." I've had, and have, situations in life that make me say, "This bass is it."

The nicest-sounding bass I ever owned required constant cash to maintain. The nicest-looking instrument I ever owned didn't sound, at that particular moment, as good as those magic words, "Your taxes are all paid." (Sure, I'd love to have that one back.)

There are basses I'd be happy to have. Fundamentally, though, the deepest flaws in my bass are its tendency to play out of tune and its suspect inner metronome. Every time I pick it up I say, "I am lucky to play the bass." That's luck enough for me.

Paul Warburton · #13 06-19-2009, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Sherry

Fundamentally, though, the deepest flaws in my bass are its tendency to play out of tune and its suspect inner metronome.

Yeah, Sam.

Mine hates the key of Gb.

davidAaronCarte · #14 06-19-2009, 09:36 AM

I've got a beautiful newish carved bass that I was originally going to use like a stepping stone. The more I play it I think less and less about that, it's really breaking in nicely.
Now I just have to figure out what kind of strings to keep on it... And I could still use a Kay... And an EUB for outdoor... And...

Eli_Upright12 · #15 06-19-2009, 09:40 AM

Funny story, I just bought my first fully carved bass; an amazing Martin Sheridan from 1996, that I am absolutely loving. That said, I think there is a tendency for any player to get used to what they play on and take it for granted. I was at my friends house just bass geeking out with my bassist family and I played my friend's 30s Kay. Wowzers! that bass sounded killer under the bow. I know that over the long run I'll enjoy my bass more, but its one of those things that catches you off guard and you start thinking about greener pastures. I think that's it, that you get used to your gear then you get shocked and start thinking.

svenbass · #16 06-19-2009, 09:54 AM

I must be lucky. I got my first double bass 12 years ago..... I've never played one I'd rather have than mine.

I futzed with different strings and pickups for about 9 years though, and will be in the market for a new bow this fall. I guess the GAS manifests itself in different ways!

drurb · #17 06-19-2009, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by svenbass

I must be lucky. I got my first double bass 12 years ago..... I've never played one I'd rather have than mine.

You're very lucky or you have strong defense mechanisms in place, or both!

Wilbyman · #18 06-19-2009, 10:13 AM

I dunno. I am all for eschewing GAS, but sometimes buying a new instrument (or, new to you) can be very helpful. I have been playing a carved german bass for about 12 years that I got when I didn't know anything about upright bass. When I bought a new ply last year to keep the german out of the elements, I realized that there was a whole world of basses which fit "the sound in my head" alot better than my bass of 12 years, which were much more suited to the music I've gravitated toward in all that time, and felt ergomically better suited to my technique.

I do think some people use GAS as a crutch. However, I also think there is something to be said for "re-upping" every once in a while if the opportunity arises.

svenbass · #19 06-19-2009, 10:17 AM

Lack of cash is like a fallout shelter!

mkandolf · #20 06-19-2009, 10:56 AM

I just got my first DB this month and already have plans on a second one, probably from King Doublebass. Plus I'm looking for a new Fender Jazz 24V, an MTD Kingston KZ 6-string, an Ampeg stack, more pedals........ Now if I only had enough CASH for it all!

i got GAS real bad.