Anyone actually think they'd use a Hyperbass?

[klaus486]

I could use it. I'll take two actually. Just in case one breaks.

[Epitaph04]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

Sorry, I love Manring's playing and the solo, but I've got to go negative on that bass. To me it's like you go to hear a concert of some pianist and in the middle he whips out a tuning wrench and starts changing the strings! Why? Because it's never been done? Maybe it SHOULDN't be done! So we have this so-called "hyperbass" and it only has 4 strings. WHY? Is everybody so deperate to be "home" with 4 strings that they have to install a bunch of klooge detuners just to keep from adding a string? And so I take it that three octaves on the neck still isn't enough range?

So sure, I loved the music, but the bass sure seems like the hard way to do everything. I just can't see it.

I think this is a first. Am I witnessing someone on TB actually saying a bass should have *more* than 4 strings!?!

[ubnomnar]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

Sorry, I love Manring's playing and the solo, but I've got to go negative on that bass. To me it's like you go to hear a concert of some pianist and in the middle he whips out a tuning wrench and starts changing the strings! Why? Because it's never been done? Maybe it SHOULDN't be done! So we have this so-called "hyperbass" and it only has 4 strings. WHY? Is everybody so deperate to be "home" with 4 strings that they have to install a bunch of klooge detuners just to keep from adding a string? And so I take it that three octaves on the neck still isn't enough range?

So sure, I loved the music, but the bass sure seems like the hard way to do everything. I just can't see it.

I sat less than 10 feet away from Michael Manring playing live at Bass San Diego and it was the most exceptional musical performance I have ever seen.

11 strings on a "traditional" bass could not duplicate what Michael Manring does with 4 on a Hyperbass.

The Hyperbass is about exploring a completely different realm, and although it would be completely alien to me, for Michael it is an extension of his being.

I could not fathom owning a Hyperbass, but I'm awestruck by the artistry of the man that commands it.

Check out Helios... he hardly uses the de-tuners at all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkkzzAjSxDs

[ntenny]

I was also at the Bass San Diego show and I had the same feeling: "exploring a completely different realm". In person, the retunings didn't seem as visually distracting as they do in some of the YouTube videos.

The whole idiom for which the Hyperbass exists is pretty foreign to me, but obviously it has enormous capabilities. I considered not going to the Michael Manring gig out of a vague sense of "not my kind of stuff", and I'm awfully glad I thought better of it; it was a pretty educational evening.

-NT

[camello]

Mannring has such a deep understanding of the bass that he can de tune his bass by ear and retune at will. All of this and while accompanying himself on non-standard tunings and airy notes. I just simply enjoy and admire his artistry. Theres no need to "understand" why he wanted a hyperbass built in the first place. .... JUST CLOSE YOUR EYES AND LISTEN TO THE ENORMOUS ROOM!!

[winegamd]

I am surprised that more progressive and metal bassists aren't intrigued by the hyperbass. I know it is fretless, but with E standard, drop D, D standard, and drop C being so common in a set, you would never have to swap instruments.

[Nev375]

I am fairly convinced it would take a true certified genius to mentally deal with notes changing positions on every string with each individual tuning.

I have a detuner on one string and it makes my head hurt just flipping that one and trying to remember how the notes and arpeggio shapes changed.

This is a signature model designed around a rare savant-like ability, so I can't see it becoming a marketable item except to die hard Manring fanboys or collectors of unusual instruments, and only wealthy ones at that.

[CamboBasso]

Ok Ok --

1. Dude playing is pretty awesome. Really original stuff, not just a bunch of lightspeed wanking off or something (which is what people who aren't musicians typically equate with being a "virtuoso.")

2. I'm not sure why we're calling what he's playing there a bass even. It doesn't sound like one except for some of the open "E" string notes he was hitting (and I realize how futile it is to be naming strings by note when someone is playing that thing.) So it doesn't sound much like a bass, and the technique he's using - what's required essentially to make full use of its weird tuning powers - is totally different than conventional bass playing. Doesn't sound the same ... totally different technique ..

What does that leave? The shape? Four strings? Okay, but I kind of consider what he's doing to be something new, like he's got a new hybrid instrument that has some qualities of a bass guitar along with other strangeness. That's pretty cool though.

[Darren Low]

Originally Posted by Nev375

I am fairly convinced it would take a true certified genius to mentally deal with notes changing positions on every string with each individual tuning.

I have a detuner on one string and it makes my head hurt just flipping that one and trying to remember how the notes and arpeggio shapes changed.

This is a signature model designed around a rare savant-like ability, so I can't see it becoming a marketable item except to die hard Manring fanboys or collectors of unusual instruments, and only wealthy ones at that.

Yeah...

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by winegamd

I am surprised that more progressive and metal bassists aren't intrigued by the hyperbass. I know it is fretless, but with E standard, drop D, D standard, and drop C being so common in a set, you would never have to swap instruments.

For my band that uses low tunings, I never have to swap instruments during a set anyway, as I'm tuned BEAD.

I don't think I'd be able to use the hyperbass to its potential, really. I'm not nearly as creative as Manring.

[Ubersheist]

Originally Posted by Ezmar

There's no reason to get harsh. It would be impossible to play The Enormous Room without it, no matter how many strings you have. It's all about open tunings and harmonics. Even with a 6 string, that's only 6 possible bass notes if you wanted to do anything anywhere else on the neck. Your piano analogy was a poor one. There's no reason for that because a piano uses only open strings. You can get a lot of different chords with a standard bass using harmonics, but they're restricted to a certain flavor, being all stacked 4ths. To getting different flavors, the open strings need to be altered. Manring used to just re tune in between songs, but he eventually wanted to be able to change in the middle of a song.

This bass DOES have a point.

This. There's no way to get the harmonics chords without alternate tunings.

If you're not playing a bunch of harmonics, then the bass may be a bit pointless.

[spade2you]

Originally Posted by winegamd

I am surprised that more progressive and metal bassists aren't intrigued by the hyperbass. I know it is fretless, but with E standard, drop D, D standard, and drop C being so common in a set, you would never have to swap instruments.

To my ears, most bass or guitar strings don't sound ideal when tuned up or down more than a step.

It would be interesting if they ever came up with a 6 string Hyperbass. Then again, as expensive as that bridge is, the price might be a little heartbreaking.

[ntenny]

Maybe this is something that already exists and I just don't know about it, but it seems like there would be a market for a kind of "semi-hyper"bass: say, with the four detuners at the headstock and the three-octave neck, but not the bridge. It's not something I'd need, but there must be more people who could use that than who could really make use of a Hyperbass.

-NT

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by ntenny

Maybe this is something that already exists and I just don't know about it, but it seems like there would be a market for a kind of "semi-hyper"bass: say, with the four detuners at the headstock and the three-octave neck, but not the bridge. It's not something I'd need, but there must be more people who could use that than who could really make use of a Hyperbass.

-NT

Darren Micheals is heavily influenced by Mike Manring and he has a bass similar to Mikes with out a detunable bridge, The bass was made for him by Jerzy Drozd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvEO4AV7UC0

Specs on his bass.

http://home.mindspring.com/~cindynda...ozdcustombass/

[Roscoe East]

Originally Posted by El-Bob

In a band setting, I can't see myself ever being able to incorporate the tuning features.

I'm not sure if the range of the Hipshot Detuners & bridge allow for this, but if I could switch between standard EADG, cello CGDA, and inverted 5ths (a la Chapman Stick) all on one bass I would use a Hyperbass in a heartbeat. And my bandmates would bow down to me and genuflect.

[Roscoe East]

Originally Posted by lowfreqgeek

It's really no different than a pedal steel player using his knees and feet to alternate tunings.

^^^This. (Or a harp, for that matter.) Brilliant analogy, spot on.

Originally Posted by Nev375

I am fairly convinced it would take a true certified genius to mentally deal with notes changing positions on every string with each individual tuning.

See above. Pedal steel gets used 99% of the time in traditional country & western music. Do you really think C&W musicians are "certified geniuses"? No, they're just good musicians with a good ear and a comprehensive understanding of the instrument they play.

[Sartori]

Originally Posted by Ubersheist

This. There's no way to get the harmonics chords without alternate tunings.

If you're not playing a bunch of harmonics, then the bass may be a bit pointless.

Well, another thing he does a lot is that he uses one of the low strings as a drone while doing stuff with harmonics and other more intricate work, up high. If you want more than a couple options as to what notes you can use in that drone-like fashion, then you need to be able to change your tuning quite fast, or have tons of strings.

[keb]

Zon Guitars' offered the Hyperbass for a dang long time now (around 20 years now I think? I remember when it was new in the 90s.)... obviously it fills a niche to have stuck around this long. Personally, I don't delve into alternate tunings so I wouldn't really have use for one.

[Jeff Scott]

Yes.