Double Bass Clifton EUB's ?

Hey subaudio, check out this EUB builder:

Link Removed

mrpc said:

Hey subaudio, check out this EUB builder:

Link Removed

Sam

Click to expand...

OK - this is just personal preference, but that bass looks unfinished and like it's been made out of scrap bits and pieces that were found on a rubbish site!!

I would be ashamed to turn up at a gig with something that looked like that .....

Haven´t tried a Clifton bass, but Mo Clifton is a very nice man and I´ve heard nothing else than that he´s a very professional builder. Contact information is on his website:
http://www.cliftonbasses.co.uk/

Mikael

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! In any case, the design looks very original, a nice contribution to the EUB evolution, and the sound samples are believable.

Anyone tried one of these?



"If these walls could talk, they would slur." -Stephen Bruton

Well I agree about the subjective nature of these things, but I think an instrument should look "finished" in both senses of the word!!

That is - not looking like an ongoing project or kit and also that wood and metal parts should have a nice-looking and durable "finish"! i.e. Not just bare, untreated wood or metal....?

On the Mo Clifton thing - I have known about him and heard about him for many years - as a good UK session player etc. But I associate him with Bass Guitar exclusively and not Double Bass - I also think of him as a rock/pop player - not really Jazz or anything like it....

The basses look nice...much nicer than the bespoke things...but I wonder whether he has any experience in the DB area?

On a slight tangent - did anybody see the "Jazz Britannia" series over last weekend - on Sunday (BBC4) there was a really good concert by Courtney Pine and friends - lots of special guests - but he had the same bass player throughout - who was playing an electric upright for all the two hours or so and it sounded really good - very bassy , but quite authentically DB, when the music went that way.

I'd love to know what that instrument was?

subaudio said:

I caught the last night with courtney, it was great to see some live jazz on TV!, I heard Saturday was the older British guys which I wish I'd have seen.

Click to expand...

Yes - I saw most of that - it was pretty good, although more like big band music from an older generation - I much preferred Courney Pine's set - loved Alex Wilson's playing and all the guests - like Tony Kofi and Byron Wallen, just as much as big names like Talvin Sing and Maxi Jazz.

Im pretty sure the guy was playing a Clevinger,it did sound good, I guess it shows where EUB would be preferable to acoustic, ie large venue/P.A and contempory sounds (I noticed he was also using a Boss GT 6B)

http://www.clevinger.com/

Click to expand...

Yeah I think his name's Peter Martin and I've seen him play with other UK Jazz bands - definitely with Alex Wilson and maybe Dennis Rollins..?

Anyway - it does look as if it could have been one of those Clevingers pictured on that site - but given that these are priced between $3,500 and £6,000 - I dread to think what they would cost over here in the UK!!!

Well I agree about the subjective nature of these things, but I think an instrument should look "finished" in both senses of the word!!

Well, I never have thought that the Eiffel Tower looked finished either! And some of the earlier Clevinger basses look like they were assembled in dirt floor garages, because they were. I purchased one that was built that way. Now Clevinger is among the most celebrated EUB builders we have. People attired in evening wear in respectable music environments are seen using them all the time. Goals achieved?

One of the exciting things about EUB's is that there are always new ideas being applied. Trail and error, application of discarded military technolgy for pickup systems, old world violin theory, cabinet shop skills, and plain old dumb luck all play a part in the latest instruments.

I do agree though: an instrument should look "finished". That is valid statement, and those wing nuts will have to give 'way to something more substantial and custom designed. That would be easy. The bass looks like a work in progress....The Azola's call this sort of thing the "evolution" of their design. Still, I think that this Bespoke is promising.......might be something that shows up being used in in music not normaly associated with jazz and blues, and other western styles of music.

Don't be surprised if you see one of these Bespokes being used on Internantional TV!

Hi Guys,

I'm Monty, the bass player for Courtney Pine band , Just to let you know:
i) The bass I played at the Jazz Britannia gig was a Clifton Bass, not a clevinger
ii) Pete Martin is not doing Courtney's gig at the moment. Right now I believe he's working with Daniel and Natasha Beddingfield

I think the clevingers are fine for pop, hip hop funk etc, but I have found the Clifton Bass and the David Gage realist pickup together sound (and feel) closest to a (my) Double Bass.

Monty
www.jazzreloaded.com

subaudio said:

I've been told quite a few players up north are using them and I hear good things.

Click to expand...

There are 4 or 5 of us using Mo's EUBs in Manchester. Jon Thorne used one with lamb, Sneaky uses one with Fingathing and I use mine with RSL.One of the great things about them is that they feel like an upright. The shoulder meets with your chest just where it would on an acoustic and if you sit down you can add the back pad. The sound is great and has solved the problem of feedback I had when trying to play acoustic bass with a large Cuban band.

mrpc said:

Well I agree about the subjective nature of these things, but I think an instrument should look "finished" in both senses of the word!!

Click to expand...

I totally agree with this. Granted, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think besides the practicality of an EUB, they should also be appealing to look at. The original ampeg baby bass brought the DB down to a solid body design. Just like the electric guitar was first created as a solid body version of an acoustic guitar. But then creativity gave them different designs, just like EUB designs have been evolving and changing since the first baby bass. But it seems like the evolution of the EUB keeps going as "less is more".

Personally, I like an EUB with some substance to its body and appearance. I've never been a big fan of these "DB neck on a stick" EUB's. There was even one EUB that I saw in another post called the Walking stick Link Removed that seems like it's really reaching for the "next to nothing" award

Just getting into this (as well as this forum - it's my first post, so bare with me).

About the Bespoke one - I really, really like it. Now, I know that the wingnut-thingy is ugly, but the rest of it, I like. It's so no-nonsense.

I was thinking, now that it has so many "22 mm holes", couldn't one have a 22mm stick turned and carved, to rest against your chest?

Or buy the yamaha-thingies (be it the "frame"-one, or the other one?

Thanks, François

Yes, filling it out immediately.

"Thanks for your cooperation", hehe, makes me think of Westworld with Yul Brunner, where the robots run amok in the holiday spot!