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Double Bass 6 string Double Bass; does it exist?

T

The_Orlonater

Jun 6, 2007
612
0
#1
I am talking about an Acoustic bass. Call me crazy, but I think it might be a great idea. The high C string could be very useful for some passages , and the low C/B is needed for most playing and genres of music. I understand it'll be bigger then your average double bass, but still.

Oh yeah, first post on the DB side, lol.
I should hang out here more often. ;)

P.S. Or if you have a picture, you can show a 5 string with a high C and an extension.

Thanks.
 
#2
I'm pretty sure Ratzo Harris has a 6 string Merchant Vertical Bass or two and may have a 6 string uprite as well. Also, there was a guy in Rochester in the 70s named Frank Pullara who had a 6 string upright. If I remember correctly, he had the fingerboard extended about a half inch on either side of the neck to accomodate the extra strings and very low action.
 
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#3
salcott said:
I'm pretty sure Ratzo Harris has a 6 string Merchant Vertical Bass or two and may have a 6 string uprite as well. Also, there was a guy in Rochester in the 70s named Frank Pullara who had a 6 string upright. If I remember correctly, he had the fingerboard extended about a half inch on either side of the neck to accomodate the extra strings and very low action.
Click to expand...

Oh, wow. This great, can you find pics by any chance? :p:D
 
#4
I checked out hot buttered rum recently and the bassist there did not have a 6er but a 5 with extension on the E to drop it down to a C and the high F on the other side.

Who needs 6 when you have a bass like that? I think it was an eminence.
And no, sorry, I do not have a pic. :)
 
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#5
René Gosselin from Quartango has a similar bass. It has a low B extension on the 5th string, a C extension on the 3rd and he tunes the first as a D for soloing (I saw Quartango live in 2005 and asked him about his bass after the concert, that's what he told me)
It was made by Mario Lamarre in Montréal and here are some pictures
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#9
Not really double basses, but here goes:

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There's also a picture of a 6-string double bass at: http://www.chrisandrew.net/violin_gallery_work_selection.html
 
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#11
6-string Bass instruments go back about 500 years and maybe more. The 'Tarisio' Gasparo d'Salo (c.1580) which is now fitted as a 4-string Double Bass was actually made as a 6-string Violone. It is a regular sized Double Bass. I have the dimensions/measurements in a book (Elgar's first book, 'Introduction to the Double Bass') at the office. I will post them if anyone is interested.

I don't know what you would do with 6-string in an Orchestra other than annoy everyone around you but it might be 'entertaining' in other forms of music.

Can you imagine showing up at a job with a 6-string DB? You think you will be called again anytime soon?
 
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#12
KSB - Ken Smith said:
6-string Bass instruments go back about 500 years and maybe more. The 'Tarisio' Gasparo d'Salo (c.1580) which is now fitted as a 4-string Double Bass was actually made as a 6-string Violone. It is a regular sized Double Bass. I have the dimensions/measurements in a book (Elgar's first book, 'Introduction to the Double Bass') at the office. I will post them if anyone is interested.

I don't know what you would do with 6-string in an Orchestra other than annoy everyone around you but it might be 'entertaining' in other forms of music.

Can you imagine showing up at a job with a 6-string DB? You think you will be called again anytime soon?
Click to expand...

There's Double Bass players with a high C string, and the extension is a must have in any major orchestra, so why not make a 6?

Anyway, I'm interested in the pictures. :p:D
 
#13
The_Orlonater said:
There's Double Bass players with a high C string, and the extension is a must have in any major orchestra, so why not make a 6?

Anyway, I'm interested in the pictures. :p:D
Click to expand...

Did you ever try bowing a 5-string DB? Have you ever played in an Orchestra or Orchestra music? Do you know the Radius of a playable/bowable 5-string Fingerboard? After all that, try to imagine the Radius and Fingerboard width of a Bass with one string more than a 5-string that most of the time is hard to play with a Bow unless set-up perfectly.

Playing or rather making a 6-string DB that is playable is twice the work of a 4 if not more.

Go out an get yourself a 6-string DB. Let me know when you are playing it as fluently as the guys around you on 4-string, with or without a C-extension. I have plenty of those as well. Try playing the Storm 16ths in the 6th on the Extension, every note!
 
#14
salcott said:
I'm pretty sure Ratzo Harris has a 6 string Merchant Vertical Bass or two and may have a 6 string uprite as well. Also, there was a guy in Rochester in the 70s named Frank Pullara who had a 6 string upright. If I remember correctly, he had the fingerboard extended about a half inch on either side of the neck to accomodate the extra strings and very low action.
Click to expand...

A few years back I stopped by Bill's to have my Kay looked at, and indeed, there was Ratzo playing his 6 stringer (upright). I was a bit taken aback by it... very gnarly indeed.
 
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#15
The_Orlonater said:
I am talking about an Acoustic bass. Call me crazy, but I think it might be a great idea. The high C string could be very useful for some passages , and the low C/B is needed for most playing and genres of music. I understand it'll be bigger then your average double bass, but still.P.S. Or if you have a picture, you can show a 5 string with a high C and an extension. Thanks.
Click to expand...

ATTACHMENTS: Here's a bassist "Dalton Dillingham" playing his 6 string double bass, and a picture of my 5 string 1820 Prescott on loan to the Boston Handel & Haydn Society (Nick Pap, Bassist and Restorer Volker Nahrmann, backstage and Boston Sym. Hall.
 
#16
KSB - Ken Smith said:
Did you ever try bowing a 5-string DB? Have you ever played in an Orchestra or Orchestra music? Do you know the Radius of a playable/bowable 5-string Fingerboard? After all that, try to imagine the Radius and Fingerboard width of a Bass with one string more than a 5-string that most of the time is hard to play with a Bow unless set-up perfectly.

Playing or rather making a 6-string DB that is playable is twice the work of a 4 if not more.

Go out an get yourself a 6-string DB. Let me know when you are playing it as fluently as the guys around you on 4-string, with or without a C-extension. I have plenty of those as well. Try playing the Storm 16ths in the 6th on the Extension, every note!
Click to expand...

I've heard there are. My teacher told me he knew of guys with high C's. The high C string can be very useful in some passages. No denying that, yes bowing a 6 might be harder then a 4, but it's something to work on. Just like everything else, apparently there's 6 string players. Maybe you're right, and yes I'm playing in an orchestra now.
 

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