I am an owner of a 1/4 Georg Anton Schuster Bass. I grew up around it. For years in the 60's - 70's it was sitting in our garage in pieces and me and my brother had no idea what it was. We rode it like a fake boat (never in real water).
After I started playing EB in grad school I finally understood what it was (kind've) and asked my dad about it. He acquired it in DC as a Howard U. frat boy before I was born. I believe it may have been hijacked from a rival frat, but he is not so open about the provenance of the bass. He never played any musical instrument.
I eventually had it reassembled by a luthier in San Jose in the mid 90's. I brought them all the old parts and they did some magic and when I picked it up, it had strings and looked like a bass. As an EB player I really did not know what to do with it. I practiced with it some, even brought it to a gig or to. I fitted it with a Fishman piezo (BP 100). Not knowing any better, I never used a buffer pre-amp. It always sounded thin and squeaky when amped.
Anyway, it has mostly been sitting here in my bunker studio untouched. I was reading up on piezo pickups recently and see that I probably should have been using a buffer preamp. I ordered one yesterday.
Here are my thoughts:
(1) not being an upright bass player and having little or no intention of buying a 3/4 upright, I was hoping to start playing it again.
(2) During COvid, I will not be looking for a teacher.
Here are my questions:
(1) It is very difficult for me to play, not because of the scale or fretboard. The stings are super stiff. Hard as hell to pull. Is this normal? I think they are full metal flatwounds. I feel like the tension is like 3 to 5x any electric I have ever played.
(2) The action at the end of the fretboard is scary high (see measurements below). I was thinking about getting an adjustable bridge. Thoughts?
String Gauge Action
E 3 mm 16.5 mm
A 2.1 mm 15.9 mm
D 1.8 mm 14.2 mm
G 1.3 mm 11.4 mm
p.s. the crappy string winding was done by the luthier, not me.
After I started playing EB in grad school I finally understood what it was (kind've) and asked my dad about it. He acquired it in DC as a Howard U. frat boy before I was born. I believe it may have been hijacked from a rival frat, but he is not so open about the provenance of the bass. He never played any musical instrument.
I eventually had it reassembled by a luthier in San Jose in the mid 90's. I brought them all the old parts and they did some magic and when I picked it up, it had strings and looked like a bass. As an EB player I really did not know what to do with it. I practiced with it some, even brought it to a gig or to. I fitted it with a Fishman piezo (BP 100). Not knowing any better, I never used a buffer pre-amp. It always sounded thin and squeaky when amped.
Anyway, it has mostly been sitting here in my bunker studio untouched. I was reading up on piezo pickups recently and see that I probably should have been using a buffer preamp. I ordered one yesterday.
Here are my thoughts:
(1) not being an upright bass player and having little or no intention of buying a 3/4 upright, I was hoping to start playing it again.
(2) During COvid, I will not be looking for a teacher.
Here are my questions:
(1) It is very difficult for me to play, not because of the scale or fretboard. The stings are super stiff. Hard as hell to pull. Is this normal? I think they are full metal flatwounds. I feel like the tension is like 3 to 5x any electric I have ever played.
(2) The action at the end of the fretboard is scary high (see measurements below). I was thinking about getting an adjustable bridge. Thoughts?
String Gauge Action
E 3 mm 16.5 mm
A 2.1 mm 15.9 mm
D 1.8 mm 14.2 mm
G 1.3 mm 11.4 mm
p.s. the crappy string winding was done by the luthier, not me.
