No problem, kinda fun to make/watch. I have 2 Double Basses the other is a 1960's SZEGEDI HANGSZERGYAR 3/4 bass plywood I believe. I play them at home and with family, I need to play them more!
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Double Bass Aluminum Bass
- Thread starter rockiezz
- Start date
What a great video and huge big band sound out of New York! Worth a look see. Massive music collection too!
I think guts would sound better, I'm not making $$ with this bass though so they'll have to wait.
lol, the ceiling is a large focal point in this house. One problem, it's low and that's why the bass is so low on the peg. You start wailing and next thing you know you have plaster on your headstock. The lighting is from a 4-pane window just to the left of me.
I think guts would sound better, I'm not making $$ with this bass though so they'll have to wait.
lol, the ceiling is a large focal point in this house. One problem, it's low and that's why the bass is so low on the peg. You start wailing and next thing you know you have plaster on your headstock. The lighting is from a 4-pane window just to the left of me.
I've been restoring one for over a year now. Here are a few things you should know.
James Condino is the best resource I have found concerning these basses. He's approachable and very helpful.
Some say they sound terrible. That's not quite how I would describe the sound of the one I am working on (a '30's Alcoa). Without applying my own subjective opinion on the sound I would say this - they sound big, even huge, not woody, and as though they have a built-in reverb unit. And that's where the problem begins for me.
The owner of this bass is looking for a real eye-grabber. That's no problem - once it's polished and the red anodized tailpiece and red-dyed bridge are in place it will look .... well - you get the idea. But he also wants a pickup installed. This thing is going to feed back like CRAZY! Somehow I will need to find a way to kill that tunnel echo sound.
As to the weight - it is about the same as a similarly-sized wooden job.
But this bass has a number of advantages over the conventional wooden one. It's not affected by dryness, wetness, heat or cold the way wooden ones are. It only needs one sound post - no need for ones to compensate for seasonal changes. It's darn near indestructible. Aside from the strings, bridge and fingerboard, I don't think there would be any siginificant damage from leaving it out in the rain. (Maybe a good idea to install a drain plug though if you intend to do this regularly)
I'd have one for sure. Wouldn't take it to a serious gig, but a FUN one - sure!
Thanks for the info. So you can' t gig it eh? I guess it would be great for practice.
Fred
Not that you can't, I just don't have the gig to use it on. Pretty much play electric out. With the right pickup and amplification this bass would Rock the House! I am going to try a blade pickup (on the bridge) that I have and see how that sounds, never know... maybe another video.
Of course, if you want to try an electric pickup mounted at the end of the fingerboard, the Krivo would be a good choice. Just make sure you use steel wrap strings, and have some way of grounding the strings to the sleeve of the output jack.
What's the big idea? You're supposed to be pi$$ed off, and here you are, taking it with a smile, instead of reflexively whining about crabby oldies. One thing about reflexes: there's no thinking involved.I don't see it as being snide, just a firm reminder to BG players they aren't in Kansas anymore. There is a long, long tradition of the DBers on this board not letting "fretboard" slide. Trust me; I was on the receiving end of it once myself.
It's an old point I make periodically - The scores written by Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, et al for centuries forward did not have parts for "Upright Bass", "Standup Bass", or "Acoustic Bass".
I've got one. Very cool. Under the bow, they sound like a cow yelling into an elevator shaft. Which can be good or bad, depending on what's you likes...
That's right, the "crabby oldies" fingerboard/fretboard reflex doesn't involve any thinking either, none at all.
Besides that smile you're talikng about would be a reflex as well.
That's the thing about oldies. Get 'em ticked off and they start talking in the language of their youth!
De gustibus non disputantum!
...a mixture of empirical evidence and supposition.
Did you know they also float? I duct taped up the F holes in mine and paddled it around a local lake. No cows in sight.
That's the thing about oldies. Get 'em ticked off and they start talking in the language of their youth!
De gustibus non disputantum!
Ah, the good ol' classist platitude routine ala Laurel and Hardy.
I love this place, you fellas ticklezz my funny bone down low, and real good.Hmm. I've never seen a bass, or any other musical instrument for that matter, which had the ability to play itself.
Actually, the original quote is from Cicero's defense of Milo, a praetor of Rome, who got into a fight with Clodius, a political rival, on the Appian way, and killed him. Cicero had an uphill battle defending Milo, and used every one of his oratory techniques he could muster. Alas, the evidence was too overwhelming. But instead of execution, Milo did only receive banishment. So maybe the case could be considered a win for Cicero after all.
First, the Latin section 53 of Cicero's speech:
"Videamus nunc (id quod caput est) locus ad insidias ille ipse, ubi congressi sunt, utri tandem fuerit aptior. Id vero, iudices, etiam dubitandum et diutius cogitandum est? Ante fundum Clodi, quo in fundo propter insanas illas substructiones facile hominum mille versabantur valentium, edito adversari atque excelso loco, superiorem se fore putarat Milo, et ob eam rem eum locum ad pugnam potissimum elegerat? an in eo loco est potius exspectatus ab eo qui ipsius loci spe facere impetum cogitarat? Res loquitur ipsa, iudices, quae semper valet plurimum."
And the English translation:
"Let us now consider this which is the main point or all; for which of the two the identical spot where they did meet was the best suited for planting an ambush. But is that, O judges, a matter about which one can possibly doubt or think seriously for a moment? In front of Clodius's farm,that farm in which on account of those absurd erections and excavations for foundations of his, there were pretty well a thousand vigorous men employed,on that high and raised ground belonging to his adversary, did Milo think that he should get the better in the contest, and had he with that view selected that spot above all ethers? Or was he rather waited for in that place by a man who had conceived the idea of attacking, because of the hopes that that particular spot suggested to him? The facts, O judges, speak for themselves; facts, which are always of the greatest weight in a cause."
Actually, this is a urban-legend misquote from Act I of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull. The character Shamrayev conflates it with the phrase de mortuis nil nisi bonum (in the alternate form: de mortuis, aut bene aut nihil "of the dead, either [speak] good or [say] nothing"). So the actual resulting quote is, "De gustibus aut bene, aut nihil," or, "Let nothing be said of taste but what is good." Which even though I confess to not always following this maxim, I still wish it were followed more on this forum.
Hmm...so you're correcting my Latin by saying "it's an urban legend misquote"? With all due respect: if you're going to crib something from Wikipedia, at least get its meaning straight. That reference is to a character in a play getting the saying wrong. That has nothing to do with it being a real Latin maxim.
If you REALLY wanted to put me in my place, you could have pointed out that I omitted "est", which I did.
From aluminum basses to Latin phraseology: this is officially the most derailed thread I've participated in on TB! Now, a round of smilies for you, sir, as we resume our regularly scheduled programming!
Hey, Jsn, sorry about that. One of my pet peeves is all sorts of phrases which get misused. Every time I see or hear a phrase used like that, I confess to having a bad habit of seeing if the guy who says it actually knows where it came from and what its actual context is. I didn't mean to catch you personally in the crossfire. You actually do have a grasp of the phrase.
Where were we? Oh, yes -- aluminum basses....
Where were we? Oh, yes -- aluminum basses....
