Double Bass Basses in the UK!

[owen_liam]

That's what I thought: it just seems like too much hassle for them to keep basses in stock when they're making little money on them. It's a shame though - lots of people seem either put off by bad instruments or can't afford to get into it.

However, I have an iron in the fire! Will keep you posted...

 

[rodmallia]

I have an Elysia - which is fully carved with Ebony fingerboard - I have changed the endpin though - which was a bit insubstantial and was causing a rattle. I had it replaced with a carbon-fibre endpin from the Basse Shoppe in London and this had the desired effect of curing the rattle and improving the tone!

Thanks for your reply, Bruce!

 

[rodmallia]

Actually I have played five basses of the above mentioned model. All of them were in the same quality, reasonably constructed and all of them delivered almost the same sound. The laminate parts (ribs and back) are made from a resonant material which improves the low frequencies. The thing that surprised me favourably was the arco sound, even with the La Bella Super Nil strings. Two of my friends are going to order this bass for back up instrument. Decent bass in very good price and IMHO strongly recommended.

Thanks for the info!

Wow ... these basses seem to be scoring lots of good points ...

 

[owen_liam]

Erm...in a fit of impulsiveness, I've just bought this!

A lot of people have recommended them to me, I've seen them for £1200 to £1300, so £850 seemed a good price.

It has an ebony rather than metal tail piece, and the only concern I have about buying it 'blind' is the replaced finger board. But, what the heck: it's the right level of bass for me and it was there! At worst I'll have to spend a few hundred quid getting it set up for me, at best it'll be fine as it is!

Thank you all so much for all your advice. It is tremendously helpful for us newbies to draw on your experience as we stand at the edge of the murky pool of Double Bassdom!

I shall tell y'all how it goes and, no doubt, be back to pick your brains on how to play the flippin thing!

 

[TenorClef]

I'd say if i ever needed/wanted to upgrade my cheap Thomann ply bass to a fully solid carved bass I'd go back to Thomann in a flash. They are a very decent company to deal with. Can't fault their packing or delivery system. As it is, my ply thomann serves my needs perfectly for the jazz band stuff i currently do. Horses for courses.

 

[rodmallia]

I found out that we do have a local Stentor dealer here in Malta so I'll probably drop by their shop one of these days and see what they have in stock, and perhaps, try one out. If they don't have any, I might be tempted to give Thomann a go and get one blindly from there. Will just need to decipher the Thomann codes for the Strunal models ... I believe someone had posted them already on this forum.

*edit* Actually, scrap the first part. It seems that the closest Stentor dealer is in Italy :/

 

[oliebrice]

Hi Olie - I saw your band was playing at Brighton Jazz Club but was unable to get down there - /QUOTE]

Hi Bruce, I wondered if i might see you at that gig. Nice venue...

 

[Fassa Albrecht]

That's what I thought: it just seems like too much hassle for them to keep basses in stock when they're making little money on them. It's a shame though - lots of people seem either put off by bad instruments or can't afford to get into it.

However, I have an iron in the fire! Will keep you posted...

YEah, this is the problem. My own local shop used to have 3 or 4 instruments (I was told by one of the more experienced assistants) especially as this shop was the main stockist to the local university at a time when most people studying music played orchestral instruments. Now there's a whole range of much cheaper and easier instruments around and it's not worth it.

I'm still really wanting to get a Stentor. It'll help me at least learn the DB and then give me an instrument to cart off to church band (where I want to play).