Double Bass Charles Mingus' Bass Setup?

[MR PC]

Yes, great story! And of course Mingus always sound like himself, no matter what. Actually, amps like the Twin Reverb are fine sounding at ver low volume. Somewhere I saw a picture of Mingus playing a P Bass in upright position propped up on a bar stool.

 

[robobass]

I know that this is a really old thread, but I saw a video today that answers many of these questions on Mingus. It's long...but in the first part (in the studio) you see many close ups of Mingus playing what would today be considered high action, and gut on top wound on bottom. The best shots are further into "Meditations On Integration" when he picks up the bow in the more rubato part. Stay with it. It's great stuff, especially on headphones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2phw7eXrmCM#t=677

Excellent video! I'm going to sit down and watch the whole thing tonight. To answer the question of high action, at ~25:50 check out how much the D string deflects when he's playing up high on it. The bridge must have been extremely high by today's standards. Also noteworthy is the bass he's playing in this segment. Looks like a plywood rental, but Charlie makes it really sing.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Looks like a plywood rental

Nope. If you take a look at the deep re-curve at the edge of the top plate at 24:21, you'll see that it couldn't possibly be plywood - they'd have carved right through the top two plies!

Charlie makes it really sing

Absolutely!