I do know that at one point a lot of them were breaking ribs due to oversized bracing.
They look great and I’m wondering what their resale value is these days.
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Double Bass Chinese Panorma Basses
- Thread starter kerrycares
- Start date
I do know that at one point a lot of them were breaking ribs due to oversized bracing.
They look great and I’m wondering what their resale value is these days.
Thanks, and sorry, I have no idea.
The only Panormo copies I have experience with are the ones Shen used to build. I played one in Mark Leue’s shop. It was amazing. An absolute cannon of a bass.
The only Panormo copies I have experience with are the ones Shen used to build. I played one in Mark Leue’s shop. It was amazing. An absolute cannon of a bass.
- Dec 13, 1999
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- Disclosures
- Chuck Sher publishes my book, WALKING BASSICS:The Fundamentals of Jazz Bass Playing.
Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know?
Yeah I know there were several importers some better than others.
This one seems healthy and it’s over 10 years old with no problems.
I took it to one of my luthiers that also is a great bassist and he gave it two thumbs up.
Thanks for the input.
Two basses ago, I was playing a "carved" Vienna Strings CCBSO, strung with Corellis (which I still love, but which do not provide a great deal of acoustic volume. It got the Corellis because Helicores broke the neck). I probably put 200 jazz and orchestral gigs on that thing. It sounded okay, but between those Corellis and the low height and standover, was very quiet in anybody's hands. It was built with gloppy white glue and every one of the interior linings was broken. Every single one. I took a few years off when I was living in the metro ATL area and figured I'd never meet enough people to get any worthwhile gigs there. It went with me from North Alabama (a military/space tech/college town called Huntsville, not quite a typical Southern hick town) to ATL to Athens to Macon to Selma and back, unstrung from 1998 to 2006, and the soundpost didn't ever budge. I'll say that it amplified well, probably because it wasn't resonant enough to feed back.
I now have two Christophers (one carved flat and one ply round) and I'm pretty pleased with them. I sold the CCB for $500 with a Reunion Blues bag* to a woman who wanted a prop for her living room. You may experience something similar if you buy that thing.
*the bag did not fit either Chrissie, tho it was labeled 7/8. If it had, I'd have kept it.
EDIT: I see you've posted and you got the okay from a luthier. I take back what I said about a similar experience.
Just a minor edit - I'm pretty sure the Vienna Strings instruments are actually made in Korea by Linear (a company I had dealings with some time ago). That doesn't mean they are any better or worse than Chinese factory basses. Just fyi
Over fifteen years ago I had a Chinese bass similar to this through KC Strings, with the exact same problem - oversized bracing putting pressure on the ribs. The bass sounded phenomenal but after loads of repairs within a year I let it go. I don’t know the exact story from KC Strings. It wasn’t one of their normal models, so it was an anomaly in their shop.
Fast forward to a few years ago it was back in KC Strings shop for $4500 (if I recall). Sounded great and they said that it had become more stable with age.
Is this one super heavy?
Is it 7/8?
Fast forward to a few years ago it was back in KC Strings shop for $4500 (if I recall). Sounded great and they said that it had become more stable with age.
Is this one super heavy?
Is it 7/8?
This one is not super heavy but I’ve owned a super heavy one and seen three others just like it.
One of my local luthiers repaired the ribs on a number of them and they stabilized over time.
The luthier that examined this bass said the original copies were typically too thick with oversized braces.He recalibrated the tops and shaved the braces on 3 of them.
Fortunately for me this one has the correct size bracing , has no rib damage and he offered to recalibrate the top in the future for optimum performance.
Ok, I think I just stumbled across a one off “good one” .
Thanks for your input!
Just got it back from a fine tuning:
New nut
Shaped , reduced bridge mass
Sealed seams
Trimmed sound post
Touched up finish
Lubricated and freed up tuners
It’s official, It is a cannon!
New nut
Shaped , reduced bridge mass
Sealed seams
Trimmed sound post
Touched up finish
Lubricated and freed up tuners
It’s official, It is a cannon!
The top was recalibrated, blocks , bass bar and braces were reshaped.
Afterward Ed took the bass to school and compared it too a number of other basses and was thoroughly impressed and is now a really good bass.
So in one week he popped the top and did all that work and you’ve got it back now?
