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Double Bass Cutaway bass?

Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts

Mar 1, 2018
46
43
#1
One of my problems/challenges, especially as a new bassist, is playing the lower half of the fingerboard. I’m learning thumb position, but it’s awkward and difficult, especially the lower you go on the lower strings.

I wonder why double basses aren’t made with a cutaway like on guitars, making it easier to reach these notes without having to use thumb position. Is there something like that available?
 
#2
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Wilfer_cutaway_front.jpg
 
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#5
Dave Roberts said:
One of my problems/challenges, especially as a new bassist, is playing the lower half of the fingerboard. I’m learning thumb position, but it’s awkward and difficult, especially the lower you go on the lower strings.

I wonder why double basses aren’t made with a cutaway like on guitars, making it easier to reach these notes without having to use thumb position. Is there something like that available?
Click to expand...

Some basses such as Quenoil style have smaller shoulders that would make it easier to reach the upper register.

solo bass / sloped shoulder / Quenoil style
 
#7
Because to finger notes down there with your hand wrapped around the neck, as in lower positions, would entail kinking your wrist back in an inefficient and painful way.

Analogies from one instrument to another are usually inexact, and in this case the analogy doesn't even apply.

Honestly, I think the cutaways on guitars are usually unnecessary. Can't tell you how many people I see with cutaways on their acoustic guitars that never get out of the open position chords.
 
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#8
Stick with it. It's just new to you. It gets better. Later you'll find you even use thumb in the "meat and potatos" (1st octave) part of the neck to make some passages easier to play.

But the physical distance you can reach towards the bridge and your comfort in doing so is affected by structure, both yours and the bass. It's something luthiers and makers do think about.

I have a friend who plays a Prescott cello shaped bass which was adapted not with a guitar like cutaway, but by having the front edge of the left shoulder reshaped into a wide chamfer that lines up with the angle of your arm reaching over it. It actually looks kind of cool. Can't seem to find any online pics but if anyone's interested I can take one tonight at rehearsal.

At Oberlin bass week, Robbie MacIntosh demonstrated a kind of temporary neck he uses to suss out the overstand and neck angle that work best for each of his builds. It's hinged for tilt and moves fore/aft so he can actually stand behind the bass and check out how a neck will feel before he finalizes its geometry.
 
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#11
If you think about it, you go into thumb position when your thumb hits the heal. After that you can not put your thumb behind the neck for support. The neck has ended and you are over the body. Cutting away one side doesn't change that. On a guitar there are usually five to eight frets that are over the body and a cutaway can help with access. On an upright bass over one third of the fingerboard is over the body.
 
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#15
Dave Roberts said:
One of my problems/challenges, especially as a new bassist, is playing the lower half of the fingerboard. I’m learning thumb position, but it’s awkward and difficult, especially the lower you go on the lower strings.

I wonder why double basses aren’t made with a cutaway like on guitars, making it easier to reach these notes without having to use thumb position. Is there something like that available?
Click to expand...

You are correct, it is awkward and difficult and requires practice. I'm not very good at it either, but I am exactly as good as I deserve to be given the effort I've put in.

You can't play it like a guitar regardless. A cut-a-way doesn't change that, the same technique will be required. The cut-a-way would change the balance and reduce the acoustic chamber, it wouldn't get you out of needing to change technique in that part of the register.
 
#16
I brought this up because of how much I’ve enjoyed my 5-string EUB (with a high C string), which is so much easier to play up and down the neck. I do prefer the sound of an acoustic, though, so I was wondering if some kind of hybrid compromise had been or could be devised.
 
#17
An EUB is an electric bass. You have to produce the sound on an acoustic double bass and it requires different technique.

I played EBG for about 25 years and have been playing DB for about 18...and I am LITERALLY off to my lesson right now.
 
#18
bengreen said:
Sorry Victor, got distracted yesterday.

Here's a pic of Heidi's Prescott with the altered shoulder. I think I made it look smaller with my camera angle but it's actually fairly large and would be much more difficult to get around without the slope in the top.

View attachment 3026654
Click to expand...

Has she said how much it changed the feel/sound of the bass when she had this done.
I am considering having a large bass built with a similar break on the player side of the back shoulder to get my torso closer to the neck.
 
#19
She bought it from our principal about a year ago. I think it was done before his time too but I’ll try to find out. And who did the work. What it sounds like now is both powerful and mellow at the same time. Our principal has subbed for years with San Francisco Symphony so l’m pretty sure it’s played in that venue a bunch of times if that says anything.

But I’m not sure yours and her scenarios are all that equivalent. The change to the Prescott actually deconstructed the the spruce top so a player wouldn’t have to grow a second elbow in their arm to reach the high notes. Your intent is at the back. If you look at pics of successful flat backs you’ll find that the position of and angle of the break is all over the map (as are most things bass). So my thinking is it’s not so critical.

What you might want to consider is getting in contact with Arnold Schnitzer or getting your hands on one of his basses. He builds a flat back with no break (bend) at all. Rather the entire bass is wedge shaped shaped when looked at from the side. Wide ribs at the botton, narrow at the top. Nothing to prevent your torso from getting up close and personal up there. He’s also experimented with asymetric shapes. In other words, he’s given accessability quite a bit of thought. Sounds like what you’re considering would be right up his alley.
 
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