Double Bass Do sound posts have a 'playing-in' time?

[Anon2962]

Just brought my bass, quality carved instrument in the 15-20k range, 2 years old, to be repaired. The fingerboard had come loose. No structural problems, just probably not quite enough glue initially.

While I was there the luthier told me that my soundpost looked a little short, and a little to far from the bridge, and that this may because the instrument is still settling.

So he put a new soundpost on.

When I got the bass back to my usual practice room, I noticed a definite change in volume and sound - it sounds a little 'tighter', slightly more focused and nasal, and seems to have lost a little projection.

I also changed bow hair form red to white, so this may also be a factor.

I can't afford the time to bring the bass back (it takes all day) because i've a very important audition coming up soon.

Is there any chance that the projection will improve over the next few days??

 

[Eric Hochberg]

From inside a practice room, how can you tell anything about the projection? Take it to a hall and have someone play it for you while you're in the seats. Give your bass time to get used to the new post.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

It sounds to me as though the new post is too tight or too close to the bridge, maybe both. You'll need to have your soundpost adjusted.

 

[Eric Hochberg]

This would be a strange time of year to put in a longer post, depending on where the bass lives, of course.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

This would be a strange time of year to put in a longer post, depending on where the bass lives, of course.

I agree - I'm just going with the information provided, none of which is first hand...

 

[JtheJazzMan]

On a related note, I strongly recommend investing in a sound recorder (one of the zoom models is fine) for keeping a record of the tonal changes over time. It can save a lot of time going back and forth with unnecessary or unjustified hardware changes.

Its very difficult to generalise tonal changes over time by memory.