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Double Bass Extensions or 5th string?

#21
Paul Warburton said:
Chrix.....check the Newbie Links and Archives for a lotta info on this. The machines are a pain in the ass. Noisy as hell, not possible to apply vibrato or color or gliss, most have to be installed by cutting into scroll and the bad news is that they work backwards. Other than that............ :rollno:
Click to expand...


But playing that octave C# is sooo important.... :p
 
#22
Paul Warburton said:
Chrix.....check the Newbie Links and Archives for a lotta info on this. The machines are a pain in the ass. Noisy as hell, not possible to apply vibrato or color or gliss, most have to be installed by cutting into scroll and the bad news is that they work backwards. Other than that............ :rollno:
Click to expand...

Paul:

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you profoundly. I've had my machine extension for about ten years ( a Stenholm), and have it does not make noise, unless I'm trying to play a sixteenth note passage spanning an octave, or more ( a passage that would be almost impossible to play with a fingered extension), but even then it is minimial. Secondly, I believe at that low a frequency, there is a vibrato in effect naturally. There is no need to add any, IMO. Lastly, if the luthier is skilled, there is no need to cut the scroll. The fingerboard of the extension should be carved to fit over the top of the scroll. There is NO cutting of the scroll, under any cicumstances.

Sincerely,

Dennis
 
#23
kurt muroki said:
this may seem strange to most bassists, but I took off my e-string, put on a b string in it's place. so my bass is tuned G,D,A,B and It works great for me except for some extra shifting.
Click to expand...

I do something like that...I use E A D G strings but tune the E to a low D... I find that in most baroque music, which makes up the overwhelming majority of what i play, I rarely have a piece of music that is written lower than a low D.
 
#24
I saw a beautiful John Lott snr.(late 18th century) Bass last week with a fingered extension. It was fitted around the Scroll and the String wrapped around the ear thru rubber sergical tubing and NOT thru the Scroll head. This looked cool to me. It was in for a minor repair and belongs to a member of the NY Philarmonic. So you can see that Pros in MAJOR Orchs. can play the parts with a fingered Ext. which from what I have been learning is becomming the preferred 'Method of Operation' in a Section.

I am currently trying to decide which method I will use to 'Get Down' !!
 
#25
KSB - Ken Smith said:
I saw a beautiful John Lott snr.(late 18th century) Bass last week with a fingered extension. It was fitted around the Scroll and the String wrapped around the ear thru rubber sergical tubing and NOT thru the Scroll head. This looked cool to me. It was in for a minor repair and belongs to a member of the NY Philarmonic.
Click to expand...

Ken, do you have a photo of this, or a link?
 
#26
Dennis Frati said:
Paul:

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you profoundly. I've had my machine extension for about ten years ( a Stenholm), and have it does not make noise, unless I'm trying to play a sixteenth note passage spanning an octave, or more ( a passage that would be almost impossible to play with a fingered extension), but even then it is minimial. Secondly, I believe at that low a frequency, there is a vibrato in effect naturally. There is no need to add any, IMO. Lastly, if the luthier is skilled, there is no need to cut the scroll. The fingerboard of the extension should be carved to fit over the top of the scroll. There is NO cutting of the scroll, under any cicumstances.

Sincerely,

Dennis
Click to expand...
Dennis..I was talking about the older Horst type extensions.
Since i'm stuck out here in Colorado, I don't get a chance to see the state of the art new extensions like yours. It looks great and obviously works great for you.
As you know, alot of basses have been butchered and maimed by do it yourselfers and bad luthiers.
The last two Morelli basses i've been involved with were butchered by Mr. Horst himself. Luckily, my luthier Bob Ross was able to restore both these instruments to their original form by re-carving scrolls.
I've seen some of the newer extensions on line and am relieved with the progress and great care taken by master luthiers.
 
#27
Mingus, The Lott is at Arnold's shop for a minor repair. It is not for demo or photo from what I gathered. I didn't play it. I just peeked at it for a few seconds as he took off the cover to get it ready for the repair as I was leaving.

Please direct future questions about this Bass to Arnold. I barely got more than 2 minutes viewing time.
 
#29
Paul Warburton said:
Dennis..I was talking about the older Horst type extensions.
Since i'm stuck out here in Colorado, I don't get a chance to see the state of the art new extensions like yours. It looks great and obviously works great for you.
As you know, alot of basses have been butchered and maimed by do it yourselfers and bad luthiers.
The last two Morelli basses i've been involved with were butchered by Mr. Horst himself. Luckily, my luthier Bob Ross was able to restore both these instruments to their original form by re-carving scrolls.
I've seen some of the newer extensions on line and am relieved with the progress and great care taken by master luthiers.
Click to expand...

Paul..On the issue of the Horst extentsions, I totally agree with you. Before I had the Stenholm, I had a Horst, and it was somewhat noisy, and roughly made. It lasted about a year, and then in the middle of a Carmina Burana rehearsal, one of the welds holding the spring on the D lever broke. Lemur replaced it with another, and unbelievably this one also broke too. Lemur gave me full refund for it, that's when I went to Gage's shop and had the Stenholm put on. It is amazing though that the instructions for the Horst did say to cut the scroll, fortunately my luthier never did!!

Thanks,
Dennis
 
#30
Dennis Frati said:
Paul..On the issue of the Horst extentsions, I totally agree with you. Before I had the Stenholm, I had a Horst, and it was somewhat noisy, and roughly made. It lasted about a year, and then in the middle of a Carmina Burana rehearsal, one of the welds holding the spring on the D lever broke. Lemur replaced it with another, and unbelievably this one also broke too. Lemur gave me full refund for it, that's when I went to Gage's shop and had the Stenholm put on. It is amazing though that the instructions for the Horst did say to cut the scroll, fortunately my luthier never did!!
Thanks,
Dennis
Click to expand...
Dennis, glad we got that ironed out....Is your avatar pic the Horst?
 

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