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Double Bass Finally a Bowable Bace
- Thread starter Oscar Stern
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- travel double bass
Travel double basses usually have detachable necks for disassembly for travel. Since a 1/4 size double bass has a 35 1/4 inch mensure, this probably would be a 3/16 double bass. The 1/4 size would provide more volume and a deeper tone for not much greater size.
A BACE is never going to be an acceptable substitute for a real double bass and should not be lobbied for as such. It just cannot do what a 3/4 DB does. I would take a BACE seriously as a large acoustic bass guitar and then only if the body was full size 4/4 cello.
A BACE is never going to be an acceptable substitute for a real double bass and should not be lobbied for as such. It just cannot do what a 3/4 DB does. I would take a BACE seriously as a large acoustic bass guitar and then only if the body was full size 4/4 cello.
Note to membership: four - count ‘em, FOUR - previous threads about this idea have been closed because of bickering. Should anyone feel like this thread is just continued trolling on the subject, my advice would me the title of a favorite book:
Finally...A self-help book that I can really sink my teeth into.
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I'll bite! They already have smaller scale travel basses. These used to come in a shorter scale:
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I know some are regular scale. This instrument is an unhelpful "long-cut" as opposed to "short-cut" for bass guitarists worried about using a new fingering system to learn double bass.
The short cut is getting an actual double bass and actual double bass lessons. Everything else it just a delay to actually learning the instrument.
The person who made these just wasted a lot of time and money on a lame workaround that isn't going to solve anything. They could have gotten a real bass and lesson and be playing at pretty decent level with the time, energy and money it took to make and market these.
However, people with the mindset to push that hard for a shortcut are not cut out to do anything significant with music anyway.
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I know some are regular scale. This instrument is an unhelpful "long-cut" as opposed to "short-cut" for bass guitarists worried about using a new fingering system to learn double bass.
The short cut is getting an actual double bass and actual double bass lessons. Everything else it just a delay to actually learning the instrument.
The person who made these just wasted a lot of time and money on a lame workaround that isn't going to solve anything. They could have gotten a real bass and lesson and be playing at pretty decent level with the time, energy and money it took to make and market these.
However, people with the mindset to push that hard for a shortcut are not cut out to do anything significant with music anyway.
3/16 size Double Bass w/ a 34 inch scale, that's an interesting middle ground between a 1/4 & a 1/8 Size double Bass.
We might need to coin a new DB term:
"PICKzicatto" - It's Plucking with A PIck!!!
(Or, not...)
Sheesh.
"PICKzicatto" - It's Plucking with A PIck!!!
(Or, not...)
Sheesh.
The person who made this wanted a Double Bass sound in a shrunk down bass guitar format by shrinking a Double Bass down to Bass Guitar size.
Right, because they are too lazy to learn the double bass, so they spent more time, energy and money than it would take to actually buy a double bass and learn to play it.
There is no value here, no problem to solve. The only problem is thinking this is the solution.
It's pretty naive and closed minded to write off any instrument just because it doesn't have the scale of a normal DB. I say that as someone who spends 99% of my time with music on regular old DB.
I have also played fretted and fretless bass guitar in a variety of bands in the past, and I have on occasion thought it could be really cool to have a bow-able, fretless electric bass in the right group. (I know, I know, there are very few strings available for these instruments.)
Is it just the scale length that folks are so hung up on? So anything that resembles a DB but isn't quite the right size should be immediately written off as a shortcut (for some insignificant hobbyists, I suppose)? If you're so hung up on tradition that all you see is a shortcut when something doesn't conform to your preconceived notions, perhaps you should ask yourself if you have the creativity needed to do anything significant with music.
I have also played fretted and fretless bass guitar in a variety of bands in the past, and I have on occasion thought it could be really cool to have a bow-able, fretless electric bass in the right group. (I know, I know, there are very few strings available for these instruments.)
Is it just the scale length that folks are so hung up on? So anything that resembles a DB but isn't quite the right size should be immediately written off as a shortcut (for some insignificant hobbyists, I suppose)? If you're so hung up on tradition that all you see is a shortcut when something doesn't conform to your preconceived notions, perhaps you should ask yourself if you have the creativity needed to do anything significant with music.
Eli, if I’m reading the room right, I think the hang up is the assumption that a small scale upright will ‘ sound like ‘ a full sized upright (without great sacrifice)… some specific people tend to take a ‘salesman’ type stance on new products that they’re excited about and the folks here aren’t buying this particular ‘selling point’. That’s all
Well, I generally tend to agree with Damon that all the purported short cuts to avoid just learning how to play double bass tend to be unsatisfactory for a variety of technical reasons. But I will point out that in the past I played with a big band that had a substitute bassist who on occasion would bring his 1/4 bass and play and it sounded darn good. Now of course he had a pickup and amp (like almost all double-bassists in 16 piece big-bands), and I have no idea what all kinds of effects and equalizations he used on the wee bass. I will also say that he also played a full size (3/4) bass in the normal way, so for him it wasn't a short cut to avoid learning the double-bass, it was a matter of hauling, transport, and small vehicle.
But in general I feel like if you're having trouble with the double-bass in standard size, and you're a standard size (let's say above 5'2" or so) and without physical handicaps, the next step isn't some half measure, it's to go straight to the thing that was designed specifically to replace the DB in applications where size, load-in, transport, or loudness were issues - the Precision Bass with flat wound strings, a piece of foam rubber at the bridge, and an amplifier.
But in general I feel like if you're having trouble with the double-bass in standard size, and you're a standard size (let's say above 5'2" or so) and without physical handicaps, the next step isn't some half measure, it's to go straight to the thing that was designed specifically to replace the DB in applications where size, load-in, transport, or loudness were issues - the Precision Bass with flat wound strings, a piece of foam rubber at the bridge, and an amplifier.
It isn't the scale, it is the work-around mindset plus the fact that 1/4 & the Bussetto already exist.
Also smaller sized Double Basses tend to be lighter weight so if we shrunk the size of a Double Bass down to this size, it would be lighter weight.
A certain adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” comes to mind when skimming over this thread and others posted by the OP.
If someone wants to use a smaller DB for whatever reason (injury/age, travel, just fun to mess around with, etc) then that’s fine. But as far as wanting to replace regular DB’s, you’re trying to find solutions for a problem that doesn’t exist.
Oscar, I encourage you to buy/rent a decent 3/4 student bass and take lessons with a good teacher for at least a year or more. Then (and only then) think about whether all this effort promoting the advantages and superiority of the “Bace”/fractional size DB’s/EUB’s is realistic or necessary.
If someone wants to use a smaller DB for whatever reason (injury/age, travel, just fun to mess around with, etc) then that’s fine. But as far as wanting to replace regular DB’s, you’re trying to find solutions for a problem that doesn’t exist.
Oscar, I encourage you to buy/rent a decent 3/4 student bass and take lessons with a good teacher for at least a year or more. Then (and only then) think about whether all this effort promoting the advantages and superiority of the “Bace”/fractional size DB’s/EUB’s is realistic or necessary.
Turnaround
Commercial User
Not necessarily. I had a 1/4 Kay that was heavier than my 3/4
Looking at the photo it appears some design improvements have been made.
It now appears to be a slightly less steaming pile of excrement.
It now appears to be a slightly less steaming pile of excrement.
Double basses are hollow, so it's mostly air. Maybe we should fill them with helium, but then I guess we'd sound like a viola.
