Double Bass Got myself a new EUB!

[mikjans]

Just took delivery of my new headless short scale EUB (34"). It´s custombuilt by a friend/amateur builder who started on the project five or six years ago. Then he added to the family, got a new, more demanding day job etcetera,
so the bass remained 90% finished for some time...

Until I took it to a very good local violinmaker (Tommy Jakobsson http://www.violin.se) to finish it. The body is made from two slabs of mahogany glued together, with a thick Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. The bridge holds an Underwood.

Right now it´s strung with Thomastik Jazz Bass flatwound bass gtr strings, but I have ordered a set of black nylon Rotosound TruBass for a more traditional double bass sound.

Pictures to come!

Mikael

 

[bassteban]

Pics, pics, pics. 5 or 6 years- that at least gives me hope that someday I'll finish mine. It's been 5 or 6 months, now. Maybe if I swear off TB... naaah.

 

[Francois Blais]

Hi Mikael.
Congrats on the new baby!
Keep us posted with pics and more!

François

 

[mrpc]

Hello mikjans,

I'm pretty new here at Talk Bass, though I have seen your name around the internet in relation to EUB's in general, until now you've been a mysyery EUB man to me!

Sounds like a very nice instrument you have there. In addition to photos, it would be nice to get some sound clips too.

Seems to be alot of "rogue" instrument builders in the EUB world, not unlike the old european world days of "bohemian" upright bass builders.

I'll look forward to any info you choose to share!

 

[mikjans]

Whoa - me, the international EUB man of mystery (just like Austin Powers! Shagadelic, baybee!).

You´re right there is a lot of luthiers around the world who builds or have built EUBs. I´ve tracked down over 200 of them for my fortthcoming EUB book. Few music stores have them in stock, so the chance of trying one is slim, thus there is a lot of homebrew basses and a lot of one-sies by local builders. Only a handful of makers can offer EUBs in larger numbers; people like Azola, Clevinger, NS Design, Aria, and some of the big Korean and Chinese makers.

My reason for having this bass built was that I didn´t pay for my friends work (OTOH there was no deadline), only for material and some of his other expenses. And I wanted a 34" scale EUB sitting on a stand, for stage use. I play bass, sing lead and sort of "emcee" with the band, so I´m busy all the time onstage. We´re a 13-piece playing mostly corporate gigs (means small stages) so I´ve over the years assembled a downsized but potent rig that suits my needs: a headless Hohner bass guitar with LaBella flats (we play mostly 40s-50s swing and jump stuff) and a Samson wireless into a G-K MB-200 with an extra 1x15 JBL cab (if needed), plus an AKG wireless headset for vox. I´ve used my 3/4 scale Bent Jensen EUB but never got really comfortable with it onstage, even when it sat on a stand. But this baby will do the job, I think. I can switch from bass guitar (it´s nice to have frets on some of the vocal numbers) to the EUB in no time, and although I´ve been pretty good at mimicking an URB thump on the bass guitar, it´s a whole different feel to play vertically.

Mikael

 

[mikjans]

Please note that it´s still unfinished, I shall oil it in the week to come.

Mikael

 

[toonman]

different looking, I like it. congrats.

 

[mrpc]

Oh, I like that. It looks like an instrument worthy of an appearance in "Star Wars". I'd bet that it sounds wonderful, too.

What is the arrangement with the Underwood pu placemant?

 

[Petary791]

I love that body style, it's funky.

And I wish I had one...