If you've got 5g's to spend, I would seriously look at getting a Wan Bernadel: http://www.stringemporium.com/bernadel.htm Everybody that plays or hears it says it sounds like a $10,000 bass. It's very easy to have Steve ship one out to you to try it out.
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Double Bass Help getting a bass
- Thread starter Fred-d
- Start date
It depends on what you mean by a $10,000 bass. There's a bassist in my orchestra who owns a Wan Bernadel and a $11,000 bass. $10,000, $11,000, same difference (though that extra grand can get you a nice setup and good strings).
Anyway, I can definitively tell you that the Wan sounds and feels nothing like the $11,000 bass, which is a late 19th century 7/8 German bass, I think. The big German is just huge in sound and is surprisingly easy to play, though it would be easier without the Laborie endpin. The Wan is even easier to play, but it's sound, while impressive for a new bass, is thin by comparison. In fact, given what I have heard in its price range, I have heard better-sounding basses at the same price range.
This is not to denigrate the Wan; it is a fantastic instrument that is very well crafted with excellent materials. But before you go through the trouble of getting one shipped to you for a trial, consider visiting luthiers and string shops with basses around you first so you can compare several instruments. Maybe one will float your fancy and you would consider definitely buying it, or maybe none of them will. But at least you will know what several different basses sound like.
Why?
Because I don't play a bass with one, I'm not used to them! The angled-endpin may have its merits, but you need to get used to it first in order to experience those merits.
