If a luthier or an experienced player brought this idea forward, I would react differently. Our OP is neither.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Hole in the Heart (5 String) Double Bass idea.
- Thread starter Oscar Stern
- Start date
- Status
If a luthier or an experienced player brought this idea forward, I would react differently. Our OP is neither.
Damon, the main problem with a five-string bass is getting the bridge curve right so a German bow doesn’t hit two strings at once. We can get to the other problems after we figure that out.
I don't have any pics of the olive barrel, which was re-purposed as a cat perch long ago, but I do have these.
Sorry about the thumbnails; the full image just took up too much real estate. The neck has a scroll, not a typical mandobass headstock, and with the mensure set at 42" I get an octave and a major fourth (C above the octave G) clear of the body. (The more notes I can get before having to go into thumb position, the happier I am.)
A lot of serendipity came into play here. Having concluded that the olive barrel body was just a deal-breaker, I had to ask myself "Where am I gonna find just a mando-bass body?" And about that time a fellow up in Oregon eBay'd a mando-bass he had built using a standard DB neck. I asked him if he had any extra bodies and he replied he had one, which he sold me. What are the odds?
The other serendipity is that the neck heel fits perfectly into the mortise on the neck block. But said mortise is only about 3/16" deep at most. Not going to get much of a glue joint there. But the neck bolted to the olive barrel from within, with a hex bolt going up into the heel via a hole in the neck block. Just line things up and put your socket wrench through the soundhole, and do what needs to be done.
And with the new body things lined up perfectly, even with two pieces which the odds would say just had to be mismatched. Sliding the neck heel as far toward the rear of the mortise as possible aligns the bolt holes in the neck block and neck heel perfectly. I have a perfectly viable, functional instrument.
Am I a happy camper? You betcha!
Sorry about the thumbnails; the full image just took up too much real estate. The neck has a scroll, not a typical mandobass headstock, and with the mensure set at 42" I get an octave and a major fourth (C above the octave G) clear of the body. (The more notes I can get before having to go into thumb position, the happier I am.)
A lot of serendipity came into play here. Having concluded that the olive barrel body was just a deal-breaker, I had to ask myself "Where am I gonna find just a mando-bass body?" And about that time a fellow up in Oregon eBay'd a mando-bass he had built using a standard DB neck. I asked him if he had any extra bodies and he replied he had one, which he sold me. What are the odds?
The other serendipity is that the neck heel fits perfectly into the mortise on the neck block. But said mortise is only about 3/16" deep at most. Not going to get much of a glue joint there. But the neck bolted to the olive barrel from within, with a hex bolt going up into the heel via a hole in the neck block. Just line things up and put your socket wrench through the soundhole, and do what needs to be done.
And with the new body things lined up perfectly, even with two pieces which the odds would say just had to be mismatched. Sliding the neck heel as far toward the rear of the mortise as possible aligns the bolt holes in the neck block and neck heel perfectly. I have a perfectly viable, functional instrument.
Am I a happy camper? You betcha!
There's no point for that, though. We're not putting quotation marks every time someone says piano or forte or huevos or stark or anything like that. There's a lot of things the Welsh might deserve, but this isn't one of them!
Anyways, as to the rest of the thread, like I said before: I support OP's experimentation because I think it'll be funny. Especially after so many of us pointed out how emphasizing the fundamental on a double bass is likely to be disastrous and he doubled down saying that he believes it'll make it sound stronger and punchier.
Although, this thread does make me wish again that I had a five string for some of the orchestral stuff I'm playing.
Last edited:
When talking about the Welsh, we need to be nice to the language, it's the last good thing they have.
Well, unless you count those poor sheep...
They do have good food in general. I meant to make cacennau cri this last weekend but I got lazy instead.
Actually, over the past couple of years I have grown quite fond of the Welsh. I have read both George Borrow's and Edward Thomas's travelogues on the country, and my favorite British poets (Hardy and Housman excepted) all grew up or flourished near Wales. And in Borrow's book at least, some of the Welsh words were provided English equivalents. My favorite Celts now are the Cymru, not the Gaels.
They have incredible meatballs that are called the German word for bassoon....
I choose to take this as a personal insult.
That one originated in England and spread further west. Want one that's really Welsh, you gotta go for bara lawr.
I was thinking I know absolutely nothing about the Welsh. But then I remembered that I actually live in Bryn Mawr, so there it is.
Me too, but I know I love their Grape Juice!
Last edited:
I choose to take this as a personal insult.
Since on my mother's side I am all Scotch-Irish, I take your personal insult as a personal insult.
Not actually. The lead players in the song "Bells of Rhymny" (pronounced Rumny) all are Welsh churches or cathedrals, and I've known about the Welsh eisteddfod for decades. Hey @TroyK , is this "off-topic" enough for you?
Now you've done it: the one unforgivable wordplay when Wales is discussed. Now Eli will have to visit upon you the grapes of wrath.
...
Hey @TroyK , is this "off-topic" enough for you?
It's getting there.
I have actually been to Wales, by the way. Beautiful country.
At certain times of year, Wales can be seen off the coast of Oregon, in their migratory passages.
- Status
