Double Bass I played a very weird bass today

[Nick Gann]

In the Potomac Valley Youth Orchestra, I am principle tubist. This semester, we are playing Tchaikovsky's 4th. The tuba tacets for the second and third movement, and only plays for half of the first, and most of the 4th movement. Such is the life of a tubist

Anyways, to the point: Since I tacet for two entire movements, I am going to play DB for those two

Today, I used one of the basses at the school we play at, and it had a fingerboard that was very.... odd. All fingerboards I have seen have the constant circular curvature (the radius of the FB). This bass had the constant curvature only under the G, D, and A strings. Under the E string, it angles off, and is a flat board under the E (see my pic for a clarification). Is this because it is a student model, or some new innovation, or...?

Invalid Link Removed

The section of the fingerboard in question is pointed to by the arrow.

 

[Gabe]

The bass I use has the angle thing just to the A side of the E. Its just sort of a very slight ridge though. I always assumed all basses had this. Actually my cello has a ridge there too. Maybe all my instruments are screwed up, but I think that thing is supposed to be there. I have no idea why though.

I'm curious to hear answers as well.

 

[Bob Branstetter]

What you are talking about is called a Romberg bevel. It is not unusual and in fact for many years virtually all bass fingerboards were made this way. We have had several discussion about the Romberg bevel. Here's one of them.http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=85171&highlight=Romberg

 

[Paul Warburton]

God, you guys are young!!!! I'm just getting used to basses without the bevel!!!

 

[Nick Gann]

Originally posted by Paul Warburton
God, you guys are young!!!! I'm just getting used to basses without the bevel!!!

HAHAHA!!! Wow, that is one of the funniest things I've heard all day!!!

Man, I feel like such a kid (17 years old)

 

[tsolo]

I have one with and one without. I don't even notice a difference.

 

[Joe Taylor]

When I first saw a round one I thought somthing was wrong with it.

can you say geezer

Joe

 

[Nick Gann]

Wow... I feel like such a kid.

[Edit] GEEZER

 

[Pete G]

What I'm wondering is what sort of interface Nick used to input his Etch-A-Sketch to his computer.

 

[Nick Gann]

Originally posted by Pete G
What I'm wondering is what sort of interface Nick used to input his Etch-A-Sketch to his computer.

My super duper ultimate skillz on MS Paint

It would be awesome to interface an etch-a-sketch to a computer though... Endless fun!!!

 

[John Sprague]

We've been making our basses with the Romberg, but I'd like to hear from the dealers here which they prefer, and what their customers are telling them. I know Jeff would like it rounded, how about Ahnold, Bob Branflakes, the Llady'sMan, and any other dealers? I'll send your responses to Sam if you guys advise a round board. It was a few dealers who were insistent on the bevel that drove the decision in the first place.

For Etch-a-Sketch, I stumbled onto some technidal support documentation for it:

FAQ's for Etch-A-Scetch Techinal Support


Q: My Etch-A-Scetch has all of these funny little lines all over the
screen.
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: How do I turn my Etch-A-Sketch off?
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: What's the shortcut for Undo?
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: How do I create a New Document window?
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: How do I set the background and foreground to the same color?
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: What is the proper procedure for rebooting my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: How do I delete a document on my Etch-A- Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.


Q: How do I save my Etch-A-Sketch document?
A: Don't shake it.

 

[Bob Branstetter]

I know Jeff would like it rounded, how about Ahnold, Bob Branflakes, the Llady'sMan, and any other dealers?
[/B]

I personally prefer the beveled fingerboard as do the majority of my older customers. The younger players usually want the round boards since they usually learned to play on school basses that have a round board.
The ideal would be to make both and satisfy everybody.

 

[Paul Warburton]

My Bohmann has neither...I don't know if you can tell by the pictures, but it has a rounded board with channels under the G and B strings!
On other basses includind Bob Rosses bass, we prefer round.

 

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally posted by Paul Warburton
My Bohmann has neither...I don't know if you can tell by the pictures, but it has a rounded board with channels under the G and B strings!

Hey Paul, I'll bet Nick Gann would find your Bowmann fingerboard really odd! Come to think of it, it looks kind of odd to me too!

 

[Pete G]

Kai Arvi told me he switched from beveled to rounded a few years back because his customers are demanding rounded f/bs.