Double Bass J. Fred Couch EUB

[robgrow]

Just wondered if anyone had seen or had any info on an EUB with the bridge marked "J. Fred Couch."

Thanks!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Fred Couch, who died years ago, lived in Louisville and repaired basses and built some EUB's. I played one once on a gig, my first EUB experience. I was a piano player back when he was alive, but TB member rdwhit used to tell me anecdotes about Fred and could probably write a huge chunk of this thread by himself. Maybe you should send him a PM and see if he'll weigh in.

 

[robgrow]

Thanks Chris.

 

[John Goldsby]

I bought my first bass from Fred Couch . . . a decent, German carved bass that he said used to belong to Tyrone Brown. I never played his EUB, though.

 

[jon3673]

I met Fred Couch back in the 60’s when I started playing electric bass in the Louisville area. Fred mostly worked on acoustic instruments and I was interested in playing an acoustic upright, but had not made the move yet.
Fred told me to go into a club and listen to a guy play a Juzek UB that he had restored. He said that he loved the bass, but decided to sell it, because he was only about 5’ tall and very uncomfortable with trying to play it. It was a full size (4/4) upright.
Well, I did go into that club and listening to Fred’s old bass is the main reason that I wound up moving exclusively to UB.
Anyway, one of my first attempts to move toward UB was to purchase one of the first type EUBs (an Ampeg). I hated it! (I had also just begun experimenting with a 5 string EB around that time.)
Well, Fred was simply enthralled with it! So, one thing led to another, and I gave it to him as a trade. He made me a 5 string EB (looks a lot like a Fender) in exchange.
I know that he immediately disassembled it in order to review all of the details (because I helped him do it!) and then started making his own version. We talked a lot about ways to set up magnetic pickups and I’m sure that the EUB that you have is one of these that Fred made.
Later on, he did make a 5 string EUB for me. But now (having been modified several times) it’s in the corner of my shop and is mostly in pieces.
I will say this, a few years later (in the late 70s) I went back to Louisville and ran into the guy that owned Fred’s old Juzek. I was actually able to purchase that ax and have never gone back to an EUB since! Fred took on the task of modifying it and adding a 5th string (lo B); which simply enhanced the most wonderful sounding bass in the world!
The bridge on my Juzek also says "J. Fred Couch".
He was certainly one of the people that helped in proving that bass players are "nice cats".