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Double Bass Looking to get into Double Bass

#21
Paul Warburton said:
+1.
Any knowledgeable luthier will tell you this.
Although, IME, basses sound better a bit on the dry side. Think about it. The wetter the wood, the harder it is for the vibrations to move through it. The drier it is, well.......
I live in a pretty dry area and my basses always sound best here.
As Flanning says, consistency is the ticket...dry or humid.
Radical changes in humidity can blow a bass apart. That's why you have be careful with Damp-It's and humidifiers.
Stick your bass in a room with a humidifier for a few day and take it out for an outside concert in 90 degree dry heat and watch the result.
Click to expand...

the dry side is the dangereous side... (ok, i'm a newbie, but still... sounds rather logical to me...)
 
#26
Paul Warburton said:
...Think about it. The wetter the wood, the harder it is for the vibrations to move through it...
Click to expand...

Sound waves travel better through water than through air. Sound, any vibration, travels better through moist air than through damp air.

Wood is made up of millions of cells. When the wood is a tree, the cells are filled with water. The more the wood dries, the more it becomes millions of cells filled with air. Cells filled with air pretty much defines an insulator.

Pick up a fresh piece of lumber. Hold it to your ear while someone gently taps on the other end. Do the same thing with an old and dried out piece of fence wood.

Be careful the earwigs and scorpions don't crawl in your ear.

Lumpy

You played on "The Love Boat"?
Yes. White tux, huge sideburns.

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#28
Lumpy said:
Pick up a fresh piece of lumber. Hold it to your ear while someone gently taps on the other end. Do the same thing with an old and dried out piece of fence wood.
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Click to expand...

IME, IMO, IMHO YMMV...my basses have always sounded better, and play easier in a dryer climate.
Also, my hands stay dryer, with less sweat and moisture on them while I play my bass in a dryer climate.
I like dry.
My present bass has lived in Denver since 1976. (It was made in 1888 As I said). I bought it in Chicago. When I brought it here from there, I placed a Damp-It in an F hole and weaned it out for a couple weeks. Not one crack. I've done this same thing with so many basses that I've lost count. (all of them, carved). I don't remember one weather-related crack.
EDIT: Why would you guys quote my posts and just argue about things that I've said IME. I never said that that should be your experience.
 
#29
Paul Warburton said:
IME, IMO, IMHO YMMV...

...Why would you guys quote my posts and just argue about things that I've said IME. I never said that that should be your experience.
Click to expand...

Not a problem here, sir. Everything anyone posts in any forum like this is obviously their opinion. No need to go overboard with the qualifyers of all the three and four letter acronyms, at least on my account. I certainly take it for granted that everything you, me and anyone else posts is their opinion and that others may not share that opinion.

My experience with stringed instruments is that they are measurably louder and have more dynamic range when they live in a humidity level that is close to where they were designed and built to live. For what seems to be the overwhelmingly huge majority of luthiers, that's around 45% RH. Obviously your mileage varies, but doesn't seem to coincide with most luthiers and professional players.

Glad to hear you've never had a dryness induced crack or separation.

Play on!


Lumpy

You Played on Lawrence Welk?
Yes but no blue notes. Just blue hairs.

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#31
I once owned a bass by Kaakstein, made in 1890. Not knowing enough about bass care, one winter I kept it in an abnormally dry, warm spot. The sound was never sweeter. However, the top spontaneously split about 15 inches during a rehearsal. Notwithstanding that, for sound, my experience with this bass was the same as Wallbutton's.
I'm much more careful now, never going below 45%.
 
#32
From a purely physical perspective, I think that dryer would = less flexible wood. When wood gets dryer, it also shrinks; this adds tension (as demonstrated by Don's mishap). Together these two factors create wood that looses very little sound to physical motion or contractions of soft wood (think of it like trying to play on a string thats to loose, it just wobbles around and doesn't make much sound). Scientifically I can't say what would make a BETTER sound, but I can say that a dryer bass should, theoretically, project better and should respond quicker (sonicly anyway [that isn't really a word is it...]). I guess the game is balancing the dryness of the wood with the structural integrity of the instrument overall.
 
#36
As to your issue of finding an instructor in the area the only advice I can give you is to take a trip to Umass Dartmouth and talk to the Bass teachers there, or atleast the head of The "Applied Strings" or whatever they call it, department. it's the department that does lessons. I go to Umass Lowell, and I know that both our Bass professors give lessons, although westford would be a haul for you, and Chuck Gabriel is in boston and that's probably a haul too. But that's probably your best bet for getting started on a search for a teacher.
 

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