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Double Bass Need advice - bass purchase for advanced HS student

davehertzberg

davehertzberg

Feb 24, 2010
155
9
Croton on Hudson, NY
www.davehertzberg.com
#1
Need some advice for my private student who is looking to purchase a bass. He’s been renting since he was little, now he’s in 9th grade and is ready to move on from the student basses. As someone who didn’t own a bass until college, and then it was a Kay bought for under 2K, I’m not quite sure what’s best for this kid. He’s going into 10th grade in the fall, so he still has three years of HS left. He will probably play in college, so he definitely needs something that will last. He plays both classical and jazz.

Questions: How much should they look to spend? They didn’t seem to balk when I said a fully carved might cost upwards of 6-8k, but not sure whether it’s wise to spend that much at this age.

Also is a hybrid better for a young student in terms of durability? When I explained the difference between hybrid and fully carved to his mom, she said she thought carved sounded better but I’m not sure I agree.

How long is it reasonable for a bass purchased at this age to last a student? Like, should the bass they buy now last into young adulthood?

What brands would you recommend most? We’re in the New York area so it would be best to go for something he could try out first.

Thanks for any advice you can give!
 
#2
I would go with a sound composite bass, it will endure the rough handling, be inexpensive to repair and will encourage playing in less than favourable conditions. It's great to have a gig and street bass, especially for a young fella growing up. A bass he can take to parties or busking, camping even. As his ear develops, he will be confident of choosing his own carved bass for serious work and still have a loved hack for gigging etc.
 
#3
The String Emporium hybrids are a great choice. I would advise waiting for the "lifetime" instrument till he's at least in college and has a personal idea of what sound he's after and what kind of music he likes. In the meantime he'll have a nice sounding and feeling bass that he will probably want to keep as a second instrument for the rest of his life.
 
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#5
If you can get to NYC area, go to Gage and Kolstein and play some basses in his price range. If he's serious, and his parents are up to spend into high teen$, there are many choices new and older. I'd look at the New Standard line, which Gage may have in stock, or check www.newstandardbass.com website. Kolstein has many of his shop basses to choose from, too. Mark Leue, mentioned above by Kungfu, too. You may also find a good older European bass with a developed sound, as long as it's in solid condition (that carved Juzek on Leue's site looks good).

Either a good hybrid or carved is the way to go. Hybrids will be less $$$ in most cases. For Chinese basses, I'd stick with the main suppliers, Shen, Eastman, Christopher, Jay Haide, Wan Bernadel from String Emporium. Pretty solid reputations.
 
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#7
Agree with @Eric Hochberg as usual. For a dose of perspective, I'm a jazz bass professor and my main bass is a New Standard Lascala hybrid. I'm not in the market for an upgrade and doubt I'll ever need to upgrade. That bass is so stable it stays perfectly in tune for weeks at a time.

Aside from that, get into NYC and Upton if you can make the travel, hit the shops, and lay hands and ears on some basses in person. You might get lucky with a mail order bride, but then you might not.
 
#8
Point of order: I’ve been to Gage’s shop and if I had to guess I’d say that his rent is at least $100,000 a month. He’s in Lower Manhattan, one of the most expensive places in the world outside of Moscow.

With that in mind, it’s not a place to find deals. Can you charm your way into trying the good stuff so you know what you like? Maybe. But the days of getting a good deal in a Manhattan music store ended around 1990.
 
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#12
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I think I will try to convince them to go for a hybrid. They’re renting from a chain right now that has a connection with Eastman so there may be a deal to be had there. Beyond that it looks like Upton Standard might be the way to go. I definitely know Gage and Kolstein, and have bought basses from both. Possible I guess to get lucky there and the education might make it worth the trip, but odds of finding something there seem not great.

By the way I didn’t realize my profile still said I’m in Brooklyn! I made the move to the burbs a few years ago and I’m in a northern westchester town called Croton on Hudson.
 
#15
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
Ah, so you’re practically homefolks. My first bass was salvaged from a parking lot in Westchester and looked like Pig Pen. When your student and their parents get serious about getting something good, holler.
Click to expand...

Same story here, after playing a plywood Gotz that belonnged to my highschool, we found out that a local French Horn player who doubled on bass, was selling his instrument. It was playable but needed refinishing, a bridge, post adjustment. Dad and I refinished it, it looked great.

I played it for a few years and started attending Ball State University. My instructor Phillip Albright was instrumental in getting me a Mirecourt bass from Dave Horine in Cincinatti. It has a hybrid back that I've never had any issues with, the instrument sounds

wonderful, so I can attest to the fact that hybrids are great sounding basses, have less issues with cracking, and sound incredible. My one reccommendation would be regardless of the construction of the instrument ( hybrid or fully carved) that he get
a bass with "gamba" style shoulders. It's so much easier fo play in the upper register and with new bass building techiques, the instruments are equal or better than violin
style upper bouts. Just my take.

MIrecourt Bass Back.jpg
 
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#16
Ric Vice said:
My one reccommendation would be regardless of the construction of the instrument ( hybrid or fully carved) that he get a bass with "gamba" style shoulders. It's so much easier fo play in the upper register and with new bass building techiques, the instruments are equal or better than violin style upper bouts. Just my take.
Click to expand...

Hey Ric, AFAIK, Gamba style vs Violin style refers to the corners of the instrument. I have seen no info that the different corner construction affects sound or playability. I think you are referring to "sloping" shoulders that make the instrument easier to play upper register. Both gamba and violin corner basses are available with sloping shoulders. @Chris Fitzgerald 's LaScala, for one.
 
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#17
Eric Hochberg said:
Hey Ric, AFAIK, Gamba style vs Violin style refers to the corners of the instrument. I have seen no info that the different corner construction affects sound or playability. I think you are referring to "sloping" shoulders that make the instrument easier to play upper register. Both gamba and violin corner basses are available with sloping shoulders. @Chris Fitzgerald 's LaScala, for one.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
Violin corners are purely aesthetic. Smaller shoulders do, however, come with a significant sonic penalty.
Undersized shoulders tend to change bow response as well. There are some exeptions, notably I have played some older italians that felt and sounded nice and deep, but never in a newer bass. One of these is the very reasonably priced Ferrarotti currently for sale at Poellman (€30k).
 

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