Double Bass New Bass Day!

[JRA]

All of my practice pieces are easier to play - and sound better - with this bass! Color me happy.

that's the ticket! congratulations on your new instrument!

 

[jmpiwonka]

All I can say is that with the rate at which you upgrade your axes, you must be getting REALLY GOOD!

Just kidding. In my band, my cellist/mando picker currently plays axes worth over $15k each. And she says she simply doesn't believe the idea that one ought to eventually settle into one "forever" instrument. Enjoy the search, my friend!

You could’ve traded a 650 Krutz for a bass handmade by Anton Krutz for little cash outlay??

How did the busetto Krutz compare to the 650 and the Roth?

 

[AGCurry]

You could’ve traded a 650 Krutz for a bass handmade by Anton Krutz for little cash outlay??

How did the busetto Krutz compare to the 650 and the Roth?

Well, it depends on what you mean by "little." They were asking $14k for the Busetto, and that store has a policy of full trade-up allowance for its own instruments. They're also open to dickering. I think I could have had the Busetto, with the trade, for $4-5k.

The Busetto is a beautiful instrument, and with its size, it would make a very good orchestral bass, but probably not on a professional level. Loud, very dark sound. And, I did think enough of that 650 to buy it in the first place. Beautiful wood and finish, violin corners, fairly loud, and an even response across its range. The Roth is not what what I call visually attractive, but its response said "I WANT TO BE PLAYED!" Both of the Krutz instruments - and I want to be careful not to generalize about all Krutzes! - seemed a little more "indifferent," as though they were asking "Are you good enough to make me sing for you?" I'll also mention that the Roth was used mostly for jazz in the past, and it excels in jazz pizz.

I still have - and will keep - my other two Krutzes. One, my "jazzer," is a 300 (bottom tier of carved basses) with gut strings; the other is a "special design" quenoil-shaped bass that's really nice for soloing (not that I'm qualified or have much interest in solo work).

 

[Eli Brockway]

Since you say "UP in Independence," I assume you mean Missouri, not Kansas? Is that Jamey?

Yes it is. Independence is North-East of me, therefore for at least part of that directional statement it counts as "up"!

 

[lurk]

Congratulations, and I've seen quite a few instruments with knobs for tailpieces like that. Enjoy.

 

[Carl Hillman]

It's a German shop bass by Ernst Heinrich Roth, built in 1957.

Schön!

 

[Ketbass]

Beautiful Andy!

 

[elberon]

I'm obviously not Andy and I don't own a Roth bass, but having the endpin and the tailgut separated isn't unheard of. The only contemporary maker I can think of offhand who does this is Christian Laborie. I don't know if any of this is true, but my thinking is that it probably takes stress off of the endpin housing (and by extension the end block) since the endpin no longer has to both hold the entire weight of the bass and support the 250-ish pounds of string tension.

Pic of my Laborie, which has the separate plug and endpin (ignore the hole for a bent endpin, that isn't original to this bass):
View attachment 6975769

My Grunert (Lott model 1985) also has a separate plug and endpin configuration as you can see in the picture.