Double Bass pancake bass? flatbass?

[Joe Nerve]

ALRIGHT ALREADY DAMMIT!! THEY JUST LOOK SO COOL!!!

 

[Ed Fuqua]

No they don't, they look flat and ugly.

 

[bassmonkey144]

well actually at this point im considering either a EUB or just a plain DB. i just got the news today that i made the top jazz band at my highschool of 3000 people. and i made the top orchestra as well. (good year, no?) so i think i want to get a nice DB, and put some pickups on it, and use it for both jazz and orchestra. any thoughts on that?

 

[gambist]

Joe, I hestate to point this out, prolly cause I hope you figgered it out already. When you cut you're inches off the ribs and back of the DB, all you're really doing away with is AIR. the sides and back of a bass are relatively thin (cause it's hollow, right?) pieces of wood.

Air just doesn't weigh that much.

Actually, all you are doing away with in terms of weight is the wood removed from the ribs.

The air inside an instrument effectively weighs nothing, since for every cubic centimeter of air inside the instrument, you get its weight offset exactly by the increased buoyancy of the instrument in the atmosphere.

Now a liter of air at room temperature weighs a bit over 1 gram. Let's guestimate the area of the back of a bass at 2 square meters and reduce the rib height by a generous 10 centimeters. By my reckoning you've eliminated a whopping 200 liters of air, or 200 grams and a bit, or let's call it half a pound.

Problem is, the bass is now smaller and it is half a pound less buoyant in air.

And I may have all of these numbers wrong, but the argument remains valid. All you lose is the weight of the wood removed from the ribs, which the back of my envelop estimates to be on the order of one kilogram or two pounds max.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

All you lose is the weight of the wood removed from the ribs, which the back of my envelop estimates to be on the order of one kilogram or two pounds max.

Apparently you also lose the ability to read for nuance....

 

[Steven Ayres]

I believe Kay also made thin bodied basses at one time.

Kay's S-5, S-6 and Selmer-Kay S-10 models were shallow-bodied, and the feature was an option on several other models as well from the very early days of production. One of the first was built for Bob Wills. The youngest example we know about right now is from '41, an S-100.

 

[gerry grable]

I hear the Jack Lemon estate has one, but it has a few bullet holes

 

[Carl Hillman]

i remember it being called a pancake bass, or something close to that. can anybody enlighten me on these basses, and where i might get one?

Have you tried the International House of Bass?

 

[Phil Rowan]

A friend of mine has a Voigt & Geiger pancake bass that is an absolute canon and puts out a HUGE sound.

 

[h00v3r]

FWIW, I think one of these things might just be thin enough to shove in the back of my car on top of my amp rig. Currently, it's impossible to travel with a passenger to gigs that require my DB (in the passenger seat) and full rig in the back). Up to this point, I figured my only other viable option if I don't want to drive alone was to get a weatherproof fiberglass DB that I could just strap to the roof of my car.

Which do you think would be the best option - thin DB I can jam in there on top of stuff or fiberglass DB up on the roof out of the way?

 

[Steve Swan]

I used to carry some of the contemporary Romanian versions of the slim bass about a dozen years ago. I saw one in use during my only visit to Las Vegas several years ago. I chatted with the jazz quartet player on the break and he told me that the tiny band equipment room was the reason for his choice. He played sitting on a stool and most observers would hardly notice that his instrument was considerably more shallow in the sides.

 

[csrund]

Back in school, there was a guy in my section who played on one of the Voight & Geiger basses, and I remember it had a surprisingly big sound. (Although I could never understand why; it doesn't make sense with the reduced air volume of the box. Perhaps the slim depth projects better?)

 

[Phil Rowan]

Back in school, there was a guy in my section who played on one of the Voight & Geiger basses, and I remember it had a surprisingly big sound. (Although I could never understand why; it doesn't make sense with the reduced air volume of the box. Perhaps the slim depth projects better?)

From what my friend who has one told me, the dimensions of the Voight & Geiger pancake bass mirror those of a violin pretty closely, so pretty wide shoulders and lower bout. I also feel like it's a flat back plus more type effect, where the sound just bounces right off the back and explodes forward. I remember being in the same apartment as this friend of mine while he was doing a session in another room, and I could've swore he was going through an amp.

 

[geoffbassist]

I've played a friends bass which looks like I think is Romanian. It was surprisingly loud and a lot of fun to play! I think his bass would be a great choice if you wanted a low value value instrument to take on jazz gigs. I really liked it.

 

[h00v3r]

Serendipitously, I came across this video of Choppy Lambourne a couple of days ago - I don't know if it adds any insight, but evidently you can kind of hear one of these pancake thingies slapping outside on a nice day and recorded on a phone...

 

[Roger Davis]

Serendipitously, I came across this video of Choppy Lambourne a couple of days ago - I don't know if it adds any insight, but evidently you can kind of hear one of these pancake thingies slapping outside on a nice day and recorded on a phone...

I pity the dog.

 

[robobass]

I have a Geiger bass. Not the super thin one. I think 5-1/2". Wider bouts to compensate. It is a different kind of sound. Less fundamental, but amazing projection. Very nice in a pit orchestra or amplified.

 

[robobass]

Actually, all you are doing away with in terms of weight is the wood removed from the ribs.

Yes, you don't really save on weight, especially when the top is wider. I heard a story that the original motivation was that it could fit in the overhead rack of mid 20thC passenger trains. Don't know. It is easier to carry, however, the center of gravity being closer to your back, but I think this was a factor in the design.