Double Bass Paul Chambers mic clamp?

[Randy Ward]

I didn't know where to put this.
Probably it has already been addressed.

In the wonderful so what video:



Paul Chambers has some sort of horizontal bar below the fingerboard. Best viewed at 4:39 and 7:48.
Is this a Mic clamp?
I had watched the video before,
but was too busy watching
his hands and missed this bar thing.

 

[Bob Branstetter]

I think that is a strap for a bass bib (to protect the upper bout on the player's side from being scratched).

 

[Randy Ward]

I think that is a strap for a bass bib (to protect the upper bout on the player's side from being scratched).

Hi Bob:
It seems almost half circular and more like a solid bar. Like a 'roll bar' on a car. Maybe you are right but it sure doesn't look like any bib I've ever seen.

 

[neal davis]

it's a bib

 

[Bob Branstetter]

If you look at about 4:33, you can see the upper strap for the bib. It parallels the where the neck attaches to the right upper bout and passes underneith the fingerboard. Paul was using a bib like this when I saw him playing at Birdland in 1959 or 1960.

 

[Randy Ward]

thanks to both Bob and Neal for clearing this up for me.
Every bib I've ever seen looks more like an apron.

 

[bolo]

Thanks for posting the link to the video. Very cool.

Leaves no question about the left hand fingering Chambers used for So What ... at least at that tempo. Ron Carter may have approached it differently later on I guess, when the tempo really picked up, like the Plugged Nickel recordings.

Blistering. Tony Williams. Geez ... I'd like to see a video of that too.

Anybody else wanna smoke a cigarette after watching that?

 

[Randy Ward]

Hey Bolo:
There is another thread concerning that video where they discuss the fingerings PC used. As I remember it was decided that he may have used them because there was of course no amp and the bass might have been louder/projected better that way. Anyway after watching it again I tried playing it that way.

Blistering. Tony Williams. Geez ... I'd like to see a video of that too.

how about


not the tune you meant but still cool.