Those are nice. I took a look on Kolstein's website and they have a variety of nice looking machines available, and they're not cheap! Not much listed about them though. Do you know anything about them?
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Double Bass Planning some upgrades to my Shen - Input/advice please!
- Thread starter Scott Lynch
- Start date
Those are nice. I took a look on Kolstein's website and they have a variety of nice looking machines available, and they're not cheap! Not much listed about them though. Do you know anything about them?
Not sure about the weight difference the shafts make, but unless they're hollow/tubular, it would be significant. A colleague has the "see-saw" issue with a Jay Haide 5-stringer. He swapped the stock parts for Sloanes and a carbon fiber endpin. Next time I rehearse with him, I'll see if I can discern what shafts are installed.
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I replaced the tuners on my 4-string Shen with a Chinese set purchased on eBay (see photo). The price was well under $100, but the catch was that I had to cut at least one shaft down (maybe more; I can't remember) to fit the peg box and then chamfer the fresh-cut ends. A pain in the arse, but the end result is an improvement over the stock tuners.
Hi Scott,
My two cents- tuners if it ain’t broke... Ive also been reading to see what an end pin will do for the tone and think this might be a good investment. There is a bunch of threads out there on the Yamahiko and it sounds like a winner.
Happy to let you try the pickups I have if you want to get together and experiment. Using the two channels on the AI and blending the piezo with the mic has been an interesting journey so far. Have you thought about trying a mic?
Jim
My two cents- tuners if it ain’t broke... Ive also been reading to see what an end pin will do for the tone and think this might be a good investment. There is a bunch of threads out there on the Yamahiko and it sounds like a winner.
Happy to let you try the pickups I have if you want to get together and experiment. Using the two channels on the AI and blending the piezo with the mic has been an interesting journey so far. Have you thought about trying a mic?
Jim
The tuners on your bass remind me a heck of a lot of the 'Euro' model machines that Shen puts on their Panormo and other top model basses. Funnily enough, I checked out the eBay page you mentioned and saw that they sell tuners that look identical to the ones I have on my bass now ('Suzhou' model). Obviously I have a hunch that Shen must get some of their machines from this guy...
You are brave, or perhaps well experienced, to install new tuners yourself. There's no way I feel remotely confident enough to do any surgery on my bass!
I know these likely don’t match the style bass you have, but this company makes nice replicas of individual tuning machines found on old French basses, and they’re damn sexy: Dsb Outillage
Back to reality, I upgraded the tuning machines on my Benedikt Lang bass (the ones on there weren't original, nor was the neck at the time) with a set of Rubner plate tuners (the kind with round tuning gears, rather than the clover style), and haven't looked back. Solid tuners at a great price.
Back to reality, I upgraded the tuning machines on my Benedikt Lang bass (the ones on there weren't original, nor was the neck at the time) with a set of Rubner plate tuners (the kind with round tuning gears, rather than the clover style), and haven't looked back. Solid tuners at a great price.
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Hey Jim! I hear where you're coming from. The advice in this thread (thanks guys!) has tempered my upgrade-itis a bit but I'm still pretty set on getting a nice set of tuners. I feel confident it would be a worthwhile improvement.
So far I've tried the FC, Realist, Realist Lifeline, Ehrlund, and even fiddled around with a Krivo for a bit. The FC definitely wins on this bass. The only mic I own is the Troll, which has been nice for the occasional FOH send.
What else have you got?
Scott- sounds like you have tried lots of gear and sorry to say the only thing I have you have not tried is the AMT350 which I just picked up in December from another TBer. Happy to let you borrow if you are curious.
Jim
John Sprague
Sam Shen's US Distributor
- Mar 10, 2003
- 998
- 360
- 63
- Disclosures
- Sales Manager, CSC Products Inc.
Hey Scott, feel free to call Justin at our shop, he has set up and tweaked tons of Shen Rogeris and has experimented with all manner of strings, endpins, tailpieces, and pickups. He might have some useful insights for you. The shop number is 585-377-9560.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Completely agree here. My old bass teacher believed that in that bass price range stepping up to a better bow was the best next step, assuming the bass was in solid operating condition. I chose to really upgrade my bow and the new setup worked like a champ.
i am a HUGE believer in the new harmony music carbon fiber endpins.
1. they dont slip, and they are endlessly adjustable.
2. THEY DON'T SLIP!!
3. they are significantly lighter in weight; whether that is just benefitial for carrying the bass or for sound i can't say. i've put it on 3 basses and noticed an improvement every time.
4. they don't slip.
be careful with messing with a tailpiece on a bass you already like, be sure you can always go back to how it was. it can have a surprisingly large effect on the sound.
i forget the name of the luthier (im sure it's many) who once said "the best place for the soundpost is where the violin sounds good"
in other words, if it aint broke...
good luck! shen rogeri's are excellent all-around basses.
1. they dont slip, and they are endlessly adjustable.
2. THEY DON'T SLIP!!
3. they are significantly lighter in weight; whether that is just benefitial for carrying the bass or for sound i can't say. i've put it on 3 basses and noticed an improvement every time.
4. they don't slip.
be careful with messing with a tailpiece on a bass you already like, be sure you can always go back to how it was. it can have a surprisingly large effect on the sound.
i forget the name of the luthier (im sure it's many) who once said "the best place for the soundpost is where the violin sounds good"
in other words, if it aint broke...
good luck! shen rogeri's are excellent all-around basses.
Okay, you convinced me. Decided to jump on the CF endpin bandwagon and see how it goes. Gollihur offers one at a price that made it easy to experiment. Has a clutch adjustment as opposed to the thumbscrew variety that I found appealing. I’ll let ya know.
I'm pretty sure I broke one of those New Harmony endpins. I was trying out a bass with one installed, and the rod kept slipping down and then without cranking it very hard at all, snap, the plastic knob gave out and stripped from the screw.
It seemed like junk to me, to be honest.
It seemed like junk to me, to be honest.
I’ve had them on 2 basses with no issues. They appear to be out of stock at the moment. But has anyone tried the other cf rod endpin that Gollihur has for $51? Looks like the whole metal mechanism twists to tighten instead of a plastic knob. Thanks
Again, upgrade your bow first. It can make a profound difference in your arco sound (and technique). If you’re mainly a pizz player then maybe not.
Yes, that’s the one I ordered. Should arrive sometime next week and hopefully have it installed the week after. I’ll keep ya posted. (Would’ve been a good pun if I was getting a new sound post). Anyway, hope I don’t end up getting the shaft.
Getting a new sound post fitted did the most for string balance.
If you haven't already cut the excess of your existing end-pin that is a free upgrade.
Also you can get a sense for the how the end pin effects your bass by simply playing with it out.
I ended up up making a wood one with the excess end pin I cut off fitted into a dowel, very cheap upgrade.
For my bass a light weight Wittner tailpiece and nylon tail gut did way more for improving resonance, it replaced a heavy ebony tailpiece and steel tail gut.
At the same time I experimented with the after length distance (distance between bridge and tailpiece) Started with 1/6 string length and ended a tiny bit less, and found this has a profound effect on wolf tones which improves the quickness with the bow. For me too long = wolf tones, too short = hard to start.
If you haven't already cut the excess of your existing end-pin that is a free upgrade.
Also you can get a sense for the how the end pin effects your bass by simply playing with it out.
I ended up up making a wood one with the excess end pin I cut off fitted into a dowel, very cheap upgrade.
For my bass a light weight Wittner tailpiece and nylon tail gut did way more for improving resonance, it replaced a heavy ebony tailpiece and steel tail gut.
At the same time I experimented with the after length distance (distance between bridge and tailpiece) Started with 1/6 string length and ended a tiny bit less, and found this has a profound effect on wolf tones which improves the quickness with the bow. For me too long = wolf tones, too short = hard to start.
Earl
Supporting Member
The Beginpin endpin looks great and has options for carbon and different wood types.
BeginPin – John Hay Enterprises LLC
Having said that I put the Gollihur carbon one on my Shen SB 88 and it sounded great.
The Yamahiko is much better than the Full Circle in many ways. No fragile white wire sticking out for one!
BeginPin – John Hay Enterprises LLC
Having said that I put the Gollihur carbon one on my Shen SB 88 and it sounded great.
The Yamahiko is much better than the Full Circle in many ways. No fragile white wire sticking out for one!
Okay, installed and was on the gig last night (piano trio + vocalist). Made the bass noticeably lighter, which I appreciated. Was there a discernible difference in the sound? Well, I had my luthier check & adjust the sound post while she was in there, so if there was a perceptible change it could also have been attributed to the move of the post. Maybe I just wanted to hear something different and the power of suggestion got me there.
That said, the bass - which I recently acquired about 5 months ago and already sounded terrific - sounded even better. Whatever was done and for whatever reason, the qualities that made the bass sound the way I like it were brought out even more.
Didn’t make me a better blues player though.
Here ya go:
That said, the bass - which I recently acquired about 5 months ago and already sounded terrific - sounded even better. Whatever was done and for whatever reason, the qualities that made the bass sound the way I like it were brought out even more.
Didn’t make me a better blues player though.
Here ya go:
