Double Bass Raising EUB bridge for better Arco or more authentic DB feel - Warning

[SeaMist_au]

I did raise my bridge and I did get a much better DB feel and sound. Arco was much improved.
BUT
At the first rehearsal for a community band I am playing with I bought my EUB along instead of my double bass, mainly because I wasn't sure of parking, access etc. it was an NS NXT if you are wondering.
At the end of the session my arm felt very tired as you might expect. What I didn't expect was intense muscle pain through my left arm and hand the next day. This is pain I hadn't experienced even with the full double bass. Over exertion? Definitely. The warning involves the why.
When you play the double bass and you pull on strings with your left hand you are doing more of a full body thing. Large muscle groups in your back/ shoulders combine with arm muscles to depress the string against the finger board. Technically, you actually don't need the thumb, well you sort of do but it's role is more like a bit player in the whole process.
When you play an EUB there is nothing to pull back against, meaning that the whole string depression against the fingerboard action is confined to the left hand only, and the thumb plays a major role.
If your action is raised, that then places a massive strain on the left hand, which is now doing all the work.

My advice is to think twice (or more lol) before playing extended sessions with the action raised on an EUB. Long term I think you are asking for trouble.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

If you raise the bridge more than one or two millimeters, you should also change the neck angle (if possible, several EUBs have inserted necks that are screwed to the body). Otherwise you need to elongate the string by pressing it down much more than before and need a lot more force to do this than before.

Personally, I think EUBs without a body support are large electric upright bass guitars, not electric double basses. They often don't have the same orintation points (like the neck end around the fifth) as a double bass.

More elastic strings like gut or synthetic core strings might help with a higher action, but this is no solution if you have a magnetic pickup, that you want to use.

 

[Phil Smith]

The warning should be that one should stick to a EUB that simulates the girth of a DB. My main complaint about the NS Design EUB is that you can't jump right on it and carry over all of your DB know how, due to the vastly different "ergonomics": The Yamaha Silent Bass on the other hand, allows you to do just that.

 

[Jon Moody]

The OPs warning was a prime factor in me purchasing the enjoin attachment for my NS Design CR5-M (that currently has Spiros in it). I have found that has helped me a lot, mainly because it approximates the distance and feel that I would've had with my URB, whereas the tripod stand really just doesn't work for me.