Recently Acquired Double Bass

I've worked on a few of that model. Pretty basic school bass, with spruce belly but in 4 or more planks instead of the customary 2. They're not terrific sound-wise, but a fair bit better than the plywood deathmobiles made with the Dvorak label of some kind of ultra-heavy plywood. At least these can be set up well and play evenly enough to get by.

As to worth, I've not priced them in shops nor been asked to appraise nor sell one yet... so it'd be a rough guess. In Canadian dollars I'd probably suggest something around $3000 - $3500, which is around the going rate here for the current crop of intermediate Gligas from Romania. Hard to say much without trying it out and having a better look. So that'd be around $2500 - $3000 USD I suppose.

You might want someone to look at that bridge a bit. Seems a bit warped up towards the fingerboard. That could be corrected with some careful steaming and clamping flat for a time. Not a great bridge anyway, but salvageable. And it looks like the soundpost-side Fishman pickup element could use a proper clamp. Those are easy to make with a bit of sheet metal and some felt, a spot of contact cement to hold the felt to the steel. Or just ditch the pickup - that type just sounds awful anyway.

 

The Realist isn't quite that price, but it does seem to fnd favour with a lot of players these days. I had trouble with the Realist right from the first one I installed, back something like 5 or 6 years ago (or whenever it was they were first released). They make dents in bellies. Not nice. There have been a few modest revisions in the copper foil implementation but the problem has remained.

That is until David got around to re-designing the thing. He sent me a 'beta' version to try out on players a few months ago, and I've put it on three basses so far. It's a much tinier set of two piezos mounted in a small (about 1.5cm square) folded foil piece. This is set into a cut-out of maple veneer, sitting on a non-cut piece of the same 0.5mm veneer. It's basically letting a thin veneer take the abuse of the pickup elements, and since the new ones are very, very small compared to the older design there's not nearly so much abuse being dished out.

Reports from the players so far are favourable. It seems a winner. I've no idea what Gage's plans are for releasing this one, but it seems a safe enough bet to recommend it.

As for cheaper options; one of the simpler and nice options is the K&K Bass Max. It's $88 at Lemur. I've heard a few jazz and blues guys liking them. Easy enough to fit, but they do have to go in gently, not squeezed in under a wing too hard, or the pickup could be damaged. A file and some patience should get it fitted, or better, get it to a luthier.

The Fishman Full Circle is just under your price. It's not bad, and has the bonus of being a set of aluminum adjusters. Needs a be mounted professionally, so consider another bunch of bucks there, depending on who does it and how much they charge. I figure $50 (Canadian) is enough to properly mount a set of 1/4" x 20 adjusters, using a jig I made for my little Taig lathe. Makes drilling the holes parallel and tapping them a breeze. Many shops butcher adjuster setups, so ask around about this one. No freehand drilling or it'll be a mess and you might be looking at getting a new bridge. But then again, that bridge might not be a great investment in terms of spending money fitting adjusters to it... unless correcting that warp makes it seem viable in the opinion of a luthier who actually has his/her hands on the thing.

Another option is to attach a gooseneck mic to the underside of the tailpiece and play around with positioning. Some cheap-ish vocal mic and a mixing box might deliver what you want. There are always interesting problems with using a mic on a bass, but some performers prefer this sort of option.

 

Pickup: Clef Revolution Solo, $99 from www.uptonbass.com or www.traditionmusic.com. Best pickup ever!

 

I like & use the K&K Bassmax. It's about U$D 90 and carefully positioned, I don't need a pre-amp. I run the EQ on my amplifier flat also. When I first boutht it, I thought of this as a "beginner pick-up", but it really has worked out much better than I expected and I don't think an upgrade is necessary for my purposes. It works well for pizz. and arco. The best sound would come from one of the systems incorporating a microphone, but all of those systems feed back so easy as to make them almost useless. Underwood is also a nice pick-up. The Bassmax is probably the smallest, easiest to mount, best sounding, most ruggedly built for the price. You can read more in the Pick-ups and Amp. section of the forum.

Rhegin is the city of origin of your bass. The luthiery business there is at least 55 years old. The bridge may be upside down. The 90 degree angle at the bass of the bridge feet should be toward the tail piece with the acute angle facing up toward the fingerboard. But it also could just be an illusion from the angle of the photo. If you try to turn it around, the top of the bridge and the feet would probably need to be re-cut or even a new bridge installed to get a proper fit. If indeed it is upside down, see if the school will pay to have it fixed.

A carved bass from Rhegin could be worth anything from U$D 2500 to 6000 new, depending on wood & finish. This one looks more like a lower priced one to me.

 

+1 on the Revolution Solo-- IMO, head and shoulders above the K&K BassMax and only $99.

 

"That is until David got around to re-designing the thing. He sent me a 'beta' version to try out on players a few months ago, and I've put it on three basses so far. It's a much tinier set of two piezos mounted in a small (about 1.5cm square) folded foil piece. This is set into a cut-out of maple veneer, sitting on a non-cut piece of the same 0.5mm veneer. It's basically letting a thin veneer take the abuse of the pickup elements, and since the new ones are very, very small compared to the older design there's not nearly so much abuse being dished out."

Sounds JUST like part of the original REVOLUTION...that is untill they put lawyers on us and told us we were infringing on their patent and could not sell it. So, they took our hard work and design...and now are about to sell it??? How nice.

No, I'm not bitter.

 

Bear in mind that ANY pickup is just going to give you a louder version of the sound your bass gets. Until you are getting a warm, open, projecting sound out of the bass, you aren't going to get one out of the pickup/amp.