Were they supposed to be judging the tone of the instrument? Because I only heard Israels mention anything tone-related.
That video was from a post-event 'sound off' session, attended by the makers and perhaps 50 or 60 others. The judging was private, no access allowed for makers or players besides the judges, so I've no idea how those conversations went. I do have the hand-written comment from Chuck Israels, David Murray and Kurt Muroki who each filled out a page with their comments on tone, dynamic range, balance, projection, ergonomics, and 'overall impression' and lastly a 'total score' line.
I strung the bass with Belcantos, and if memory serves so did 21 of the 24 other makers, though mine and one or two others drew the most verbal criticism of this choice from Chuck who really wanted an 'American' sound which he described as emanating from Spirocore strings. I had tried Spirocore Weich gauge strings on mine for a couple of hours and found them uneven and generally awful, where Belcanto delivered a strong and even sound across the whole range, both arco and pizz.
Chuck Israels said:
tone: Excellent "Body" in the tone - solid, not hollow, rich pizz sound in mid + upper reg. even w/arco strings - considerable depth of tone for such a small bass
dynamic range: (left blank)
balance: generally mellow + "rounded" tone. Perhaps less clear + quick - but not a bad trade off
projection: good
ergonomics: excellent in all respects - but for the Eb neck - this is a personal choice - not one that suits me.
overall impression: excellent - many attractive qualities - Eb neck is a personal deal breaker
total score: B
David Murray said:
tone: - good body to the sound
- not as easy to play spiccato as clearly/easily
- response on the fast notes seems a bit sluggish
dynamic range: responsive
balance: quite even throughout
projection: good - sound carries
ergonomics: - easy to shift throughout
- Eb neck makes middle register a bit awkward
overall impression: generally good, although not as responsive for quicker passages as it could be
total score: (left blank)
Kurt Muroki said:
tone: decent tone, notes feel in a weird place not easy to play
dynamic range: good. good range
balance: not as good on A str.
projection: good tone, soloistic
ergonomics: good clearance, stiff feel. Also the neck (Eb) is difficult
overall impression: interesting bass w/ odd feel
total score: C+
So yes, tone was discussed in writing on the judging forms. There were the three from the workmanship judges as well, which rather oddly dealt for the most part with aesthetic opinions and made little mention of the actual workmanship. Reading them again now, two years later, the comments seem more like what one might see in a beauty contest than anything coming from either a woodcraft or acoustical physics perspective. From what I can gather in these opinions, none of the workmanship judges were concerned about such trivialities, preferring to state their preferences in terms of proportion and 'balance.'
