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Double Bass Shen 7/8 Willow
- Thread starter IggyG!
- Start date
For what it's worth, which may not be much:
I have that Shen and have been playing it for 6 years. It's a good bass. Mine at least has a particularly nice, very sweet middle register, from C to the octave. Otherwise it's a good bass, even, no dramatic flaws, but lacks the "character" you'd expect from a more expensive bass.
I'm six foot four, and I don't go up in thumb all that often, but it's a big bass. I like the sound of it a lot, I like the neck, but I often wish I had a 3/4 for the kind of gigs I do, which is a lot of smaller places and tight stages. If I were doing a lot of high register solo work, or expecting to, I'd probably look for another bass. But as I say, I'm not much of a high-register solo player.
I have that Shen and have been playing it for 6 years. It's a good bass. Mine at least has a particularly nice, very sweet middle register, from C to the octave. Otherwise it's a good bass, even, no dramatic flaws, but lacks the "character" you'd expect from a more expensive bass.
I'm six foot four, and I don't go up in thumb all that often, but it's a big bass. I like the sound of it a lot, I like the neck, but I often wish I had a 3/4 for the kind of gigs I do, which is a lot of smaller places and tight stages. If I were doing a lot of high register solo work, or expecting to, I'd probably look for another bass. But as I say, I'm not much of a high-register solo player.
I owned two of those, and I didn't find them to be large or cumbersome at all. Of course, almost every other bass I've owned has been considerably larger, so I have different expectations. The shoulders are not high in the manner of Panormo-shaped Italian or English basses, and that's the kicker when it comes to size (for me).
The Shens I've found to be the best deal are the big ones--the 7/8 Willow and the hybrid with the Italian shape/big shoulders.
The Shens I've found to be the best deal are the big ones--the 7/8 Willow and the hybrid with the Italian shape/big shoulders.
- Oct 12, 2004
- 1,327
- 587
- 72
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- Retailer: Shen, Sun, older European
The Shen Gemunder 7/8 willow flatback has a rich, dark voice. For more solo work, I'd suggest instead one of the 7/8 maple SB 300s with the saem 42" string length or one of the various Rogeri size Shen basses. The Rogeri size fits right between the Shen 3/4 and 7/8 sizes, but has the shorter 41 1/4" string length used by all of their 3/4 size basses.
