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Double Bass Size, consideration?

Bijoux

Bijoux

Aug 13, 2001
1,272
540
Denver-CO-USA
#1
Every once in a while there is a thread about sizes. I've been thinking about it lately and I have a thought.
I started learning the double bass in 1991 while living in caracas-Venezuela. I lived there for a little over 5 years. I was taking lessons from two teachers that played for the symphony. I had to borrow a bass from the Orchestra. So here is the interesting part. I am 6'2" and the average height over there is a little bellow that. The other guys in the bass section were at most 5'8", and the principal who is an amazing musician was probably about 5'4" or 5'5". So as I show up to pick up a bass there is a brief discussion about which size I should get. And very quickly they decided that I should play a full size bass. As I remember it wasn't any harder than the 3/4. Especially because I was very new to it anyway.
So these days there are some full size basses that claim to have a 42" scale length. I have a friend that has a 7/8 juzek that has a 44" scale length, and I find that bass hard to play. I have one of those 7/8 Romanian basses that are sold by Kolstein and it feels big but it's really easy to play, and compared to my 3/4 size is not that much bigger at all. in fact just a few inches overall. and lately I've seen full size basses that pretty much have the same dimensions as my 7/8, or maybe a 1/2 an inch bigger lower bout.
So I guess that my conclusion is that when it comes to double basses, I guess sizes are pretty much all over the place.
I guess you just have to play them, and not be afraid to try a 4/4 or even a 5/8 for that matter...
is that right???
 
#2
i agree with you about not being afraid to try any size bass. when i was looking into getting a new bass last year, for some reason i really wanted a 4/4. not sure why. i guess i thought it would have a bigger sound and i figured something like 'if i can play a 4/4 bass then i can play anything'. i was talking it over with my previous bass teacher and she basically told me it was a really bad idea to go for a 4/4. i'm over 6 ft. tall and i have long fingers, but still she said that 4/4 was just too big. so i ended up with a 7/8 bass that has a 3/4 neck on it, kinda weird.
anyway, my point is - why should she have tried to talk me out of a full size bass like that? it was a bit of a buzzkill for me. that being said, i love the bass i ended up with!
 
#3
The only thing that I am not keeping in consideration is actually sound! maybe a full size bass could be boomy, unfocused, ... who knows...?
but then again, the sizes are so close, and then from on make to another they seem to overlap. I am curious about a full size bass. I'd like to see how it plays and sounds, but I haven't seen one since 1991!
 
#6
Bijoux said:
overlap
Click to expand...

There's the key word in all of this. There's no standard. Sizes are indeed all over the place.

If you find a bass that makes the sounds you like, it doesn't matter how big it is. The 3/4-7/8-9/16ths thing should have no bearing on which bass you play. At 6'2", it's not even a blip on your radar.

Michel Petrucciani came up to the waist of most of us, and he played a different piano every night, brilliantly. Somehow, humans find a way to make music on whatever is at hand.
 
#8
Yeh, Ill just be duckin my head after dropping that grenade.

But I began on a 4/4 bass, then have progressed through a couple of 3/4 basses, which were more manoeuvrable instruments, and superior in every tonal way that I could quantify, though thats down to construction and wood quality, not size.

I dont feel like Im missing anything, plus its been handy to standardise scale length and number of strings across my DBs and EUBs
 

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