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Double Bass Solid hand crafted rosewood double bass

#28
I strapped on a Rosewood telecaster once and that sucker weighed a ton -- and I play a Thunderbird bass guitar -- and it was heavy even for me. That's some dense wood -- too dense for a DB top. Awesome for a fingerboard though; I sometimes miss my old Rosewood fingerboard on my old Kay, but the profile is so much nicer with the thick ebony board I had put on it.
 
#29
Ed S said:
Our cellist plays a new build made from old Italian poplar. Beautiful sounding - and looking - instrument.
Click to expand...
Coincidentally, we just watched a movie The Rivals of Amziah King, and in one scene a musician plays a cello with beautifully figured sides. Clearly not maple or any of the usual subjects.

Decent movie (I had some probles with the 2d half) w/ pretty good bluegrass influenced soundtrack.
 
#30
I've been wanting to build a Brazilian rosewood side & back double bass for years for tonal reasons. I build a lot of other smaller instruments from it. It would weigh a ton and it would likely be broken and cracked before it ever left the shop. It would also be incredibly expensive. Figure I could probably build 6-10 guitars from that amount of material where I would realize a much higher price than for one bass. The traditional maple & spruce work reasonably well, are easy to find with an acceptable cost. I have a new large 7/8 bass on the workbench made from ziricote! It took me four years to find material large enogh and of a quality I wanted for the ribs and I expect I'll likely never find another set.
 
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#31
When we did the restoration of my Tyrolean bass (20 yrs ago now, at least!), the big question was what to use for the back. We wanted as much of an "Italian" orchestra bass sound as possible, so we were lucky enough to find a pearwood log that had been salvaged from a lake or riverbed, I believe. Nick Roubas hand carved it as a round back and its been a fabulous instrument ever since.
 
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#33
OK update on the mystery bass. The seller is not a bassist, it was bought ~10yrs ago as a decoration for about 2.5kUSD. He was told it is rosewood but i think only the tailpiece and fingerboard are tailpiece. I did not see a label inside the body. The top appears solid, the back and sides look very nice, either flamed maple or maybe a well done veneer. I cant tell. It was NOT in playing condition, sound post not in position, tailpiece cable nut missing so it was tied to the end pin. I did nit notice at first. The moment i tried adding a bit of tension the bridge fell out and i see the finish under the bridgefoot came off.. suggesting it has been glued? Aside from that it looks like in good condition, nice hardware, tuning keys.

Any advice on if i should pursue this? Also there is no case.. so id need to buy a case just to take it to a luthier.. asking price is about 1.6kUSD.. messsge my inbox for pictures.
 
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#37
You're looking at a few hundred dollars in luthier costs (at least), which pushes the cost closer to $2K. In my area of the world (southwest U.S.), that same $1,600 will easily buy a working all-ply bass (with change) and, with a little patience, ~$2K will buy a working hybrid.

So I don't think it's a must-buy bargain -- it really depends on your urgency, your access to a luthier, the general availability of basses in your area, etc. If this is your first purchase, you might want to wait and buy something that's ready to play and whose sound you like, rather than hoping this one will sound good after you invest in it.
 

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