Well, like I said, there's no buzzing as it is, and I find the action very playable, so there won't be any need to do any work on the fingerboard. Thanks for the info, though.
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Double Bass Stagg EUB megathread
- Thread starter derrenleepoole
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Well, like I said, there's no buzzing as it is, and I find the action very playable, so there won't be any need to do any work on the fingerboard. Thanks for the info, though.
OK, after years of yearning to be a double bassist (I've been playing fretless bass for decades), I too have bought a 'Rocket by' Stagg EUB and have spent the weekend screwing up all the muscles in my fingers!
First observations - blimey it's big. You don't really get a feel for how much bigger one of these is in comparison to a standard bass guitar until you prop them up next to each other, or try to carry the EUB from one room to the next and realise the headstock is in danger of smacking the top of the door frame. And its heavy too. But this is great, it makes the whole thing feel really substantial, and gives me a feeling of power!
The action is fairly high (I've lowered it as far as it'll go without buzzing), and through an amp it does sound a lot more like a double bass than a fretless (clue, lower the Sub-bass level, in fact turn it more or less off), although obviously it's never going to sound EXACTLY like a true acoustic bass. Not bad at all for the money though.
So, yes, my finger muscles hurt. I guess I'll need to put some hours in on this to get my hands used to it. I'm also at that age where your body starts to slowly pack in too, and I do get arthritis pains in some of my fingers from time to time, so hopefully this doesn't defeat me.
Another relative shock was that the neck meets the body at about fret 7, so if you need to play anything at around the first octave you need to stretch your hand around the neck and do that thing with your whole hand round the front of the neck. For now I'll stick to playing stuff up to frets 7,8, or 9, and work my up to the higher stuff when I'm a bit more proficient.
I'm playing a summer festival in July with a friend who writes pop/rock material using all manner of acoustic instruments (he has a fiddle player and mandolin too) so he is begging me to use this bass instead of my normal fretless! Can't wait.
Are there any good tutorials out there on YouTube or the like? If there are any good manuals then let me know, although (sin of sins) I don't read or anything.
Cheers guys. Just need a black polo neck, some Gitanes, a goatee beard and a smokey jazz club and I'm all set!
First observations - blimey it's big. You don't really get a feel for how much bigger one of these is in comparison to a standard bass guitar until you prop them up next to each other, or try to carry the EUB from one room to the next and realise the headstock is in danger of smacking the top of the door frame. And its heavy too. But this is great, it makes the whole thing feel really substantial, and gives me a feeling of power!
The action is fairly high (I've lowered it as far as it'll go without buzzing), and through an amp it does sound a lot more like a double bass than a fretless (clue, lower the Sub-bass level, in fact turn it more or less off), although obviously it's never going to sound EXACTLY like a true acoustic bass. Not bad at all for the money though.
So, yes, my finger muscles hurt. I guess I'll need to put some hours in on this to get my hands used to it. I'm also at that age where your body starts to slowly pack in too, and I do get arthritis pains in some of my fingers from time to time, so hopefully this doesn't defeat me.
Another relative shock was that the neck meets the body at about fret 7, so if you need to play anything at around the first octave you need to stretch your hand around the neck and do that thing with your whole hand round the front of the neck. For now I'll stick to playing stuff up to frets 7,8, or 9, and work my up to the higher stuff when I'm a bit more proficient.
I'm playing a summer festival in July with a friend who writes pop/rock material using all manner of acoustic instruments (he has a fiddle player and mandolin too) so he is begging me to use this bass instead of my normal fretless! Can't wait.
Are there any good tutorials out there on YouTube or the like? If there are any good manuals then let me know, although (sin of sins) I don't read or anything.
Cheers guys. Just need a black polo neck, some Gitanes, a goatee beard and a smokey jazz club and I'm all set!
Get some double bass lessons to got beyond the position of the fifth, Manxie. YOu need to learn a complete different technique to play beyond that position.
The position of the neck end is a wonderful orientation point on a double bass that I'm missing on my bass guitar.
The position of the neck end is a wonderful orientation point on a double bass that I'm missing on my bass guitar.
Thanks for this, I'll look to see what's available in my area, a certain Mr Herbie Flowers does Jazz workshop things occasionally nearby, not sure what sort of actual lessons are available.
If you want to go into jazz solo playing you need the thumb position technique rather quickly. Otherwise you are limited to walking bass solos or solos that sit in the lower to middle register of the bass. Possible, but sometimes not the best way to be heard.
So this guy may be able to help you.
So this guy may be able to help you.
Where did you get this bridge from, and what did you have to do to get this to fit? I've been wanting to change the bridge on mine for ages, so any details on this will be invaluable to me!
I have a pattern of the bridge from paper.
I took an image of classical bridge from google and changed it for a definite instrument and size.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...135.1073741825.309687479091153&type=1&theater
When I replaced the bridge there were some problems with the saddle on the fingerboard and I made a new one. I wasn't satisfied with the shape of the neck and I made it narrow and thinner. Also, I replaced nut for ebony one.
Yes, it does. But a bit. I've changed angle of the fingerboard and this influenced on sound most of all. It looks more harmonious and more comfortable to play.
The thing is that the height of the bridge stayed the same.
Differently speaking, I made neck deeper to the body and fingerboard came closer to the joint body and neck.
Okay. Now I see what you did.
Could you tell me what you found when you reshaped the neck? What is hiding behind the black paint?
I am going to order the deluxe model with the rosewood fingerboard and I am thinking about having the neck reshaped. My preference would be to have the neck left unfinished or oiled like the neck on an acoustic upright.
Could you tell me what you found when you reshaped the neck? What is hiding behind the black paint?
I am going to order the deluxe model with the rosewood fingerboard and I am thinking about having the neck reshaped. My preference would be to have the neck left unfinished or oiled like the neck on an acoustic upright.
Hello Fouloso4, I can answer your question about what is under the black paint on the white maple fingerboard, at least on mine. My FB is white maple with one tiny knot about the size of this: o . Mine came as a blem and I decided to get the bumps out by scraping the black paint, really thick primer or polymer and then the wood. I wrote up the process somewhere in this Stagg EUB megathread early on. I used lemon oil to seal the FB.
I don't know what is going to be in deluxe model but what I found beneath black paint on the neck made me shocked cos neck was stuck together from 3 pieces of cheap wood. When I reshaped neck I had to paint it back again.
"... neck was stuck together from 3 pieces of cheap wood"
That is what I was worried about. Any pictures?
How much wood did you take off when you reshaped the neck?
I want to shape the neck so that it is like my acoustic upright (Shen SB80). The Shen does not have a small neck by acoustic upright standards but the acoustics have a large pegbox and scroll. I am not sure the headstock on the Stagg has enough wood behind it to reduce the width, depth, and shoulders near the nut, especially if it is made from 3 pieces of cheap wood.
That is what I was worried about. Any pictures?
How much wood did you take off when you reshaped the neck?
I want to shape the neck so that it is like my acoustic upright (Shen SB80). The Shen does not have a small neck by acoustic upright standards but the acoustics have a large pegbox and scroll. I am not sure the headstock on the Stagg has enough wood behind it to reduce the width, depth, and shoulders near the nut, especially if it is made from 3 pieces of cheap wood.
