I can hear my own bass open up after I spend a few minutes bowing open strings at the son premier and near the bridge with an easy, legato stroke (no pressing or forcing).
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Double Bass The Concept of "Opening Up"
- Thread starter Matt R.
- Start date
Very interesting discussion.
I have one month of practice on the DB, and I am waiting for my new instrument to arrive.
Out of curiosity, I will record one or two simple lines every month or so, to see if I notice a difference.
This opening up thing could really happen, as the wood changes, but it could also be the player getting used to the sound of the instrument. And it could be very well a placebo effect. Very interesting.
There is only good sound opening? Because if find it curious that all the information regarding this topic points at the bass only getting better over time. Why can't older basses lose quality? Isn't this a possibility?
I have one month of practice on the DB, and I am waiting for my new instrument to arrive.
Out of curiosity, I will record one or two simple lines every month or so, to see if I notice a difference.
This opening up thing could really happen, as the wood changes, but it could also be the player getting used to the sound of the instrument. And it could be very well a placebo effect. Very interesting.
There is only good sound opening? Because if find it curious that all the information regarding this topic points at the bass only getting better over time. Why can't older basses lose quality? Isn't this a possibility?
My teacher was adamant about that. He scoffed at the idea of an instrument ”opening up” and believed that improvement in sound was the result of the player learning to how to get the most from the instrument. (Personally, I think that's probably a big part of it, but I don't discount the notion that a vibrating object would vibrate more freely when it's exercised regularly.)
A luthier friend of mine had an electromagnetic bow of sorts that is used to vibrate the strings on guitars continuously under the theory of "breaking in" the instrument. I was sure it was a myth.
Over several years he did some more-or-less scientific comparisons of different instruments and found one particular model of acoustic guitar that benefited from 3 or 4 days being on the gizmo continuously. This model had earned a reputation for loosening up over a number of months of normal use, becoming dramatically louder and richer in tone.
Other guitars showed little to no effect from similar treatments.
His theory was that it had to do with the glue used on this model being very stiff when new and gaining flexibility when vibrated long enough. He hypothesized it was a result of both the type of glue used and how tightly the pieces were clamped during assembly.
I know this isn't bass related, but it is worth considering.
Over several years he did some more-or-less scientific comparisons of different instruments and found one particular model of acoustic guitar that benefited from 3 or 4 days being on the gizmo continuously. This model had earned a reputation for loosening up over a number of months of normal use, becoming dramatically louder and richer in tone.
Other guitars showed little to no effect from similar treatments.
His theory was that it had to do with the glue used on this model being very stiff when new and gaining flexibility when vibrated long enough. He hypothesized it was a result of both the type of glue used and how tightly the pieces were clamped during assembly.
I know this isn't bass related, but it is worth considering.
My shen SB80 is labeled 2006, i am the original owner.
It's been played quite a bit - so much practicing, orchestral playing, solo rep, and jazz. It has definitely opened up - but it's over 10 years old.
i had some work done by Jeff Bollbach, who sees a lot of these not long ago on this bass - he commented that it had opened up surprisingly well, and it was one of the oldest ply shens he'd seen. he seemed really happy that it was developing the way it was. When i mentioned how much i've played this bass, he made it clear that age in and of itself is separate from playing. So, age along plays a huge roll, and with my ply shen it was about 10 years when it sounded "seasoned."
I do also agree that they need to be played in - all acoustic instruments do - the first 100 hours of playing on a brand new well made violin are shocking how much the instrument develops. So, play it a lot, enjoy the bass, and let time do it's thing. don't put too much emphasis on trying to open up the bass - if your practicing the right things (scales and all that fun stuff) it will also vibrate the top in a good way to get it used to moving.
It's been played quite a bit - so much practicing, orchestral playing, solo rep, and jazz. It has definitely opened up - but it's over 10 years old.
i had some work done by Jeff Bollbach, who sees a lot of these not long ago on this bass - he commented that it had opened up surprisingly well, and it was one of the oldest ply shens he'd seen. he seemed really happy that it was developing the way it was. When i mentioned how much i've played this bass, he made it clear that age in and of itself is separate from playing. So, age along plays a huge roll, and with my ply shen it was about 10 years when it sounded "seasoned."
I do also agree that they need to be played in - all acoustic instruments do - the first 100 hours of playing on a brand new well made violin are shocking how much the instrument develops. So, play it a lot, enjoy the bass, and let time do it's thing. don't put too much emphasis on trying to open up the bass - if your practicing the right things (scales and all that fun stuff) it will also vibrate the top in a good way to get it used to moving.
It's the point on the string where the bass makes its most natural sound; mathematically speaking it's placing your bow at the seventh partial (harmonic that produces a really flat minor seventh) closest to the bridge (on an open string this will be just past the fingerboard) relative to whatever note you're playing.
You can also find it through trial and error: if you bow over the fingerboard and let the open string resonate you'll hear the overtones increase throughout the resonance; if you do the same thing but close to the bridge you will hear the overtones close down; you can use this to triangulate the son premier since that is the spot where the overtones will stay consistent between the drag of the bow and the resonance afterwards.
We don't want this sound all the time, as sometimes we want a focused sound that can only come from playing close to the bridge or maybe we want to play over the fingerboard when we play quietly, but it is of my opinion that the son premier should be our default as it is the sound the bass wants to make.
I don't scoff, but I do wonder. Even during my daily 12-keys practice (all pizz) at the office, I feel this "opening up" process happening. When it does, I am left to consider whether it is more likely that a 10 year old piece of crafted plywood with 6 year old strings is more likely to be loosening up, or whether it's the 54-year-old biological lump of flesh and increasingly brittle bones than is warming up and finding the range. The more I consider it, the more the latter seems likely.
I did recently have a conversation with a visiting violin luthier at the school who did a little setup work on another of my basses. He was talking about older instruments and how they sound different and I was asking him what the real difference was. He had theories, but admitted he had no answers. I told him the story about how years ago, my ex-wife (a violinist) played a bunch of different violins at a high end shop in Amsterdam and had me listen without looking; I almost always picked the newer ones as sounding "better" to me, making her question whether I was trying to save money.
But I have the same reaction to a dear friend's ancient Testore bass that is worth a small fortune - I always feel it has no real voice at all, like it swallows all the overtones that I like to hear and ends up sounding like it is speaking through a wet sock. He played it on a recital once and asked - knowing I don't care for the instrument at all - how he and it sounded. I could only smile and reply that the piano sounded particularly articulate on the accompaniment part. This makes him laugh, as the bass is valued as a desirable section instrument because it blends well.
Yeah man it can be dangerous. My bass once opened up so much that I had to glue it all together again
After playing an instrument religiously for years of course it will ‘open up’ , I like to think of it rather as the musician opening up .... the bass and the player developing together as a unit ! Sorry if I sound dramatic 
