Double Bass This Is Wierd....Or Is It?

[bribass]

Well, I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a hard, super bounce, rubber ball for 88 cents. It's smaller than a regular size baseball but not real small like most of the super balls I have seen. Anyway, I wedged it between my tailpiece and the top of my bass and slid it down until it was snug. I am amazed at the added volume. I can even feel a big difference in the floor vibration where I am standing. I don't guarantee that it will do the same for your bass, but if you're after more volume it's worth 88 cents to find out. Tha ball is in a nylon net pouch and says "Hi-Bounce Ball" on the round cardboard the nylon pouch is connected to.

I'm glad the ball suggestion worked out for you. I must try it myself.
May be the answer to those borderline "do I really need an amp at all for this gig?" gigs.

BG

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

I'm glad the ball suggestion worked out for you. I must try it myself.
May be the answer to those borderline "do I really need an amp at all for this gig?" gigs.

BG

Seems like you are adding a 'second' bridge that way. The strings virbate the top thru the bridge with a sound post and bass bar to spread the sound. The Ball acts as a cushioned bridge from what I hear in this thread and vibrates the top even more.

Humm, time for some R&D... Ball colors? Red, black, white, blue? Blue Balls to make yoru Bass louder? Sounds like some sort of trade off from going straight home after the gig..lol

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

What prompted you to try the rubber ball?

Well, since the open G was annoyingly live because of the octave overtone, I still had one hand free to try damping in various places while playing the string. I found a few spots which seemed to dry up the overtone a bit...and I have a 3 year old son. I found that the foam basketball does a great job - maybe too good, but for now it's what I've got. The foam football doesn't do much, and the Scooby Doo ball sounds great but doesn't look as ..."professional" as I would like.

 

[Cathead]

the Scooby Doo ball sounds great but doesn't look as ..."professional" as I would like.

Yeah.....people tend to talk behind your back when you have Scooby Doo wedged under your fingerboard.

 

[bejoyous]

I tried putting a straight-sided wine cork under the bridge. I found it pushed the tailpiece out and made some of the strings go slightly out of tune and the volume was lessened a bit and the sustain shorter. It seemed to dampen the table rather than the tailpiece.

If you want to increase your volume and carrying power plus increase the clarity of the notes you play, I highly recommend cutting the wings off the bridge instead. To quote my wife who was two floors down in our house when I first cut them off, "Hey, what did you do? I can hear notes instead of the usual low rumble when you practice."