- May 6, 2003
- 5,272
- 160
- 64
- Disclosures
- Proprietor Fifth Avenue Fret Shop. Technical Editor Bass Gear Magazine
Between Xmas and New Years I traveled with my wife and Baby V to Closter NJ where my wife’s brother's family lives. It's a 15 minute drive over the GW to NYC. We go there once a year or so but this time I decided to try to visit some people from TB I knew from that area. What a great time that turned out to be.
First up I went to visit bribass (Brian Glassman). Turns out he lives about 3 miles down the road from where I was staying. Crazy. It worked out that my wife Cheri and Baby V ended up staying and hanging out with Brian and I, Brian's wife and their three kids. What a great family they have. We couldn't have felt more at home. Little Max even brought out his own toys to share with Baby V. Complete hospitality.
Here's Max and sister looking uber cute.
Brian's Prescott is outstanding. I played two notes on it and sunk in my shoes. This is a REAL bass. Warm, fat, articulate, sweet. A total package bass. I fell in love immediately. I could play that bass all day and never get tired. Repairs everywhere, tons of finish fixes; an instrument only a true bass freak would get. When Brian drew that Sue Lipkins bow across it the sound was absolutely gorgeous. That bow was outstanding as well. Fantastic construction. I see why her reputation is blooming so quickly.
Brian also had a German bass that was a great sounding bass as well. He was kind enough to make his way on that while I coveted his Prescott. We played together a bit. I found out quickly why he's such an in demand player in a place where it’s hard to be in demand. Chops, time, tone, arco, the total player I have aspired to be but haven’t shed enough to get to.
Baby V was very taken by us both playing and he was crawling around our feet messing with the basses and generally being cute in a way that parents love and non parents panic about. If you look closely you’ll notice Brian’s fantastic stance and hand position contrasted with my sloppy mess on the left. Schooled and principled on the right, street and stinky on the left.
We had a short stay as the kids and wives shelf life with basses and geekdom are short. I made it back several days later where we chatted across the kitchen table for hours. Gigs, gear, people, music, war stories etc. What a fabulous cat.
The last Friday of the year Cheri, her niece, and I went into NYC to do some Museums and shopping. We met up with Ed Fuqua at the Guggenheim. Got a chance to steal him away for some lunch around the corner. What another fabulous cat. Even my wife mentioned that my Internet friends are much much cooler than most of the dopes that I spend time with at home. Our conversation just scratched the surface of what I’m sure will be significantly more detailed conversations in the future. He taught me some juicy stuff about playing and we weren’t anywhere near a bass.
The next night we took Baby V to his first musical theatre performance. He’ll never remember it but we took him and my nieces to Radio City to see the Rocketts and the Christmas Spectacular. Seriously cheesy and completely over the top it’s a performance you could only get away with at the most over the top theatre I can think of. Nice intro to theatre for the young lad I think. Here’s us on the way out.
Sunday I met up with Donosaurus, Don Higdon. Here’s a guy that tells stories that I could listen to for days on end. He has such interesting life experiences. Showed me pictures of all these wonderful instruments he’s had. Told all kinds of stories about them. Showed me some of the music he was playing. Way over my head. I couldn’t read through that stuff to save my life. He was so incredibly humble and accommodating. He even strung up his bass with Spiros just so I could plunk on it for a couple minutes. How cool is that.
And that bass… Damn. Some Transylvanian made thing with violin corners, a ridiculously tapered set of sides, fat bottom bout, and a seriously freakishly good scroll. Played one note on that thing and I had to sit down. Clean, big, round and clear. Warm but bright at the same time. That bass is quick to respond with a fantastic sound pizz or arco, but rings with ease, as the top gets moving. Another bass I could play all day and not get tired of.
Of course by then my camera had run out of gas and I forgot the damn charger. Sorry Don, I don't even have some "stock footage" to insert here.
Edit: Here is a pic of that bass I stole from Don. Man she's a honey. Nice bass too.
Clearly these meetings were just the beginning of what I’m sure will be many others with these folks. Every time I meet the people from TB in person I’m amazed at how much even cooler they are in person than in print. I feel really honored that these folks made time for me in their busy lives. I’m humbled by how excellent they play and how kind they were to let some Internet guy from Ohio into their homes to share their toys and families.
One other thing I learned when I got home and picked up my Cleveland. It sounds great but nothing like those two other basses. It’s a good bass for $4K. Really good. But it’s nothing like the Prescott or Don’s Transylvanian. I realize now that what I’ve been looking for in my search through strings and all that other junk was not really a string thing at all but an instrument thing.
I have played some pretty high dollar basses, some even more expensive than those two, but I had not yet played basses with that kind of tone, ease of play, volume, clarity and power. The richness of that sound is really something. It’s addicting. I understand how people choose basses like that and then live with them for many years exploring how they respond and finding out how to play them. I understand why they spend tons of money traveling with them rather than renting or borrowing while on the road. It’s a relationship with an instrument I’ve not had and clearly have been wanting. It’s a relationship that drives you to play the instrument rather than needing to “take time” to practice.
The reality of my gigs is that most of them don’t require an instrument of that caliber. I see now that with instruments like that the requirements of the gig become irrelevant. It’s more about the act of making music on that instrument regardless of the gig. The idea is that rather than letting my gigs dictate my instrument I think perhaps my instrument should start to dictate some of my gigs.
That’s a big can of worms with a wife, a child, a business, a home, retirement etc to think of. In addition there is the feeling that I'm not worthy of such an instrument. There are such more talented cats etc etc. But I got bit pretty hard and I may not shake that bug...
To be continued...
First up I went to visit bribass (Brian Glassman). Turns out he lives about 3 miles down the road from where I was staying. Crazy. It worked out that my wife Cheri and Baby V ended up staying and hanging out with Brian and I, Brian's wife and their three kids. What a great family they have. We couldn't have felt more at home. Little Max even brought out his own toys to share with Baby V. Complete hospitality.
Here's Max and sister looking uber cute.
Brian's Prescott is outstanding. I played two notes on it and sunk in my shoes. This is a REAL bass. Warm, fat, articulate, sweet. A total package bass. I fell in love immediately. I could play that bass all day and never get tired. Repairs everywhere, tons of finish fixes; an instrument only a true bass freak would get. When Brian drew that Sue Lipkins bow across it the sound was absolutely gorgeous. That bow was outstanding as well. Fantastic construction. I see why her reputation is blooming so quickly.
Brian also had a German bass that was a great sounding bass as well. He was kind enough to make his way on that while I coveted his Prescott. We played together a bit. I found out quickly why he's such an in demand player in a place where it’s hard to be in demand. Chops, time, tone, arco, the total player I have aspired to be but haven’t shed enough to get to.
Baby V was very taken by us both playing and he was crawling around our feet messing with the basses and generally being cute in a way that parents love and non parents panic about. If you look closely you’ll notice Brian’s fantastic stance and hand position contrasted with my sloppy mess on the left. Schooled and principled on the right, street and stinky on the left.
We had a short stay as the kids and wives shelf life with basses and geekdom are short. I made it back several days later where we chatted across the kitchen table for hours. Gigs, gear, people, music, war stories etc. What a fabulous cat.
The last Friday of the year Cheri, her niece, and I went into NYC to do some Museums and shopping. We met up with Ed Fuqua at the Guggenheim. Got a chance to steal him away for some lunch around the corner. What another fabulous cat. Even my wife mentioned that my Internet friends are much much cooler than most of the dopes that I spend time with at home. Our conversation just scratched the surface of what I’m sure will be significantly more detailed conversations in the future. He taught me some juicy stuff about playing and we weren’t anywhere near a bass.
The next night we took Baby V to his first musical theatre performance. He’ll never remember it but we took him and my nieces to Radio City to see the Rocketts and the Christmas Spectacular. Seriously cheesy and completely over the top it’s a performance you could only get away with at the most over the top theatre I can think of. Nice intro to theatre for the young lad I think. Here’s us on the way out.
Sunday I met up with Donosaurus, Don Higdon. Here’s a guy that tells stories that I could listen to for days on end. He has such interesting life experiences. Showed me pictures of all these wonderful instruments he’s had. Told all kinds of stories about them. Showed me some of the music he was playing. Way over my head. I couldn’t read through that stuff to save my life. He was so incredibly humble and accommodating. He even strung up his bass with Spiros just so I could plunk on it for a couple minutes. How cool is that.
And that bass… Damn. Some Transylvanian made thing with violin corners, a ridiculously tapered set of sides, fat bottom bout, and a seriously freakishly good scroll. Played one note on that thing and I had to sit down. Clean, big, round and clear. Warm but bright at the same time. That bass is quick to respond with a fantastic sound pizz or arco, but rings with ease, as the top gets moving. Another bass I could play all day and not get tired of.
Of course by then my camera had run out of gas and I forgot the damn charger. Sorry Don, I don't even have some "stock footage" to insert here.
Edit: Here is a pic of that bass I stole from Don. Man she's a honey. Nice bass too.
Clearly these meetings were just the beginning of what I’m sure will be many others with these folks. Every time I meet the people from TB in person I’m amazed at how much even cooler they are in person than in print. I feel really honored that these folks made time for me in their busy lives. I’m humbled by how excellent they play and how kind they were to let some Internet guy from Ohio into their homes to share their toys and families.
One other thing I learned when I got home and picked up my Cleveland. It sounds great but nothing like those two other basses. It’s a good bass for $4K. Really good. But it’s nothing like the Prescott or Don’s Transylvanian. I realize now that what I’ve been looking for in my search through strings and all that other junk was not really a string thing at all but an instrument thing.
I have played some pretty high dollar basses, some even more expensive than those two, but I had not yet played basses with that kind of tone, ease of play, volume, clarity and power. The richness of that sound is really something. It’s addicting. I understand how people choose basses like that and then live with them for many years exploring how they respond and finding out how to play them. I understand why they spend tons of money traveling with them rather than renting or borrowing while on the road. It’s a relationship with an instrument I’ve not had and clearly have been wanting. It’s a relationship that drives you to play the instrument rather than needing to “take time” to practice.
The reality of my gigs is that most of them don’t require an instrument of that caliber. I see now that with instruments like that the requirements of the gig become irrelevant. It’s more about the act of making music on that instrument regardless of the gig. The idea is that rather than letting my gigs dictate my instrument I think perhaps my instrument should start to dictate some of my gigs.
That’s a big can of worms with a wife, a child, a business, a home, retirement etc to think of. In addition there is the feeling that I'm not worthy of such an instrument. There are such more talented cats etc etc. But I got bit pretty hard and I may not shake that bug...
To be continued...
