Double Bass Using a Bace in Concert Band?

[Oscar Stern]

The Bace (Bass Cello) could be used in Concert Band because it can be amplified like a Bass Guitar thanks to the Pickup & with the new design of a curved bridge you can use a Bow like a Double Bass.
The White Bace in the center (and the finished one next to it w/ the fender style headstock) have curved bridge so you can use a Bow like a Double Bass & they can be used as Travel Double Basses. The 34 inch scale makes it play slick & fast & I think for strings, Omni Bass strings would work great, they're Flatwound strings designed essentially like Helicore Double Bass Strings (Stranded Steel Core wound in Metal like Helicore Strings)

 

[GretschWretch]

On YouTube there are countless videos of Japanese (mostly student) concert bands performing the Holst suites for military band. In these I have seen from one to four double basses, all unamplified, and they get along just fine and are heard to the extent intended.

Just accept that the Bace is an outlier like mandobasses and bassoguitars. I see no reason why it would not be an acceptable substitute for an electric bass in a small jazz combo but, like the euphonium, it will never have an established place in a symphony orchestra. It is not a viable substitute for anything; it is its own bad self and should be respected as such, but I do not see it replacing other basses who have filled their niches for decades, if not centuries.

 

[Oscar Stern]

On YouTube there are countless videos of Japanese (mostly student) concert bands performing the Holst suites for military band. In these I have seen from one to four double basses, all unamplified, and they get along just fine and are heard to the extent intended.

Just accept that the Bace is an outlier like mandobasses and bassoguitars. I see no reason why it would not be an acceptable substitute for an electric bass in a small jazz combo but, like the euphonium, it will never have an established place in a symphony orchestra. It is not a viable substitute for anything; it is its own bad self and should be respected as such, but I do not see it replacing other basses who have filled their niches for decades, if not centuries.

Lots of Concert Bands use Bass Guitars as substitutes for Double Bass so this little Sweetie will work.

 

[Oscar Stern]

Mark Zandveld came up w/ this amazing instrument & he's working on a version that you can play w/ a Bow like a Regular Double Bass.

 

[turf3]

Dude, with the amount of time you spend pontificating on alternatives to the standard DB, you could have learned how to play it by now.

 

[Oscar Stern]

Dude, with the amount of time you spend pontificating on alternatives to the standard DB, you could have learned how to play it by now.

Ah- but my idea was for School Concert Bands to accept the Bace.

 

[GretschWretch]

Lots of Concert Bands use Bass Guitars as substitutes for Double Bass so this little Sweetie will work.

Oscar, I'm in a community concert band and I've seen parts scored for electric bass, and for double bass as well. Admitted, it is easier to find electric bassists nowadays than double bassists, but there still is a problem with blend: an electric bass is not going to fit in as well with brasswinds and reeds as will a DB. If you want to use a Bace in a jazz combo or swing arrangement within the concert band program, be my guest. To to try to flog it as an acceptable across-the-board substitute for a double bass as you seem to persist, it ain't gonna happen. My 1/4 Engle would be a better substitute, but I know better than to offer it as such.

 

[GretschWretch]

Ah- but my idea was for School Concert Bands to accept the Bace.

That decision will be up to the school band directors and their budget. If this is your goal, don't you think you should be pushing this on forums of school band directors? After all, they appear to be your primary audience and market for the Bace. I admit I personally have an interest in the instrument, but not for the purposes you are emphasizing.

 

[Oscar Stern]

That decision will be up to the school band directors and their budget. If this is your goal, don't you think you should be pushing this on forums of school band directors? After all, they appear to be your primary audience and market for the Bace. I admit I personally have an interest in the instrument, but not for the purposes you are emphasizing.

I need to talk to them about it

 

[Don Hergert]

I hate to bring this up, but I haven't seen anyone answer this yet... How is the bow-able Bace (the one "in the white" with 34" mensure and the scroll) tuned? And what strings are being used?

 

[GretschWretch]

I need to talk to them about it

Yes, you do. There is your market. If I had a Bace -- and purely on principle I would not be opposed to it -- I would use it to back up acts borrowing heavily from the books of artists like James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croce, but not much beyond that. Imagine Leland Sklar with a Bace; that would be me.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

We’ve been down this road many times before.