Why do most double basses have a scroll

It's decorative, and it's traditional. If you look carefully at one, you'll see it's quite a complex figure and usually regarded as a mark of the luthier's craftsmanship. Some basses have human faces, animals and gargoyles instead of scrolls. You see that a lot on violas da gamba, too.

 

It's my understanding that in theory the mass of the scroll helps anchor the head end of the neck, supporting string resonance.

 

I'll wait here while you saw yours off to see if that theory holds water.

 

I would suggest adding mass to experiment, easier and probably cheaper in the long run.

 

Ever try carving one? If you could, you would want to show off as well.

 

As does an extension? That’s a known quantity.

To the OP: Like every other part of a double bass, the scroll serves multiple purposes — aesthetic, aural, the maker’s artistry, and many other things.

 

And then there's Traeger's story of Glen Moore's lion head being knocked off, and the bass sounding better without it.

 

The main reason for the scroll on a double bass is so people can walk up to the stage during your gigs and scream, "Look honey- he's playing a cello...."

 

I think part of it's function is as a counterweight.

 

I suspect that the extra wood up there helps to resist splitting of the pegbox, especially in the smaller instruments like violin.

Since all basses have that chunk of mass up there, the rest of the design ends up being adapted to its presence, so if you remove it you may have adverse effects; but that is NOT the same thing as saying you have to have it up there. If no one had ever put a scroll on a pegbox, the double bass design would probably be slightly and subtly different because it would have evolved in the absence of the scroll, and the basses would probably sound about the same.

I have seen pictures of high dollar custom basses with extremely abbreviated scrolls. I expect that, since the makers started out by not having a scroll, the details of the bass design accommodate that and they sound much the same as normal with-scroll basses.

In fact, Condino, didn't you build at least one of these and show off pictures? if that's the case, do you have anything to comment about any subtle differences between a minimal-scroll bass and a normal-scroll bass?

 

I've built several with minimal scrolls.

For me the main reasons are:

-I don't like the overall design aesthetic of a traditional scroll
-It saves me about 20 hours of build time= less money I need to charge
-On a removable neck bass the smaller overall neck means it will fit in a P bass gig bag for transport
-I've found no difference in sound.

Here are two different versions of my older design, one in striped ebony + Tennessee hard maple from about ten years ago and another two years ago in ziricote + European maple. I'll try to get a few photos of my newer even more minimalist design this weekend.

 

So, when you do the final tweaking of the bass, there's no scroll there, so even if it did have some kind of effect, you are doing the final detailed work without it there, and so it's set up as a scroll-less bass.

I suspect that as with many things about musical instruments, the decorative touches are really there because of

**TRADITION!!**

and the supposed acoustical properties are justifications after the fact because we don't want to admit that it's done because it's pretty and traditional and isn't actually required.

 

Beautiful.

 

Those check ease basses by David Gage have a removable scroll that is held by magnets. I've never owned one, but have done a couple of tours with rentals, and I couldn't hear or feel any difference with the scroll on or off. Looks nicer with it on though.

 

These are Krutz, made by the KC Strings folks about ten years ago....and then about a year later blatantly copied by one of the Chinese companies that you often see now....

I'm not much of a fan of either. If you want nice tuning machines, just go straight to the top of the class and buy a set of Sloan / David Gage; you'll never regret it.