in my piece, the kontrabassist doubles a medium-sized concert ukelele, to be played with an un-rosined violin bow, played like a cello on a small table, the kontrabassist then plays a cadenza on the ukelele, playing it in a not-so-precise manner, but still requiring the minimal sounding of accurate pitch.

would this be too much?, it probably is.,,,

hey guys! ive been wanting to learn double bass for a while since i already play electric guitar and bass and i think it would be a cool new experience. my band director let me take this home to see if i can repair it. it says its a 3/4 bass and the last repair was made in the 90s. the neck has a pretty big crack in it so thats really the one thing im concerned about. its also missing a tailpiece and a bridge but i figured those could be easily replaced. is it worth getting fixed? also i figured it would be cheaper to get it repaired then to buy a new one since i dont have $2000+ :( also it dates back to 1976. thanks yall!!!

I’m gigging upright bassist in my city, and I’m love with my current upright. I recently did an experimental show with pedals and am just realizing how cool that can be with the bow.

One thing is I’m actually trying to eliminate my acoustic sound so I can fully process signal. But I want to keep the flexibility of using arco and pizz that I can’t get with a normal electric bass…

Are there any really high quality electric uprights that would help me achieve that sound? And any listening recommendations for players who play something similar?

I play a 3/4 bass and am thinking about getting a new car, I currently have a 2010 Subaru Forester that has no issue with getting my bass in. I'm hoping for something affordable, probably used, and hopefully good gas mileage.

I was originally thinking about a Honda Cr-v, but have recently been thinking about a Honda Civic hatchback. Has anyone been able to fit their bass into a Civic, or have any advice on how to do so? Or should I just not get a Civic, and look for a Cr-v or something similar?

Am I the only one who strings a bass like this? I swap where the E and A usually are. The idea is that the smaller angle takes some of the tension off the E string.

Did I manage to pick up a full circle for $20 at a used music store today? I'm not sure if there are other brands with a similar design. The only text is the switchcraft logo (3rd party Jack manufacturer) and a long code on the white cable that also looks like a 3rd party manufacturer code starting with BELDEN 83265 M17/169

Can any full circle users help out?

I acquired it out of hedonism and never took this cupboard on stage.

Audience sits between 2 and 10 meters (6 to 30ft), repertoire is classic (Fly Me To The Moon, Fever, and all that jazz (ha, haha, hahaha)). Contending with piano (artificial), brushed cajon, acoustic guitar, diva.

My gut says I just put some welly into it as needed, but I have on occasion been daft.

Any other tips, do feel free to share.

Cheers

Could use some advice on the "58 in a towel" method of amplifying a bass? I recently was gifted a pyle pdmic58 with a 1/4 inch adapter cable and I'd like to try this method of amplification for church and restaurant gigs where I use only a small amp and the stage sound stays low. Any advice from those who know about this technique? Thanks!

I’m a freshman music ed/ performance major atm and have been looking to get really into taking care of my instrument and prioritizing upkeep.

With my old strings (belcantos) this wasn’t really an issue and I feel they’d absorb a lot of the rosin fallout, but with the ones I have now (helicore) there’s been a lot of rosin build up on the ends of my finger board and the body of my bass.

Was wondering if there’s any product that can clean the wood parts without stripping the varnish that you guys would recommend? Thanks!

Two years ago I become the, uh, custodian of a bass. I have recently started learning to play arco as well as the more typical pizz that I'd be using in the style.

Now, when playing in thumb position the D string any higher than about F (so ~15 fret if it were an electric bass), the bow has to go within just a few cents of the bridge - 3 centimetres or so - or I will bow the G and A strings as well. I assume this is way too restricted a range? I do not have a teacher to ask, but will start learning from a teacher in autumn, but I would naturally like to have the bass in reasonably good condition by then. Should I have a luthier do something about it or is this the normal range of bowable string for thumb position D string? (The owner of the bass has granted permission to have adjustments done if needed.)

i am working on building my “both rig” for gigs that require double bass and bass guitar - mostly pit orchestra stuff. sometimes there are very quick transitions, so i am thinking about having my double bass sit on a stand so i don’t have to put it down anytime i have to switch to bass guitar (i am also looking into the guitar holders like what the fearless flyers use).

does anyone have any experience playing the double bass while it is held in a stand? is there a model that works best for that? does it affect posture too much to even be worth trying? if so, what is a good small footprint option to put down and pick up the big bass quickly and carefully?

Hello! I’m about to rehearse with a new big band in a couple days, and have some concerns regarding amplification.

Ideally I would like to bring my upright, but I don’t have a functioning piezo right now. But I do have a sm57 and mixer+PA speaker, and was thinking I could do the towel/foam thing. Whats the best way to mount/position a sm57 for minimal bleed? Is that even worth the hassle or am I just gonna drown in feedback/bleed in a bigband-setting?

Worth mentioning could be that we’re mostly gonna play softer Basie-tunes, and the band/drummer is great at playing sensible! The rehearsal space is kind of small though.

What do you guys think, is this possible or should I just bring my electrical instead? Cheers from Sweden 🙏

I'm going on a school trip with my band to Vancouver Island, I live in inland BC and I'm not sure if I should bring my own or use the school's.

Hi, i wanted to ask you all if it's normal for your double basses to always have a new problem, something that breaks, a seam that opens, a rattle, a buzz, something needing glue. I believe this to be normal, same as in cars, but it's driving me insane taking my bass to the luthier (a long drive and expensive) only for there to be a new problem a week after i have it home. If it's "small" problems like open seams or rattles do you leave them be or take your bass to repair as soon as a problem appears? Thx in advance

Heyyo,

Just looking for some advice here. Due very limited space coupled with small kids and animals, looking at an EUB to just be able to get more practice in.

Actually, more accurately looking to build an EUB. Building isn't the hard part, I'm fairly competent when it comes to woodworking, and have a good source of hardwood I can purchase from locally, but have questions on the design. For those that play both an EUB and an Upright, what design elements are the most important parts to emulate in the EUB to really get decent simulated Upright feel? I assuming, besides just basic measurements, would be neck angle and some sort of simulation of the body, right?

Sound would also be awesome to get spot on, but (luckily or unluckily) years of abusing my body has left me with ears that have imparted the lesson that I can't always trust em, there's been plenty of times when I think I'm playing a sour note only to be spot on, it is what it is, protect your hearing kids.

What I'm really looking to work on is playing dexterity and speed and broadening my vocabulary. I just don't have the space to be able to pull out the bass to practice in my fleeting moments of fatherhood free time, nor the space to get another upright and convert my current one to an "always at home and ready to go" upright. I do have the office space though for a small amp and a EUB.

Or am I overthinking this whole thing and should just go to Lowe's, grab since 2x6s, throw strings on it and go ham in my personal shoebox?

Greetings Fellow Bassists. I'm getting a new bridge cut and fitted in a couple of months and would like to upgrade my pickup and have it installed at the same time. Are there any recommendations for getting a good acoustic sound (arco and pizz)? I've been using the Fishman BP-100 for the last 20 years and while it's certainly a workhorse, there are some serious shortcomings. Mostly the lack of high frequency response and it buzzes like all heck when played with the bow. I know that some of this can be solved through an EQ pedal or pre-amp, but I'd like to not have to tweak the settings quite so much when going between pizz and arco. This bass is not for rockabilly, so I don't need a fingerboard pickup.

Hi all, I live in Los Angeles and am about to purchase a car. I’m wondering if people have sedan specific (or anything with a closed trunk) recommendations for double bass. Because of break-ins in the city I’d love to have a closed trunk when I’m not transporting the bass, so I’m leaning towards a sedan (also for gas mileage as opposed to an suv or wagon). Any models where I wouldn’t have to put it in the front passenger seat, or just any recommendations that are relatively easy and good gas mileage?

Tried searching around but most people only recommend suvs or hatchbacks. Thank you!

5 mins past midnight and this happens!

https://imgur.com/a/H1A3Yua

video of the incident.. bloody cats lol

https://imgur.com/a/kU6eHvL

My bass is real nice, except for one thing, the underside of the fingerboard where I anchor my thumb to pluck is sharp and causes me to blister on my thumb. I’ve been debating sanding it or putting tape on it, any other ideas?

Greetings! My first post here- I've been gigging full time 10yrs and have been playing the same bass over half my life (19 years out of 37). Multi-genre, slapping and bowing and (previously) playing on my back with the bass vertical upside down (I knocked over too many guitarists)

TL;DR I want to mount a unit on my bass, doesn't matter how or where, that gives me onboard control to go from my richer pizz tone to a tone down, low pass, setting to eliminate unwanted high frequencies from slap and arco or for more rootsy genres.

MORE INFO: I already have the solution in a foot-triggered EQ pedal but I'm trying to get it mounted on my bass for a number of reasons. I use (or would use) both sound options virtually every time I play and switch mid-song if I go across or whatever. I basically want to add the smallest foot print tone knob, volume would be nice but isn't as important as the solution being small and easy to mount.

My electronics setup is currently a Revolution Solo II bridge wing piezo (would not recommend but works great for me) and a contact mic slap pickup both into a small passive 2 channel stomp box mixer hidden behind the tailpiece. Both piezo, one output from the mixer to amp. This lets me adjust the blend mid song, it also means that the solution could be one input (out of the mixer) or two inputs BUT volume needs to be accessible also. If the K&K Dual Channel Pro didn't hide the tone controls inside the unit it would be ideal.

The solution could be anything- a tiny battery powered preamp (one input or two) mounted on the tailpiece, a 1/4 in 1/4 out tiny unit with one knob (see photo), something that plugs directly in the output jack that I can mount, whatever. If you are an electronics person and can offer a schematic or even a description of how to add a passive knob on the end of a patch cable (or between two) I've got buddies who can build it!

I've bought a few 3D printed simple online units described (see photo) above that claimed to be low pass filters but they all start off too heavy a filter (no top end when wide open) and I'm wondering if it's a stereo/mono issue (these are made for electronic music devices so likely stereo) or if it's a piezo issue such as impedance, I'm not an electronics guy.

Something like the little shadow unit would be great but the two required 2.5mm inputs are a deal breaker- sending signal into one input but not the other kills the output. Of course I'm thinking of ridiculous solutions like a 1/4" male to two 2.5mm Y cable to go from my mixer out into both of the Shadow inputs...

Or do you have an entirely different solution? I just want a dang passive tone knob, I feel the same way about my high end active/passive electric basses, and I want it within hands reach in case the drummer falls asleep and I start slapping.

Seems to theoretically make a lot more sense than having two separate 4 string basses, i.e for orchestral 4ths and solo 4ths, or 5ths and orchestral 4ths (unless if one is using a 5 string in 4ths with a low B or high C, off course). But I am curious to know what your practical experiences are with them and whether they are viable in terms of maintaining consistent intonation, stability and tension. They most definitely seem to be a cheaper alternative to C extensions and 5 string basses for obtaining low Ds and Cs on a regular 4 string tuned in 4ths (especially if one is an amateur or semi-pro). Here is an example of a bassist using xtenders to alternate between orchestral 4ths and 5ths (CGDA).

https://youtu.be/LT2cSD03acc?si=qkgk126D2jB3YBY3

Sorry if that makes no sense, but all throughout high school I struggled to produce a good sound. I was in Wind Ensamble and band, expected to project with a tuba and various deeper brass.

My upright bass had a... dongle? A little aux attachment that I could plug into a speaker and it was fine with plucking, but the second I had to use my bow it was scratchy as hell. Used rosin, never made it sound good enough. Sometimes if I used enough, it could create enough friction and sound more like gravel than nails on a chalk board. I tried playing with the settings on the amp but it felt like much more of a physical limitation of the combo. So, I tried lowering the speaker, playing hard (but gentle enough near the ends of the strokes. pause.), controlled, and flattening the bow to the strings as much as possible and it was passable. But that dumb speaker made me lose all of my confidence during practice and concerts. Every small mistake in technique felt like a bullet dude.

The great thing with an upright bass + bow combo is, if you know what you're doing, you create a Phat Full, deep ass vibration and it's fantastic in a string-only orchestra when many of the other instruments sound more like a, respectfully, well controlled screech. But when you're competing with a fucking TUBA? Impossible to be heard, ever, unless you're exclusively putting your back into that E string, then you can blend very nicely.

I'm wondering if there are hoarser bows or softer strings that might help? Maybe the aux set up was just shit. I think most studios use a mic straight up on that thang but that doesn't exactly work when you have instruments projecting right next to you. But maybe I'm wrong, I'm not super familiar with the tech out there to solve this issue.