Videos?

[Jeff Schwartz]

I am interested in a bass being sold by a dealer on the east coast (I am in L.A.). He will send it for evaluation if I pay shipping.
My teacher suggested that, before gambling the shipping costs, I should request a video demo of the bass.
What are your experiences with and opinions on online bass demo videos? Lemur Music does them for most of their instruments and, while I enjoy the sections describing the instruments' backgrounds, materials, workmanship, etc, the playing demonstrations can't really capture the sound or feel.
Your thoughts?

[Ken Smith]

I am interested in a bass being sold by a dealer on the east coast (I am in L.A.). He will send it for evaluation if I pay shipping.
My teacher suggested that, before gambling the shipping costs, I should request a video demo of the bass.
What are your experiences with and opinions on online bass demo videos? Lemur Music does them for most of their instruments and, while I enjoy the sections describing the instruments' backgrounds, materials, workmanship, etc, the playing demonstrations can't really capture the sound or feel.
Your thoughts?

First off, I am not the dealer being that I am out East so I want to let that be known to the readers.

Second, if you don't mind telling me, what type of bass is this and the estimated price range?

Third, I doubt you can tell much from a video. How it sounds on a recording is little indication how it will sound in person. Most importantly, how it feels in your hands. Even if it sounds good to your ears on a tape, what set-up or restoration work does it need or how well are the older repairs done? Does anything need to be re-repaired or have the repairs been done in the best manner of if left alone do they de-value the bass? A video can't tell you that.

Also, thinner sounding basses record best or rather a thinner signal does. Putting thru a full thick fundamental note might distort the average speakers.

[Michael Cahill]

Go East, young man. Maybe you can see a few more basses and take the best one home with you. I don't know how Jet Blue and Virgin-America treat basses but it may be better than shipping it by truck.

[Eric Swanson]

Here, there are a lot of amazing places to see/play basses!

I wouldn't base my relationship with an instrument on a video or any other marketing material. As Ken says, how it feels and sounds, up close, is what the relationship will be based on. A video won't give you that.

For me, the most a video, or any other marketing material, can do, is make me interested in seeing/playing the bass in person.

Finally, if you visit/audition a bass in person, you are more likely to have the opportunity to take it to another luthier for their, professional, impartial assessment. There is a high enough density of bass luthiers on this coast to make that practical.

Just my 2c...

[Jeff Schwartz]

Now that the deal has gone down, I'll tell you the rest of the story.

For about 10 years I've played an old German shop flatback. Lovely jazz bass, but it didn't really deliver the big fundamental for orchestra.

About a year ago I played at the opera house in Oman and my section was loaned three Tom Martin Concert basses for the gig. We were very impressed with them. These basses are roughed out in Hungary and finished by the Martins, so they cost about half as much as full-fledged Martins.

As I shopped for a new bass, trying every bass in California from Lemur at the south to Steve Swan in the north, there was nothing at my price point (low 5 figures) which compared to those Martins. There were several good candidates from $20K+, but that was really pushing my budget and quite of few of them needed a significant additional investment to make them really workable.

So, I started looking for US dealers with Martin shop basses, gambled on having one shipped to me, and it paid off. Yes, travelling around the east coast trying basses would have been cool, but travel expenses and days off work (and away from my wife) seemed like too large an addition, while the few hundred for shipping did not. At worst I'd have paid to send it back.

The video the dealer sent me wasn't decisive - as Ken pointed out, the frequencies that make a bass sound big in an orchestra can be hard to record - but it helped a little. Shipping a bass is expensive and risky, so I wanted to get as much info as I could before committing.

This worked out for me. I took the bass to a jazz jam, an orchestra rehearsal, and had it checked out at L.A. Bassworks and by my teacher. It was impressive in all situations, so I bought it.

However, I understand that shopping for a string bass by brand is unreliable and, having spent afternoons playing rows of Fenders at Guitar Center, it's not all that great for some other instruments. Still, with a contemporary instrument, there's a lot less mystery about who actually made it, maintenance history, etc.

That's the story. Thanks for the advice.