well..
 

I think it's Ray Browns old bass that is pictured on the cover of the Oscar Peterson Album "We get Requests". Ray had another Bass before that one that's now in the Toronto area with a Symphony player. Ray told me he sold it becuase it was too delicate for the road. The Bass John is playing is an old German Orchestra Bass from the late 19th century (in my opinion, not humbly.. lol). We see a bot of these basses and often they are called French because the look nicer than the rub in the mill Factory German stuff.

Actually Arnold and folks, we were playing the 'Blues' when Paul walked in. When John happened by, we were doing ''Greater Love' hence the reason I mentioned I needed help with the changes. Playing the 'Blues' is breakfast for me. I would not have asked for help if that were the case..;)

Just a slight correction in my own defense. Arnold is still sore from getting his butt handed to him on the Golf course. :p

Of course I know the changes to the Blues.. any key..:mad:

I did not have my butt handed to me. We were teammates, remember? If we had not been teammates, I would have had my butt KICKED. I'm not sore. Eagerly anticipating the Schnitzer vs. Smith Father/Son tournament. Place bets, anyone?

lol
 

Is your house paid for? My son was on the Varsity golf team in HS all 4 years.. :p

Ah... I was just repeating what you posted on TB. I would never ever go around telling people how I had to carry the whole team (Arnold, Nick Lloyd and myself). :rolleyes:

lol.....

also..
 

On the Gilkes, Tom Martin kept telling me to pronounce it Jilkes as that is the English way so I have to practice that.. Jilkes.. Jilkes.. Jilkes..

All of the Dealers and players that saw the Gilkes loved it and commented on the sound and fantastic condition. Tom also mentioned that Gilkes (Jilkes) was the Customs Examiner to the Queen for instruments entering the country. Charles Harris, the teacher and relative of Gilkes is also listed as a Customs official. This Gilkes Bass by Samuel, the only one known to have been made by him (labeled and branded) as well as having that 7-layer purfling with the Diamond neckless of purfling under the button may have been a Royal Commission of some sort. I guess we will never know.

Leon Bosch commented that he wished he had use the Big Gamba for his recital. He was able to get around that bass like it was a solo instrument. What an amazing player he is.

Players had pre-arranged for instruments loaned out to perform on as many came without a Bass. Stefano loved the Candi but the Karr bass had been brought in for him to use prior to the show. He commented that when playing the Gilkes (Jilkes) up at the end of the FB on the 'G' that it was one of the best sounding basses he had ever heard.

Guys, these players I heard this week, up close and personal, can make a bass sound that is beyond words I can describe. I never knew how good the Gilkes or Martini was before hearing it played at this show. Most agreed that the big Gamba was a very special bass but there was one top dealer (not to be named) that said "I like the Gilkes best over all of them"..

My Wife today asked if I had told them that it was her that picked out the Gilkes over a dozen other basses for me to buy when I was shopping some 5-6 years ago for my personal bass. So officially, my wife Claudia is the one responsible for me getting the Gilkes.. There.. I said it..:)

Ken, did you have a musorgasm?

Ken, you correctly quoted me as saying "He kicked my ass". However, you wrote that you handed my butt to me. Perhaps semantics, fighting words for sure. So, your kid was varsity golf in high school? My kid was the team CAPTAIN! You guys are goin' down!

Say, Ken, how about we use our tournament as a fund raiser, proceeds to benefit something bass-related, like the ISB?

musorgasm?
 

A what?

Do I need a second opinion to tell if I did?:confused:

humm..
 

Ok, but I can almost guarantee that you will making a bigger donation at the 19th!!:p

ok..
 

Well, watching Leon Bosch play my big Gamba was amazing so I guess I did have a few of those. Also, watching Stefano play the Gilkes, Candi and other basses I went there as well. All in all, looking back at the players in my booth including Paul Ellison and John Clayton whom each played only a few minutes, I was thrilled to see it was one of my basses in their hands that together produced a sound I would be happy to almost die for.

The other experience was just meeting them. I had Sergio Scaramelli in the booth a few times and besides him being the one that gave new life to my Martini in 1999, he played beautifully as well. Sergio uses the Bille style Italian fingering which is 1-3-4, not using the 2nd in the lower positions. Both Sergio and Stefano played the Candi back to back. Sergio has a Candi Cello in his personal collection and just loved seeing and playing the only bass Candi ever made.

I guess the experience of meeting and talking with these people one on one as they played the basses or played for me which is how it felt, combined gave me one of those thig-a-ma-jigs Calvin.

These guys and gals are people too and watching them all play in the same week on my basses was heaven. I told Stefano after playing my basses, that they are now 'Blessed' having been made more musical than ever from his hands. I never in my life with all the players that have played it heard sounds from the Gilkes like I did that first time he walked into the booth. Each note was so musical sounding.

The ISB for me was a life experience, not just a show. Some of these players are like living Gods with a bass in their hands and so humble as well.

that sounds like a LOT OF fun there.

i don´t want to spoil the party, but, just for my curiosity -

back to business :o: did you sell a bass?

Sell?
 

I don't think it's easy for anyone to buy a Bass in the range I had on show in a day or two. I did make a lot of contacts and I do expect to get some sales from it. The cheapest bass I had on display listed for $24k. That one was close as it got the most interest in the 20k range shoppers. In the more expensive basses it was mostly jaws dropping. I was told by many that the Big Gamba was the best bass at the show. "That 'A' String" is what I kept hearing from players after playing it as well as people coming to try it after the word got out.

The Gilkes and Candi also received strong interest besides them both being one-of-a-kinds and the only bass by the maker known or ever seen.

Time will tell. Trade shows are usually more of a 'show and tell' than a store sale set-up. Patience is the prescribed show after treatment..;)

ok, thanks!

Video...
 

Would love to see some video excerpts of this. :)

I have singled coin and it decided that I should bet my pride on a win for the Smiths.

By the way, how did the bow business go? Apparently you managed to rid yourself of the new bow you wanted to keep..? Did you get any opinions on the German bows, that gold mounted Krusig for instance?

well..
 

Plenty of lookers but the show to me was more of a music event with exhibits as eye candy. Not that much buying going on from what I saw and heard. I was told before hand to expect something along those lines. They were correct in their educated assumptions.

what krusig do you talk about? krussig from hannover/germany?

Bows at the ISB..
 

From my thread Bows at the ISB..

As quoted above, that Bow.

thanks ken.
so that is not jürgen krussig from hannover. he makes nice snakewood-bows, and does perfect rehairs and repairs.

Isb..
 

I just found this on YouTube. That is the Room I was in and the guy next to the girl with the 'Butt Cradle' is playing the Lott Copy Bass and in the back you can see the Big Gamba and a quick glimpse of me sitting down.

Ken, you are a handsome man - a good catch for any woman.

huh?
 

You can see me sitting back there in the end(1:26) near the Big Gamba?

Indeed, as Richard said: "quite the catch!"

lol..
 

With barely half my head showing in the background? You can't be looking at me.. lol

ok..
 

Can you find me in this YouTube video? I can't but I can hear my Bass slightly, the Hart (yes, I do take her out on occasion). Most of it is one Bass only but due to the set-up, I am in the middle and blocked by the conductor. This is a reverse bass section set-up but I did it so I can be closer to the 'stick' and looking straight at him, not at his hip from behind 4 rows of Celli with Tymp's in my ears right behind me:mad:. We also did Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet that night the second half. There is a split bass part, a famous required excerpt and out of 5 basses of which I had us split 2 up and 3 down, the Conductor asked for only one Bass up high, ME. Bare ass naked up there. Calvin, you know the part. Scan it in so these readers can grow some whiskers..:D

Position-wise, the best bass sound I have ever heard was when the Gothenburg Symphony lined up their million dolalr babies back at the wall, behind the woodwinds, for one of those early Bruckner pieces. The bass notes hit you like a fist in your face. They sound great when they sit at the side as well, of course, but the difference in the audience was HUGE. I guess it makes sense, acoustically, and also, in rock'n'pop recordings, the instrument you just don't pan is the the bass. But I also guess that this is drifting off-topic.

I really like where this topic is going, perhaps we could start a new thread on trends of where different bass sections sit.

well..
 

Look at the Brun book which has been discussed and see where some once sat 100-200 years ago. It was pictures from that book that I showed to the conductor that helped me to convince him my idea was valid. There is a small back wall just behind us about 3 feet high. I prefer that to just air and the side of the hall which just lets the sound travel to who knows where rather than bouncing off the wall from the backs of at least 3 basses of the section as the last 2 basses wrap around somewhat. Next season howere the programs only require 3 or 4 basses per concert so we will have less dead air travel. Ofcourse if I play the Big Gamba it will feel more like 6 basses in the section.

Hey just wondering about the sitting versus standing effect on bass sound. The bass I just finished sounds quite a bit fuller when the knee is not touching the back. How many orchestras encourage one or the other, all or a mix...?

encourage?
 

Try telling that to the violin players or the cello players. An Iron-Bryon like machine as used in Golf Club testing made for playing the Bass might produce the best sound due to the lack or a human dampening the wood.

Ok, short of that most players sit now a days. Why? Why not? Everyone else does!

I feel the bass in my gut just as good or better when sitting and I hear it a lot better as well. For solo playing is depends on the player as many stand today but in Orchestra sections, just about every section bass player I have seen in picture and in video lately are all standing.

I don't care if my bass sounds 5% better standing. If the bass is not good enough without standing, then get a better bass. That's my advice. My feet and back come first.I use a stool. If I feel like standing, I do. If not, I sit. It's not negotiable nor open for discussion on a gig as far as I am concerned.

Now we can argue bridges (try 100 different ones on ever bass till it's 2% better.. lol), endpins, strings, bows, rosin.. Where will it stop?????????

We need to just play the bass and not nit pic the tiny details. Set the bass up and play it. After all, the music comes first, right? Lets all go practice this weekend, NO Internet.. Deal?

I've played some really fine basses that sound very muted when your knee/leg touches the back of the bass. That being said, they sounded terrific and vibrated properly when I played standing.

From my experience (albeit rather limited), flat-back instruments are more prone to muting.



Ken, the Brun book is all tertiary information. The author took so many of the things ridiculously out of context and failed to document some of the sources properly. That being said, there is some validity in what's being presented, but his opinions of it are often taken as fact versus conjecture.

Brun and muting..
 

I agree that anything touching a bass mutes it including your hands. I use a Bow quiver on all of my basses that weighs from 4-5 ounces, about 112-142 grams or so. I barely hear any difference with or without a quiver. Also, most of my Tailpieces are the older type non-ebony stained black. The quiver brings it back to the ebony weight in a way but not the same density. If slight muting is a problem then we have to live with it. A bass should have enough sound so sitting with it Flat or Roundback doesn't matter.

On the seating, in context or not, I think it shows good examples of different ideas being used and that there was not one perfect way. My reverse type way the last two concerts worked so well that I will petition to use it all the time if permitted to do so but depending on the layout. If our Scrolls are blocking the Opera Singers than maybe we will be pushed off to the side. So far, it has worked just fine. Variety is the spice..

Hah hah hah you got me chuckling with this post Ken. Imagine being a gamba violist in the mid 16th C. Holding that thing between your knees for hours. Some body parts might go to sleep permanently:eek:.

When does the weekend start... did I violate the rule? If so, I will say an act of contrition.

Happy 4th of July...I always like to listen to some Mozzart on the 4th, don't know why, I guess Amadeus and the Declaration of Independence were contemporaries.

lol..
 

We are closed today but I am at work taking calls and doing emails. Also, I am practicing as well. Playing my BIG GAMBA, learning how to handle it as well as what height works for me, bow reach, left hand reach etc. It is so big all over that I feel like I have to re-learn how to hold the Bass. I have the end pin all the way in now. Last week at a concert I was standing and I kept pulling out the endpin further to reach the bow area between the end of FB and the bridge. Now I have it all in sitting on a stool and it works just fine.

What music am I using to find the comfort zone with this monster? The original Simandl book I that I bought around 1966. Starting on page 8.

I was deep into page 10 #6 when the phone rang. UPS was at the door which was locked. I let him in and he delivered a carton of my new P.A.P.A Pre Amp stomp boxes from the Lab. I tried it today on the Big Gamba earlier with an old foam wrapped AKG mic in the bridge and it sounded great. So natural and easy to EQ as well. My son ran thru the features with a Smith bass and liked it as well.

On the Simandl, after I do it as written, I try it without open strings to work the left hand on this biggie. Taking the thought of new or hard music out of the equasion but reading something strictly written (with variation as well) helps to develop a hand position as well as a bow position on this newly restored monster of mine.

Ok, back to finishing up F and then on to Bb. hey, you can also play these an octave up in TP and use the T-1-2-3 fingerings. Fun..;)

Hey, we re-did the home page last night and cleaned it up a bit. You like?

We added the P.A.P.A. notice just up top and moved the Forum link a bit further down the page with the banner logo button. The rest of the other stuff was either deleted or moved to the What's New section if it's old news.

So, what do you think? A complete P.A.P.A. page is in the works as well. It will link from the 'button' on the Home page.

I like. It looks great, Ken.