My Willow
 

Here's my SB 200, 3/4 Willow, purchased from and set up by Jeff B in 2006:


Height (bottom to button): 43 ½”
UB: 20”
Cb: 14 1/8”
LB:25 3/8"
String length: 41 1/8"

Spruce top
Willow back and ribs

The varnish doesn't look quite this yellow under netural light . . .

couple more pics
 

here are a couple more . . . I'm curious to find out what type of wood the tailpiece is.

The last pic is hard to see - it's of the x-bracing joint.

Wood..
 

The wood and varnish on your Bass looks beautiful, especially the Willow.

I've got a Willow on trial from Nick Lloyd and from the look of the tailpiece on mine, I assumed it was ebony.

Something else I noticed is the string length is also about 41 1/8. They advertise the bass as having a 41 1/2 string length. 3/8" seems to be a fair amount off from the spec.

Huh - I wasn't aware of their advertised string length. I always thought 41-41-1/2 was sort of a standard for these smaller basses. Maybe you should ask John Sprague (at TB)

Hey Gents,
I just checked our site, and indeed it says 41 1/2, but we are now making that bass at 41 1/4. The stock tailpiece for that model is rosewood, and Stan yours does look like rosewood after a closer look in photoshop (pic's a bit dark).

Thanks, John!
 

Yeah, I believe it is rosewood.I'm very happy with this bass, by the way. Although it seems to be going through puberty at the moment. Can't wait for spring to start!

Just to continue . . .
 

I am still enjoying my time with this bass, even if I know its limitations. It's a solid instrument. I'm not ashamed to play it in any situation.

It seems to respond very well to synthetic core strings, higher tension steel strings really choked the sound. Flexicores are too dark for it. Evah Pirazzis seem to be treating it really well for the moment. My recently upgraded bow is making the sound jump out a little more easily, which is nice . . .

A couple of months ago, i ended up taking the bass in to Arnold's shop because I wanted to try playing with very low string height (teacher's reccomendation). While it was there, Arnold did the following:
-Cut the tailpiece down a few inches and replaced the tailwire
- adjusted the bridge position and the afterlength tuning (this fixed the "short mensure" we were discussing last year)
- cut down the bridge to a ridiculously low playing height (4mm at the g string, 8 at the E, I think)
- adjusted the arch of the bridge to better fit the fingerboard radius.

The result: a new instrument. Produces more sound, is easier to play. More even up and down all strings. Less wolfiness (**almost** no wolfs).

It took me a couple of days to notice the new string length - there were some serious struggles with intonation after the work was done. It's ***much*** easier to play, though.

Arnold's the man. Get to him if you can.

the new string length??
 

Stan, I am curious about this. The pictures in your first post show the string height quite low. How much difference is the string length from the adjustments Arnold made? How high were the Strings before?

How long was the total length of the Tailpiece before and how long is it now? I am curious because they only vary about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length on average between the 3/4 and 7/8 or 4/4 models. You mentioned Arnold cut a few inches off the length of the Tailpiece? From what to what?

You mention "Height (bottom to button): 43 ½". Is that the Back? If so, how long is the Top from the bottom edge to the Tips bordering the Neck?

Ken -

Sorry I can't be more exact. The height I measured last year, i measured along the back, just like you would size a viola. The original string height when I bought the bass was "standard" - though I never measured it, I would guess 8mm at the gstring to about 10 or 11 at the E. It played pretty well, but had some extreme variations over the course of the first year.

I don't know how much Arnold took off of the tailpiece, but he said he had set up a lot of these Willows, and it seemed to be all routine to him. I would have to guess he took off less than two inches - still a considerable amount. Then, the bridge was adjusted down toward the tailpiece. I haven't remeasured the mensure, and my bass is packed up as I'm taking the night off. But I'm sure the string length was a little bit longer - I had to "find" the notes again, especially above the octave.

I think the bass changed shape a lot over the last couple of years. It's playing much better after the recent surgery.

Since you asked . . .
 

Ken, since you asked, I got out the tape measure to find those measurements.

Surprise, surprise - the string length is actually 1/8" shorter than it was. It's exactly 41" now. (weird - I could have sworn it *felt* longer. Now that I think about it though, I can stop a c# at the top of the neck, where before I could only stop a c. So the string length had to have gotten shorter.)

The height of the top, from the saddle to the seam of the neck joint, is just over 43"

Tailpiece is now 13". I don't know what it was before.

Long story short, the bass plays better now. :)