2/2/10
 

The Christopher is sounding great. Maybe, though, I have it set up a little high in thumb position - though only by a smideon.
Hey, we've almost been together for a yeat now - 1st anniversary coming up!

Christopher 5-String
 

Just playing my Christopher 500 series Busetto fiver for a bit. Giving thanks (after all it IS Thanksgiving evening!) It's sounding better every week! My wife always complains about the low B; it seems to keep her awake! Happy Thanksgiving to all - give thanks for your families, your health, and your talent!

I've tried those Christophers and they sound great to me.
I tried basses from the 500 and 600 series - quite similar, methinks.

In case anyone is interested, I am the proud purchaser (if not quite yet the possessor) of a new Christopher 401T (i.e. carved Gamba flatback). It's a biggish 3/4 size (on some websites it appears to be listed as a 3/4-7/8), dark matte stain, nicely put together and with Rubner machine heads and an adjustable bridge. It's strung with Corellis (I'm assuming from their gauge and tension that they are the 370M, but waiting on confirmation of that), and sounded loud and rich played pizz.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to play it under the bow. The vendor (an experienced bassist, but not a luthier) loosened the strings (in his defense, it was only a little) in order to lower the bridge and the sound post dropped. He thinks it may have been on the short side, but will obviously be getting it back to his luthier. Good that it happened in his shop while he was messing with it!

I compared it with a Stentor (see other thread), and a German carved bass from the 60s (looks very much like the vendor's Hofner from a similar time). Much bigger and "fuller" (I guess more pleasant combination of harmonics??) sound than either of them, at least pizzicato. There were a number of other Chinese and Korean basses there, but these were not really in the same league (or price bracket!)

I'm looking forward to its arrival, probably in a week or so, and if I have anything further to add, especially regarding how it plays bowed, I will.

Well done Shane!
I'll look forward to hearing it.
Let me know when you're taking it to a gig.

Cheers, Richard. Have a gig at Meow on 1/7/11; hopefully I'll be comfortable enough with it by then to play some relatively straightforward country in a new band I seem to have got myself into.

Apparently the strings on the bass are Corelli 370TX, the "heavy" tungsten set. If these are the heavy ones, I'm not sure I'd be able to see the light gauges. Have a good rep as a bowed string, so looking forward to trying them.

Do the strings have black wrapping, with a red stripe, at the tailpiece?

The Corelli strings I have in my string drawer are 370 TX 'FORT TIRANT'. Nice and punchy when bowed and similar to Weichs, slightly less stiff for pizz. In other words, the Weich pizz is a little better.

I can't remember what they look like (except that they're shiney!), but I'll let you know when the bass arrives. It'll be good to compare the feel against the Weichs I have on my EUB. If memory serves, they probably did feel a little "softer" under my fingers than the Spirocores.

Thanks Shiney.

I mean the person, not the string.

It took a little longer than a week, but the Christopher's arrived, nicely set up and sound post in situ! There are pictures available, if required -- they're from the vendor's website (www.bassbass.co.nz), but they are of this very bass (he's had it for a couple of years; not a high turnover item in this country, I'm afraid).

To Richard -- the strings have a dark green wrap at the tailpiece, and are blue, black, purple and gold at the tuners (E to G). That doesn't seem to match your description of the 370TX. They are very soft played pizz, but are easy to bow with a light touch, even for this rank amateur. I'll keep them for a while, but can see myself returning to Spiro Weichs, especially if my bowing improves.

I've also collected a Realist Soundclip pickup -- I liked the idea of having a removable pickup with flexible positioning. I've had a very brief play with it into my TC Electronic RH450 and BFM Jack 12 cabinet. Seems to match up well with the 1 MOhm input impedance on the amp without a preamp, and a pretty natural sound (at first audition) with the EQ all flat.

Well, I have a lot of practice to do, so it must be time to walk the dogs ...

Congratulations on the new bass Shane.
I hope it's going to live in the living room. Train your wife to expect it in there - my wife accepts two basses in our little living room.

Back from a quick walk.

Thanks Richard -- it's in my "office", a standard-size bedroom, along with my large desk, an electric piano, my EUB, 2 bass guitars, 2 electric and 2 acoustic guitars, bass amp rig and electric guitar amp, a trumpet and a cornet, a ukulele, a couple of bookshelves and a filing cabinet, and all my recording and live sound gear. No bed.

Maybe I could move it all into the living room. So the dogs can pee on it.

You've got a trumpet!
I just got my old school trumpet out today and started working on building up my chops. I took up trumpet about thirty years ago and got quite serious about it and, although I still pull it out for school prizegivings, haven't worked on it for many many years. I spent last summer (well a little bit of it) watching fancy trumpet players on YouTube and sort of got the bug again. I thought it might be nice to practise a second instrument, so I have my trumpet at school so that it doesn't interfere with bass practice.
I've always had this thing about trumpet. I wish I'd kept my Bach Mercedes - the best trumpet (for me) I ever owned.

Yeah! My trumpet is just a Yamaha student model, but I have a 1948 Conn 80A cornet (Bix Biederbecke played this model for a while) which I love. I'm even less good on it than I am on bass, can't reliably get above G on top of the staff, but it's good fun.

Miles, Chet, Freddie, Dizzy, Clifford -- love 'em all. Never really into Maynard and the rest of the screamers. Maybe it's screamis envy, who knows.

Enough about trumpets, how's that Christopher sounding Shiney?

Well, I like it! I find it difficult to describe adequately, having played few basses against which to compare it. I can say it's a lot more like yours than it is like the Stentor, open-sounding rather than "thuddy", and I guess I can expect it to open up some more as time passes. To be fair, it is already 2 years old, and the Stentor was brand new, but I really don't know how much difference that might make. Over and above all that, though, it's much better looking!

Perhaps I should bring it around to yours at some point, Richard -- it'd be good to hear it played from out front. It gets its first outing this evening at rehearsal, and I'm looking forward to playing it in context (even if it is country).

Yes, bring it round. Name the time.

Shane, did you find out about those Corelli strings? I had a friend who tried them and they're lighter than Spirocore Weichs. I tried them on his bass.

Hi Bin -- I'm waiting on confirmation from Savarez (?spelling), the makers of Corelli strings, but I believe they're actually 380Ms. They're not awful under the bow, but are way too "flubby" for pizz at more than a lazy pace, and the E string in particular seems to roll under the fingers. I have ordered a set of Evah Pirazzi weichs from Gollihur's, in no small part on the strength of positive reviews here, not least from our fearless leader himself. Spiro weichs would be another safe bet, but I have those on my EUB, and thought I might as well try something different; they're about the same price.

It's good to see you using a semicolon; not many people use them these days.
Rolling E string = no good.:(