My double bass is a plywood probably built around 1950. The action is good and the old Weichs that I have on respond well to the bow. My brother (Daryl) once painted it and then sanded down the front because he thought that the tone had been effected. He was going to sand down the whole bass but the job was too hard and he gave up. I swapped the bass off him (for an amp, I think) about 20 years ago. Since then I have played the bass all over the country, mainly at jazz festivals and a few folk festivals. It seems to stand up pretty well against expensive basses and, I think, it would take a pretty damn good bass to replace it. I sometimes go down to Alistair's Music and try his more expensive basses. They don't really sound better than mine. The bowing response is good, most of my playing for the last few years has been arco. I'm kind of proud of my old bass. I reckon than, if I can make this bass sound good, I could probably make most basses sound okay. Well, not true really. I've tried some real 'dungers' in my time that were depressing to play. I don't think I'd ever want to trade this bass because we've done too many miles together. I hope you enjoyed hearing (reading is a bit like hearing) about my bass.
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