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Old 11-24-2008, 02:11 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Join Date: 01-18-2007
Location: Perkasie, PA
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Cool oh..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Faulkner View Post
you mentioned double bass and violin as part of your inspiration in one of the posts above. I was wanting some expansion on the building techniques of those instruments that you found attractive, and how you used them to improve the bass guitar.
Oh, ok. I'll do my best to explain my original dream and theory as well as application.

The Smith Basses were designed for feel and tone first. The hardware and electronics came later. My goal was to try and archive a smooth even vibrating string on every string, every note. I felt that the current slew or basses on the market were produced for a price point and not for the quality or rather acoustical level that I was searching for. By luck, you could pick up a fender on occasion and the notes (most of them) might ring well for some things but playing a slow ballad melody with some upper long notes, the sustain would fail and the tone was not the best, It was still a fender. I am not trying to knock Fender here at all. I am just using it as a comparison based on my personal experience.

Often in a recording, the standard Fender is just what people are used to hearing. For me, I was looking to get as close to the comparable quality to my Italian DB as compared to a factory made German imported Juzek bass. The Juzek might be ok in a School orchestra or on a jazz gig with an amp but in a professional Orchestra, it is just not on par with the great old English and Italian master grade basses. I was looking to make THE Master Grade Electric bass.

Things I looked into changing at first was the actual neck construction and wood grain orientation. Exotic wood feature strips were added for looks and stability. The theory was that a bad piece of wood may want to bend away from the others but in itself would not be strong enough to pull the others with it. Some other companies were already doing this but I cannot mention their names, sorry. I also know that these other companies were not known for their great necks as some of them incorporated 2 truss rods for better adjustability. My theory is to keep it simple but build it so it wont fail. Bass player wanna play, not fix. Giving them 2 truss rods to adjust might be more harm then help knowing that often its a do-it-yourself mindset.

On the body, I was not convinced that what companied did up until the time I started were thinking about tone and vibration as far as mixing with the neck. Soft bodies and hard necks might have frequencies that cancel each other out. Bold-on product on the market at that time was mainly high volume production. The neck and body parts were not specifically made to perfectly fit one another so there was some lever of acceptable 'slop' in the fit.

These are just a few things that made up the 'average' mindset of a high volume guitar production. Also, I believe that the 'built it from the price backwards' mentality although wise in general marketing, does not make a Stradivarius.

Trial and well.. more trial (don't think I had many errors) was the method of operation for me. This by the way is still going on after 400+ years of double Bass making.

So, open mind, open ears, open wallet. Yes.. it does get expensive trying to be inventive and/or creative.

Please feel free to nit-pick any of my answers if they do not fully quench your thirst. Also, if I've left something out, please remind me.

One more explanation to the question of 'building techniques'. I tried in the beginning to move away from what was being done already if it didn't look right as far as the 'right' or 'better' way so to speak. Each individual component must be made to it's fullest potential in order to work as a 'marriage' on a musical instrument. Price was never am initial concern as I didn't come from a business type or financial background. It was a consideration but not that the expense of the quality of the bass.

Remember now, I started tinkering in 1976 or so with this idea in my head when I was a full time professional Bassist in NYC. This was a personal goal of mine, not a business plan. It turned out that way and very very gradually. Nothing came fast with the exception of a good feel which was on Bass #1 and so on...
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