Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith
Yes David, very similar indeed. With my Back 28-29" wide at the bottom it only fits the TKL 4/4 Bag. I doesn't even fit the Bobelock 7/8ths unless I stretch it over the Ribs but the Case will fall apart if continue doing that.
One thing we did not measure is how 'long' each Bout actually is and not just how wide and deep. Our Basses being similar sized do not have a similar string length. Why do you think that is?
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Bout height / proportion is definitely a part of it. I don't know if this is why. Why is such a complex question when so many things interact, but obviously string length is not one of those things that just exists independently. I suppose in design one could start with string length and then make some decisions around that or go the other way. It's hard to determine whether one isolated parameter is the cause or the effect. My guess is that looking backward at the two instruments that have very similar overall table length, the string length has to match up with the bridge position longitudinally and the heel point has to match the D neck. So once those are located and the projection angle is set, the string length is also. Isn't the bridge position usually at the crest of the arch of the table? So all of these things must be balanced. On the table of my bass there is 23 inches between the bridge and neck overstand and 21 inches below the bridge to the saddle. If the bridge position were up a bit, and the heel point still a D neck, then the string length would drop as well. So your bridge is probably closer to the center longitudinally than mine is. I think the relationship could be mathematically described. If one has the length from the bridge top to the D at the neck heel, then the mensur will be 1.5 x that distance.
There was a 4/4 5 string Romanian bass that I looked at the specifications of when I was shopping for a 5-string that had dimensions and mensur very close to my Kremona. It seems to be a common European shop design.
I'll make an admission about the 4-string / 5-string yin yang. The DB was my first 5 string. After playing a 4 string for two years I wanted to try the 5-er orchestra sized DB just to see what those were about dimension wise and in configuration. I figured switching sooner was better. I had played a few 5 string EBG's, but these never really fascinated me that much although I did like the idea. I used to tune my P down to C on the E string and so I had my own way to get low notes, but a 5 string EBG has more to offer than just notes below E. So here I was in my jazz and folk groups with 5 strings on the DB. And I was rewriting all of my parts now based on the new notes that were available as well as new positions. And inevitably this began affecting my playing on the 4-string EBG, because now I am "thinking" in a different mode. So in improv sequences I hit the wrong string more than once! Eventually switching back and forth from 4 string EBG to 5 string DB was just too frustrating. So I upgraded my EBG to two matched 5 stringers, one fretted and one fretless. Now my musical bass line thinking is the same whatever I'm playing. And I want one of those 7 string classical guitars, too. Just kidding, but everything needs a low B now.
In the end it would be best for me to reach the point where a bass is just a bass. But I'm just not there yet. So for now a bass is a 5-string bass. There was a point in my photographic career when a camera became a box with apertures and shutter speeds, nothing more. At that point my eye superseded the equipment at a fundamental level. The equipment became a proxy for the eye. Any camera would work. When basses become "boxes with low pitched strings" and my ear writes the same line regardless of which box, then I will understand bass lines as fundamentally as I do photographs. After a few more years on the 5 stringers I might start switching back to 4 or something else. I don't think in any case that I am headed for more than 6. For me the 5 string is showing me a lot of relationships that exist only in a couple of instances on a 4 string instrument. So in a way, it will inevitably change my approach to 4 string playing as well.