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Originally Posted by Ken Smith
Several years ago I saw the 2nd one which was a Bob G/Bulgarian Bass. Must have been the older models with the shiny Lacquer finish and low neck stand model. I played only a few notes on it and that was it.
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The first one I saw was one of those. Not sure how early it was compared to the one you saw. I think it was built the same year I saw it, 2002. I knew very little at the time, but the fellow who owned it had a good bit of experience, played it in a community orchestra and gave it good reports. Looking at their new web page, the bass appears to have a higher projection than mine even and the nitro is now spirit varnish, purfling similar to the Hofner / Wilfer detail also. And now there are two distinct gamba models.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith
The 3rd was a Pollmann belonging to the former Principal of the Met. He had the B tuned to a C. For most things this made sense but for octaves like in the Brandenbergs, it needed to be in 4ths down to B for the fingering. This is the Bass I borrowed to see if the 5 was for me at all. I decided I did need one but opted to convert one of my extra Basses instead of buying that one. My Morelli was on the bench at Arnolds and the Peg Box was an inch shorter than the Pollmann so we scrapped the conversion on that Bass and put a fingered Extension on it instead. I used that Bass for a few concerts and then sold the Bass. The new owner played mainly Jazz and took off the Extension.
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George Hofer suggested that I put a partial false nut on my bass under the B to raise it to a C. The B string used to behave very oddly when I was trying to tune to the 5th of the E. The partial false nut would not have changed the tension or note location but it would have shifted the harmonics and might have helped because the problem seemed to be resonance related. I thought it had a wolf, but this problem (which was here today and not tomorrow) completely vanished as the bass opened more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith
The 5th one that comes to mind in this countdown is the Hofner 5 that I am listing in behalf of Paul Biase Violins, NY. This is a nice Bass for the money and only played it a short time when I took the Pics a few months ago. If I were in the market for one now, I would seriously consider this Bass. It has more normal 3/4 dimensions in Body and String length. For someone needing a 5er, this would be a good buy short of buying an upper end more expensive Bass for regular professional Orchestra use. |
That is a very nice looking bass at that price. Tempted to visit PA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Smith
Bridge Arching: What I do usually is slide a pencil or ruler between 3 strings laying it flat on the top of the Bridge surface and look at the height off the the line of the middle string which should measure about 1/4". I do this 2x on a 4-string and 3x on the 5 to check bow clearance on all the inner strings.
Here are some pics I took for a Bow listing I had a few years ago using my 5-string. These pics though not intended to show Bridge arch still gives an idea of what I have. Last week I tweaked the arch slightly once again lowering the B (which raises the E-arch) and lowering both the G and D (which raised the A and kept the relation from the D to the G). I will not be a good judge of my work until I get into rehearsal with the Bass playing the Beeth. 6th which is on my stand for the Summer to work on.
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My clearance is definitely less by a bit than the .25 inch guide. And at the FB, if I hold my bow like in your photo, the clearance is dangerously close. I can play it all the way up into thumb position across all five strings, but more clearance would be better. Does your arching at the finger board match the arching at the bridge closely? How much could I increase the arch at the bridge without changing it at the fingerboard as well?