The 'D' Neck issue..

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Pino Cazzaniga

Well, I realize now that my necks are not D nor Eb.
As most of my clients use a 1 3 4 fingering, they may play D with the first finger and Eb with the third finger.
And I place the thumb at the heel opposite to the second finger.
Seems to be halfway...
A widening technique is also teached, to play an half tone per finger.
And, according to the score, people use mixed different fingerings.
I'm not a musician, so I can't go further, but things are still developing, so I expect different demands.
Arnold's "You can't put the wood back" is probably the right advice here.
A related issue I'm wondering about is the SL/Body Stop ratio.
The standard for cello is 1,75. For basses I found anything from 1,75 to 1,8.
I think ( I hope ) that it will be not standardized, as it's due to many variables, but I wonder about the tone and maybe the wolf tones effects, if any.

Let me tell you that when I bought the Hart Bass, Arnold and I discussed putting another Neck in the Bass to make it under 42" and a 'D' Neck as well. The bass sat in the shop for several months while he was completing the work on my Gilkes which is actually between a 'D' and 'Eb' stop but closer to Eb.

Sometime before starting the restoration on the Hart I pulled the Bass out from the corner where it was 'parked' and felt the Neck and as I was talking with Arnold who mentioned what a beautiful piece of wood the Neck was. At that moment I said, "leave this Neck as-is", saving me a few thousand dollars on the new Graft expense.

Now, it's the most comfortable Neck I have seconded by the Gilkes. For me, the Eb works best. When I was younger (a teen) starting out playing Jazz we (the players in NY) used to play the 'F' on the A-string playing across the D and G-strings playing the C-5th and Eb to F-octave type of bass line back then known as The Boogaloo. It have a beat to it.. lol.. (:F, C Eb f, f-f C-Eb-f: .. remember?.. lol),.., Can't play that line on no 'D' neck without a stretch..

I think most of the Ampeg Baby Basses had Eb necks as well from what I remember. But with proper hand position, it was really a D where the 1st finger went. We never talked about this Eb or D thing back then or at least not that I recall. Now it's a big deal to some people.