Show your Extensions!

[William Stephens]

I've always liked the look of hat peg tuners....that is until I had an extension installed on my current bass!

The G tuner is positioned perfectly to stop my hand in it's tracks when reaching back for the D and Db on the extension!

I wonder what others have done in this situation? at first I thought I'd just learn to cope with it, but I can easily see myself making some sort of "modification" in a brief moment of frustration


I wonder about the history of fingered extensions....
As far as I understand it the early ones were exclusively mechanical, staring in germany around 1880 or 1890 and then sold commercially by Max Poike.

I had my extension made by Mike Hart in Suffolk, UK who has probably made more fingered extensions than anyone else over here.

He told me he made his first in 1971 after a player returned from the states where he had seen Ron Carter play. I think in those days the norm over here was the Fawcett-type mechanical, although these days they are rarely seen in the UK (with the exception of London), Fingereds being the general rule now.

Did the fingered type start as a result of removing the mechanism?

how common were fingered extensions in the US in the 60's and 70's?

Just wondering.....