Show your Extensions!

[Ken Smith]

Ok, in 1972 or so I was in a car accident and my Mechanical Ext. was broken along with the Neck. The Bass was restored by Peter Eibert in NY. When I went to pick it up it had a fingered Ext. with just the E-latch. Peter opted for that rather than to try and fix my Mechanical one. The Bass was way way lighter and quieter as well.

Now, on your latches which I have played on other Basses you cannot quick-flip easily with the edge of your fore-finger/palm-strike like I can with my ebony-fingers. Also, the tension cannot be adjusted as minutely either.

I see others using 2 or 3 fingers to 'lift' the closed latches to open the Ext. partly or all the way. I can run my hand back up there sideways and knock them open in a flash and then set them easily with one finger.

Speed of usage is a major factor when you have little or no time to open a gate or close one. The Robo's are a nice idea but work too slow for my taste and hurt my fingers/hand when trying to open them in a flash like I can my Ebony's.

I don't know the exact history of the fingered extension but if you ask around in the UK shops you might hear a few stories. I have the 3-set Elgar books and in either 1 or 2 he talks about extension ideas. This was written in the 60's so it was in use easily by then. Being 'in use' and being commercially available are two different things.