What do you want in a bass ?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

It shouldn't add much of anything to the price of a bench made DB. Nor will the beefier tailblock. Handmade basses are way underpriced for the time it takes to design and make a custom one. They cost about as much as bench made Cello and even some violins are 25 - 30K.

Ken, I gotta wonder about that 20% change in volume and depth of sound with one little hole plugged at the tailblock area. As far as pure acoustics, pschychoacoustics of bowed stringed instruments it should not make that much difference. OTOH I am sure you don't speak lightly about stuff like that.

Well, for what ever reason I was able to feel the air shotting down out of this hole when I put my foot under the bass while playing it unplugged, the hole that is. It felt like it was actually down firing out of the hole, the sound that is. I can't say I measured the volume and tone at 20% but it was a noticeable and clear difference when plugged.

Do you believe that F-hole size matters much as far as volume and tone of a given bass? I haven't seen this discussed all that much around here or anywhere else. For the record, I do!