Smith Bass Design and its History (The on-line Book in the making)

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Desmund Nichols

I read somewhere (probably Wikipedia) that you are the first Luthier to SUCCESSFULLY build an operating Contrabass. My question is how come you stopped making them?

Contra-Bass is just another name for a 6-string bass. That's what Anthony Jackson calls it. Your bass on order will be a contra-bass as well by his description. It is just a name.

In old instruments centuries ago, when the violin family developed and replaced the Viols, the Cello was the bass voice. The Double Bass was pitched an octave lower when it was finally developed as an orchestral instrument.

When you read bass music, you are transposing up from one octave lower. The Tuba reads the music 'written' an octave lower at the regular Pitch. The actual pitch of the C note 2 ledger lines below the staff is the C on your A-string, 3rd fret (if it's fretted). But, when you read that note for bass, it is the second space on the staff. That note read by a piano or tuba would sound an octave higher. The lowest note on the cello is that low C below the staff. We play the exact same note and pitch on the 2nd space. If we play the low C on a B-string, first fret, it sounds an octave lower than the cello, hence, the double bass, or contra-bass.

So, here endith the lesson, for now!