Show your Extensions!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Abe Gumroyan

My sentiments exactly. A colleague of mine installed a B extension from a shop that shall remain nameless on his Roth double bass ad had to cut off the B portion because when he stopped his C capo is would rattle horribly. When he took it to his repair person a year after he installed it to solve the issue, the problem was the fingerboard was arching under the pressure and the "hump" happened to be at his C capo. So now he has a C extension. I told him if and when you play Pines of Rome just tune it down a half step lol. I think the problem arose from the flimsy fingerboard because of the ornate carving under the board. It left no mass for support. Ken what do you think ?

What do I think? I thought I said it all above in my last post. If you are referring to the construction issue or the Pines' I will say this. I have played the Pines. It has a split Bass part for those of you that have not played it in an Orchestra. The Top parts quarter note Pizz B,B,B,B.. like forever.. a page or more from what I recall some 5
years ago. The bottom part is half notes bowed B-,F-..etc. with/under the Low Bs... I played this on my lowest B of a 4-string playing the low B on the A-string. I was using my 7/8 Shen then and that Bass had some punchy bottom. I think the B an octave lower would get lost in space. It was however written for a 5-string Bass like is usually played in Europe. The B-F- bowed part would then be up and octave on the B and a flatted 5th up on the Low F. Maybe Respighi was going for 'Mud' as the color of the sound..

On the Extension construction I think I heard Arnold comment about this same problem. The Extension itself bending/bowing forward from tension and becoming a problem. Necks themselves with Ebony fingerboards Bend under tension and have problems. Why wouldn't an Extension made the fraction of the strength bend as well under a single longer string? It will and it does. make it a B which is quite a bit longer than a C and it will bend much easier. make it with maple and a thin Ebony veneer-like fingerboard and you are asking for trouble even with a C-extension.

To be practical and reasonable the best Extension is made from Solid Ebony and goes down to a C note. That will be all anyone needs ever including that once or twice in a lifetime an orchestra bassist might get to play the Pines. Imagine having this B extension and you are the one playing the Bowed part.. lol.. What a waste, huh? Scream, yell, kick, cry.. hey, you are playing on the right, that's your seat.. Play the bottom B/F bowed part..

So, my choice are the Extensions like what I have on all my Basses. My favorite is the first chromatic one Arnold made for me and my Martini which is also pictured on Arnold's website as well. I guess he was proud of his work on that Bass as well.