shen 3/4 willow

[Vincent Maiolo]

i'm interested in purchasing a shen willow 3/4. i believe this is the model 200 (spruce top and willow back). does anyone have any experience or opinion on the quality of this instrument or shen basses in general. i play primarily pizz. i'm currently playing a new standard cleveland laminated bit finding it a little too big. will the shen be a comparable in sound and construction. thanks.

[stan haskins]

I like mine alot, for what it is. It's only two years old, but very playable and gets a good sound. It can't compare to basses in the $10,000 range, but in my opinion, compares very well with any basses under $6000. The Willow back is a fairly soft wood, which I think takes away from the projection a bit (the more expensive maple roundback version I played clearly put out more sound). It speaks very quickly under the bow, though, and the sound quality is very good. Alot of bang for the buck.

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Make sure you get it from someone who'll set it up well.

By the way, I just read you're talking about playing pizz (jazz?). I really only play bowed, I'm not sure if this will be any improvement on a Cleveland. Those are good jazz basses. Have you tried tweaking the setup or changing strings?

FWIW, In one of the sections I play with, there's a latin jazz player who uses a Cleveland. It's a good bass. I'm not sure the Willow would be much of an "upgrade" for a jazz player: I beiieve my willow gets more sound under the bow, but I think that's about the setup. The shape of the Willow makes it more playable in the upper register, though - it doesn't have that very wide shoulder the Cleveland has.

[Vincent Maiolo]

Thanks Stan. I appreciate the info. Was not aware of the difference between willow and maple.