Breaking in a bass

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

I think most bassists agree that one reason basses improve with age is the effect of vibration in 'opening up' the bass. Exactly how this occurs I don't know, but I'm guessing there are differing opinions.

Anyway, in an attempt to speed up the process, I've thought of leaving the stereo on while I'm away with a speaker blasting away at my bass.

Thoughts?

Do you think a bass would prefer:

Pictures at an Exhibition/Organ transcription
Vic Wooten
Paul Chambers arco solos
James Earl Jones narrating a book

I tried this for a bit, but my dog isn't crazy about Russian music, so that almost eliminates number one.
My bass may try to pick up some Vic Wooten licks. This would be difficult for a DB to pull off, but maybe worth a try?
It would have to have better intonation than Mr PC, but he's surely a goal to shoot for.
Maybe a little James Earl Jones would be good for helping the solos. Me and the bass may actually have something worth saying and a willing audience.

OK,
So what are your thoughts? Is this a stupid idea and if not, any material for helping the bass along on it's road to maturity?

p.s. Bob, I'd bring the bass to you for the de-dampening treatment, but money is really tight right now. Maybe it's in my basses future.

[Ken Smith]

Why do Basses sound better after it gets some cracks and then gets fixed? Is that part of aging? Is that part of mellowing out or am I just cracking up mentioning this? (why pink? yuck..)

Experience and time combined loosens up a Bass. My 200 or so year old Italian Bass sounds mellower than my 88 year old Italian Bass and the older one has way more cracks.

I had two English Basses side by side both around 200 years old and the one with more cracks sounded better. Then I bought another one almost 200 years old with even more cracks and it sounds even better than the other two.

Maybe it is all it's cracked up to be, aye?

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Ken, I respect your advice.
Do you recommend I put the bass outside for the rest of the winter?

[Jim Barber]

I have heard people suggest some kind of transducer that vibrates the bass; but I don't know specifically what device, where to get it and how to use it. Anyone else, know about these? One bassist suggested playing tritone double stops with a bow to generate a lot of vibration. My bass is new so I bow some long open Es and As as well as the tritone double stops to open it up when I start practicing.

Jim

[Dwight McCartney]

If you believe that sound vibrations will improve your bass, then just plug into your amp, turn it up till it feeds back and leave it on all day.

[Brian Gencarelli]

I do this:

Tune your E string down to D. Then hold your finger down on A on the G string. You end up with 4ths, or 5ths (if you are on your head). Then play a series of double stops on the strings D & A, A & D, D & A, etc... if you want to get tricky turn your bow underhanded and play the lowest and highest string at the same time.

You will feel your bass start to open up. Give it a whirl.

Brian

[Bob Branstetter]

Originally Posted by Greg Clinkingbeard

p.s. Bob, I'd bring the bass to you for the de-dampening treatment, but money is really tight right now. Maybe it's in my basses future.

Greg has played several instruments which have been treated with the Vibration DeDamping process.

FWIW, I've been using Prof. Gerhard A. v. Reumont's Vibration DeDamping procedure on basses for several years with very good results. This systems uses a frequency adjustable mechanical device attached to the bridge of the instrument which sets the plates into high amplitude vibration during 12-15 precisely controlled steps from approx 50 to 12,000 Hz. The lowest frequency steps starting at about 50Hz are run for 5 to 10 hours each and I can guarantee that a few hours of this can get your wife VERY mad at you as it is VERY loud (good ear protection is an absolute must). Unlike loudspeakers, all of the energy is directed into the tables of the bass and the top of the instrument can actually be seen (with a stroboscope) to move with an amplitude of between 1/16" and 1/8" at the ff hole area continuously. That is far more amplitude than you will ever see as a result of playing at FFFF. Here is a link to more info in case anyone is interested.

Prof. Reumont's book "How to Improve the Resonance Condition of Musical Instruments by Vibration Dedamping" has been translated into English and is available from Henry Strobel Books for about $30.00. Henry added this statement on the ordering page.

"Describes the author's twenty-five years of experience and the methods and equipment he used to "play-in" string instruments. (Only for experts who can properly evaluate and apply this process.)"

Reumont's method was patented in Germany and was licensed to several musical instument makers. When his patent expired, he wrote his book which explains all of the how, what, why and whens of the process. Reumont was a professor of Engineering prior to his retirement. His specialty was relieving stresses in structures. He is also a life long doublebassist.