DoubleBass Frequently Asked Questions

Also - check out other bass info on this site -

Q: What should I call the instrument?

It has many names - upright bass, double bass, string bass, bull fiddle, "the big girl," the big bass," and many others, including bass violin (this is something of a misnomer, as traditionally upright basses did not come from the violin family, but rather from the viola da gamba family - I can go into this for hours on end, but you'd probably rather I not).

Q: Don't you wish you played the flute instead? (haw haw haw)

No.

Q: Where can I get info on Double Basses?

Try subscribing to 2Xbasslist.

Bassists discuss technical concerns and other bass stuff, and basses are often listed for sale.

Below are the relevant addresses: List-Help
List-Unsubscribe
List-Subscribe
List-Owner (Human contact for the list)
List-Post

Noteworthy Bass FAQ sites -

rec.music.makers.bass FAQ
The Bottom Line FAQ (more electric-bass oriented)

Jonas Lohse's site www.DoubleBassGuide.com is well written and answers a lot of questions really well. He also has a German-language version of the site.

Q: Any other e-mail lists that are good?

You can also subscribe to The Bottom Line, which is more oriented towards electric bass.

To subscribe or to get help, send mail to majordomo@magpie.com with the following in the message body: subscribe bass-digest

To unsubscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@magpie.com with the following in the message body: unsubscribe bass-digest 'address' The 'address' component is an optional EMAIL ADDRESS and only necessary if you're sending the request from an address other than the one being unsubscribed. Mail sent to the wrong address will be ignored. Likewise, to subscribe or to get help, send mail to majordomo@magpie.com with one or more of the following in the message body, as applicable: subscribe bass-digest help info bass-digest To fetch TBL archives, send the command "index bass-digest" to majordomo@magpie.com. The digest filenames are case-sensitive and begin with 'v199'. Use the message "get bass-digest v199x.nxxx" to fetch the file.

World Wide Web access
Message posting address
Administrative address

Q: Any groups on Usenet?

Newsgroup- rec.music.makers.bass. This is mostly used by electric bass guitarists, but there are also postings for upright bass.

Q: How can I get an upright bass?

Subscribe to the above lists and newsgroups. Search your local newspapers and other classified listings. Talk to instrument repair people - see if they know of any instruments for sale. Here are some online resources - note I am not employed by any of these sites, nor am I endorsing their products - I am just providing information:

I can't recommend any local dealers - I am just a guy who plays bass and am not familiar with different bass dealers around the world.

Q: What brand do you recommend?

I can't recommend a single brand - basses are very personal, and there are many different basses that have been made over the years. Kay basses are a good choice if you are looking for a low-end (typically under $2,500) bass. Kays are a known commodity to many bass players - if you don't like one, you have a good chance of reselling it quickly.

Info on Kay Basses -

Roger Stower has an excellent website re Kay basses - it includes a service to determine the year of manufacture of your Kay bass.

Q: What pickups/amps do you recommend?

This is a very personal decision - it depends on your bass, what kind of volume you need, your playing style, and other things. I do have a page on this site detailing the recent results of trying several different setups, though, at http://www.ribak.com/bassnerdfest.html.

Q: Can you tell me how much my bass is worth?

No. I can't tell anything about the value of a bass while in cyberspace. Besides, I am not a repair person or an appraiser. Call your local instrument repair shop - see if they can do an appraisal, or refer you to someone who can.

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