Double Bass Best way to open up the sound of a new double bass, how to break it in.

S

sylvaingagnon

Jun 1, 2002
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Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, now livi
www.sylvaingagnon.net
#1
Hi! I recently bought a new hybrid Chinese bass that I keep downtown Hong Kong as I live on an island where I have 2 other doublebass. I broked in one of my basses by leaving it besides the stage in a corner of a jazz bar. Since they had music 7 days a week, that made it vibrate quite a bit and after a few months of that, it sounded like it had been played for years. Any advice on how to do it quickly?
Thanks in advance to the wonderful community of bass and upright bass players.
Sylvain
 
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#4
There is a unit I saw on an obscure double bass site. You attach it to the bridge, and plug it in. I simulates playing of the instrument with vibrations for hours and hours as you leave it plugged in. Apparently it sent vibrations or sound waves through the bridge, into the body of the bass.

It cost a couple hundred dollars. Also, there was a violin luthier who told me he made his violins open up by putting the newly created violin in an isolated room, and playing recorded violin frequencies under it for days, non-stop. This lends credence to the idea in paragraph 1 above.

It will take some searching to find the unit for the first idea above, but it looked like an interesting idea to break in an instrument when I saw it. I was just too cheap to pay for it, and I gig a lot anyway. And sure enough, mine eventually opened up after I played it for a couple months, daily.

Call me Sir Gigalot.
 
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#7
Here is a review on this item above:

The consensus is that the effect isn't dramatic, but it is noticeable...

acoustic enhancer - Yahoo Video Search Results

Some it is may be due to the player learning to get the most out of the instrument. But there seems to be evidence these devices have some effect. The review has me wondering if I used this product every time I put my bass aside, between practice or performance, it might have a big effect over time? You'd had to test it to know for sure.
 
#9
Every time you pick up the bass play all the 1/2 tone steps (chromatically) up and down the E string between open E and G in Thumb Position. Do this with as much resonance and volume possible. The E string is directly over the bass bar and drives really strong vibrations into the belly. This was proved to me years ago by my very old mentor when he thumped the living hell out of my bass before giving it back to me.

Also I remember Gary Karr saying that basses are often lazy instruments played by lazy people.
 
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#10
gary karr claims to be the best at opening up basses. he says his partner has to leave the house whenever he does so it makes such a racket.

he reccomends (and i 100% agree) bowing thirds, harmonically, all the way up and down the neck, major and minor, as loud as you can. do not neglect high positions on the low strings.

20 minutes of this every now and again will really push your bass to open up quickly.
 
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#11
I have used the ToneRite on acoustic guitars. It worked on a spruce top, and not so well on hog tops...

I would imagine the same results for the UB version of the ToneRite.

The results on the spruce top guitar mentioned, though, were fantastic.
 
#12
PauFerro said:
There is a unit I saw on an obscure double bass site. You attach it to the bridge, and plug it in. I simulates playing of the instrument with vibrations for hours and hours as you leave it plugged in. Apparently it sent vibrations or sound waves through the bridge, into the body of the bass.

It cost a couple hundred dollars. Also, there was a violin luthier who told me he made his violins open up by putting the newly created violin in an isolated room, and playing recorded violin frequencies under it for days, non-stop. This lends credence to the idea in paragraph 1 above.

It will take some searching to find the unit for the first idea above, but it looked like an interesting idea to break in an instrument when I saw it. I was just too cheap to pay for it, and I gig a lot anyway. And sure enough, mine eventually opened up after I played it for a couple months, daily.

Call me Sir Gigalot.
Click to expand...
It's been two days that I was searching the internet on the topic and finy I found out about the Vibe tribe speakers - they are small speakers that transmit the vibration to amy surface you pit them on - you can find them on Amazon for about 30€, so I Will try to get One and see what happens....
 
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