Thanks for the info, Paula! I'll check out Lashof.

Paulawalla:

ooo... double post, but Jefe, pray tell, what band did you sit with?

That was with Ceann. Have you seen them?

I use an acoustic violin with a Headway VL3 pickup. I've also tried a Fishman, and I prefer the Headway, though it's a bit more $$. I play with a very loud punk band, and the Headway, along with an UltraSound DI Box/Pre-amp gets me the volume I need to be heard over two guitars, drums, and bagpipes without feedback. With my acoustic band, I can sometimes get away with just plugging straight into a PA with phantom power.

to pump some life into this thread...

 http://www.stateofchassis.com/ saw Kevin (i dont much time, so the gaelic will have to wait!) monday night with an accordion fellow, Brendan. SPECTACULAR talent between them, defintely worth it to see them both (for fiddlers and box players).

really check him out, funny to watch him play to, he has a weird way of dancing!

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

I must apologize for being so late to thread.  Cool stuff though.  My bass bow is pernambuco.  It is a great student bow.  The bow I'm using now I actually found off of Ebay.  I bought three old beat up bow sticks in hopes of salvaging one.. the one I thought had the least potential turned out to be the best of the sticks.  I took it to a friend of mine who is a luthier, had it refinished, silver mounted and balanced.  It is beautiful and really brings out the tone of the bass.  Having gone through testing of many bows and basses, I am always amazed at how much the tone is affected by the bow wood or material.  As important is the bow's balance.  A perfectly balanced bow no matter what material is the ticket to maximizing it's performance and the weight of the bow is hardly noticable if balanced properly 

 For Bass pickups, Fishman is the standard right now.  i have heard good things about them for other string instruments.  Going through a PA is probaly not a bad idea, but I would insist on a monitor at a minimum if you are playing somewhere.  I would recommend finding a pick-up that works for you and visit the local Sam Ash or other big music store and try all of the different amps.  You may also want to check out some microphones specifically designed for instruments.  I actually don't use a pickup on my string bass anymore and just use a good quality low frequency mic.  My bass professor miced his bass as well.  His mic was over $600 though.  You may be able to find a mic for around $200.

How's the bow/string response on the composite wood/fiber bow??  The pictures look awesome.  The outer wood looks awesome.  I like the figuring in the pernambuco

the response is incredible...

it's my magic wand!

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

i upgraded.

i have this new violin, that literally was a miracle instrument. my fiddle teacher is getting his degree at George Mason, and his teacher there is Edwin Johonnott, the former concert master for the NSO. Mr. Johonnott is retiring soon, and 'cleaning out' his collection. My teacher got this violin for me to try, because Edwin was trying to sell it. it was love at first note, and the rest is history.

the violin has a really interestingly foggy history. Mr. Johonnott got this instrument from a student who upgraded through him. the violin has a distinctly german make, though there are italian nuances to it, they think the violin was made literally between germany and italy 75-100 years ago. usually when one gives that time frame, and europe, the violin is very very expensive. but because we bought it privately, we avoided a shop's mark-up (anywhere between 20 - 50 %, usually on the upper end when you deal with finer instruments).

the violin has been refinished a couple of times, one luthier (not the one who made it) left his trade mark, a rooster, on the back of the instument, on the nub where the body meets the neck. i would post photos, but i can't figure out how to do it since the new configuration of the OKP.

i wasn't fond of the chin-rest (center oriented), so i got a new one today and this is really what i wanted to share, because this cut is really beneficial to players old and new. if anyone can tell me how to post photos, i would be more than willing to share.

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

It is a viscous but fun cycle aquiring and upgrading instruments. 

If those old violins, cellos, violas and basses could speak, the stories would be amazing.  I just recently put new strings on my string bass which is quite an investment in time and money, but I really needed to do so since the set that was on there (piastro Obligatos) were two years old.  The new D'addarios (helicores) are great and a little lower tension, but a little twangy since they haven't been broken in yet.

 My bass is an old german bass, pre WWII.  It seems instruments from the early 1900's through the early 1930s are the sweet spot now since they are relatively affordable over the earlier instruments but have some of the mature sounds of old world instruments.

 It is always exciting to hear someone aquiring an instrument.  Congrats. 

 

The big question is which GBS song did you play first on the new violin?

 

Kayakbear

billy peddle. hehe. oooo german. they basically win at instrument making. i wont deny that chinese makers are doing well these days, and i have played on some friends newer asian models that were fantastic, but they just dont compare the germans.

the thing is, the japanese/chinese makers tend to have a more dramtic set up, higher bridge and odd fingerboards. the bodies are robust, thick in the middle and can be difficult to play in terms of sitting the instrument on your shoulder. the projection might be better, but they are more difficult to play, with tones that are more bright than mellow (a taste issue, which many may disagree on).

then of course there are the italians, a whole different ball game. a fine italian will usually beat a german any day, but the nationality has a prestige out of my price range.

your bass and my violin sound similar in age... it would be a hoot if they were brothers in a past life (haha).

HOW THE HECK DOES ONE POST PHOTOS THESE DAYS?

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

ok.... i admit it. this is a total violin ego trip.

today we had a sectional coach come in to help us with our district orchetra audition music. we were tuning, there were about nine of us, and the instructor started to wildly look about, and then her frantic gaze landed on me.

i thought my tuning was offensive or something, but rather she says "where did you get that violin? it's amazing!" the lady selected it by ear out of 9 other fiddles. she really liked the violin, and wanted to know if there were others for sale. haha... she's a professional in one of the local orchestras.

i am in love with this instrument!

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

i shall impress upon you all pictures of my new violin. except it's not THAT new since it's almost a century old. hehe.

this is the rooster i was talking about. apparently it was imprinted some years ago by one of the guys who refinished it.

ok... this is the biggie. if any fiddlers out there are having neck/shoulder problems, get THIS chin rest. it helps SO much, it has great height, and enables you to hold the fiddle more in the center of the instrument. check your current rest, and if you can see the finish is worn away on the right side, you need a different chin rest that allows you to hold in the center.

There's my new baby!

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

great pictures of your violin.  I must admit, i am very glad I don't have to worry about chinrests.  I'll have to figure out how to post pictures of my bass.

 I would tend to stay away from most chinese instruments as many of the basses are made out of "green" wood, wood that hasn't been aged properly or they are 100% kiln dried which tends to make them crack, or warp.

 I agree on the italian instruments..probably not worth the price for most players.

Donovan Stokes. He is a prof at Shenandoah university, and a celleague of my highschool director. We are starting a bass ensemble (REALLY COOL!) and Donovan is one of the sectional coaches.

his bass is AMAZING. it's 300 years old, and has been UBER customized. he has an EXTENDED C string, so he can drop a whole octave lower (it is the stuff that makes strings students squeel in delight). furthermore, because the body is so old, he could put in a pin! SO they had this nifty rod attatched to the outside, and it's bent, so he can swivel it around.

the guy is SUPER nice, and is currently publishg some of Edgar Meyer's stuff. Mr. Stokes studied under Edgar, and has taken his student license to finally publish the stuff that Edgar has been playing for YEARS but never wrote down.

LOOK HIM UP!

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

Wow, Paula. It's beautiful.

Paulawalla:

ok... this is the biggie. if any fiddlers out there are having neck/shoulder problems, get THIS chin rest. it helps SO much, it has great height, and enables you to hold the fiddle more in the center of the instrument.

I may have to try that. I'm always trying to position it more comfortably in the front, but I also always seem to have a crink in my neck.

Here's a picture of mine. Well, my good one anyway. It was made by Bob Morgan, a local guy here.

I will definately have to check out Prof. Stokes.  I studied with Rob Nairn at Penn State, but I grew up in South Eastern, VA.  I used to love driving through Winchester on my way to State College, PA.  It is a beautiful place in the mountains, a beautiful place to have a school, especially a music school. 

 There are some great bass quartets out there.  Some of the most famous ones:  The Berhard Alt quartet and the Joesph Lauber quartet.  Of course L'elephant from Carnival of the Animals is great fun to play as an ensemble.  It is so hard to find enough bass players that are interested in ensemble pieces usually and most people laugh when you tell them it will be a performance with multiple basses, but some of the music is very serious and sounds great. We had a bass ensemble at Penn State.  lots of fun and a great learning experience.

O.K., so now you have given me an idea......could I arrange some Great Big Sea pieces for several double basses??? Mmmmm.... could be interesting.  I bet i would have to record all 4 parts myself though... A string Quintet could be cool too.... I'll have to think about that although I've never arranged before. 

 Curious:  on Donovan's bass, is his low C extension fingered where he has to physically place his fingers on the ebony on top of the peg box or does it have a mechanical mechanism where he presses a lever near the nut of the instrument?  I have played both, but never owned a bass with an extension.

Edgar Meyer is absolutely amazing.  I have many of his recordings, a picture from a reporter and even an autograph but haven't had the chance to see him perform live. 

Jefe... your violin is GORGEOUS!!! i LOVE the finish and the tail piece, VERY beautiful. I used to have the same neck problems (granted a bazillion pound school bag probably doesnt help) but I have been much better since i got that baby slapped on.

Kayabear... GBS stuff on Bass would be AMAZING, on account of they are an all guy group, and a violin often doesnt evoke the ruged manliness that is GBS. i think that a quartet playing an arrangement of the a capella songs would be fantastic.

here is a link to his homepage, and you can see the C string thingamaboob in the pic, it has several levers allowing him to adjust how far the extension goes. OH! and his tuning pegs? thats right, i said PEGS! not theother turning things whose name escape me, he has real pegs. they are huge, but equally gorgeous.

http://www.donovanstokes.com/gallery (you'll have to copy and paste old school since i cant hyperlink)

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it's not so bad.

**before you get mad at someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then you will be a mile away, and you will have their shoes**

I checked out Donovan's web page.  He is well accomplished... Something interesting was that during a break between a rehearsal and concert this weekend, I had the opportunity to crack open the Fall issue of "Double Bassist"  (yes believe it or not there are actually two publications, the ISB's Bass World and Double Bassist are dedicated to the double bass).  One of the feature articals about a recent late Russian Double Bassist was written by none other than Donovan Stokes.  It was a well written and informative article.  Perhaps if I get up to the ISB convention this year I will get to meet him.