matthew wengerd|bassist

The Double Bass Guide has the most exhaustive list of double bass pickups I’ve ever seen. My particular favorites (not because I’ve heard them, just because they look interesting) include the Schaller pictured to the left, which looks like someone took the hood ornamant off of a 1957 cruise-mobile and wedged it onto the end of a bass fingerboard.

The Wilson has always looked interesting to me, but I’m so afraid of a pickup that requires sending my bridge away for installation. It’s also never seemed convenient to spend time with a bass, but no bridge.

I think the most interesting-looking is the Japanese Yamahiko, whick looks a lot like the nearly ubiquitous Full Circle, but convenient in the fact that you can actually turn the wheel conveniently.

I have been very happy with my Upton Rev Solo II, which I’ve had for over a year now. I think, like many bass players, I’d love to have a mic setup, but am happy to find a rather neutral-sounding piezo system to fill in the gap.

In Central Florida, keeping your bass humidified is not really a great concern. More often than not, I’m more worried about the heat and humidity causing my bass to literally fall apart at the seams. I’m pretty sure that it won’t be long before I’m in an environment that requires constant humidity to keep my bass safe. To that end, the Peabody Double Bass Blog’s Jeffrey Weisner posted a recipe for a bass humidification system that looks as though it may be a much more effective upgrade from the ubiquitous Dampit (whose “m” is often removed when its users refer to it).

Jason Phillips’ Bass Humidifiers

2 large kitchen sponges
2 plastic Ziploc-type bags. (I used to use a type that was sold as “breathable” and had lots of teeny holes in them to allow air to circulate. These must have not been very commercially successful, since I haven’t seen them in stores for awhile. If you can find them, buy them and give some to bassists everywhere… If not, follow the instructions below.)
4-6 feet of nylon fishing line, available at any sporting goods store
1 safety pin

Tie the line fairly tightly around each sponge, then moisten the sponges and squeeze them out enough to that they won’t drip into your bass. If you don’t have the breathable bags, poke lots of holes into your plastic bags with the safety pin. Then slip the bags over the sponges, and insert the sponges into your f-holes. The nylon line should rest on the bridge.

I’m well aware of the excellent Rufus Reid interview videos at jazzdoublebass.com, but was not aware of last month’s article at allaboutjazz.com. Rufus is a giant among bass players. His book, “The Evolving Bassist” taught countless jazz bassists how to fulfill their role in an ensemble.

If you study consistently and are thorough, you should know when you are in control. All members in the group desire a positive, confident and consistent posture by the bassist. The desired musician has what everyone wants and needs to make the ensemble the best.

I’ve heard Rufus say it in person, and he repeats it here: The bassist has the power to destroy an otherwise excellent ensemble.

When one says they are a jazz bassist, it is assumed they know how to ‘swing’, can play the ‘blues and rhythm changes’, know numerous standards and jazz tunes, can play fast, can play in any key well, etc. Those attributes become crystal clear rather quickly if they are, in fact, under control. Your musical savvy is known immediately or not.

I’ve spent plenty of times fooling myself into thinking I possessed these qualities only to be called out for not having my “stuff” together. It’s humiliating and can be a real turning point is a musician’s career - it was in mine. I’m still working on getting it together and have appreciated direct help from Mr. Reid in doing so.

In the article, Reid outlines four important facets of effective jazz bass playing:

PULSE
SATISFY
CLARITY
RECALL

“The pulse is intangible to the touch but can be felt incredibly when executed properly.”

“When the bassist plays a song ‘a cappella’, one should be able to render the melody and harmony as suggested by the music. ”

“All bassists must be clear to one’s self before one can be truly clear to our listeners.”

“(It) is the player’s choice to respond or not, but actually hearing the event go by while you are doing what is expected of you is the important thing to establish a musical thread throughout the group.”

Please do youself a favor and read the whole article. In the meantime, I’ll include the www.jazzdoublebass.com videos here:

A classmate of mine and I are both preparing “Three Short Stories” for Double Bass and Piano, written by Bill Mays and recorded by the composer and John Goldsby
on Goldsby’s “Tale of the Fingers.” The first two “stories” of this suite both involve challenging arco sections (both written and improvised). Because of this, the idea of jazz arco playing has been at the fore of my mind for some time.

Goldsby and Lynn Seaton gave a great pair of demonstrations on the subject at the Aebersold camps and I’ve been working to apply some of their principals (particularly in the blowing section) to this piece (and my playing in general). I’ve had three great classical bass teachers over the last several years and considered the right-hand portion of this piece a given; not quite the case.

The anecdotal evidence seems to be that jazzers prefer German bow to French and I find myself among the presumed majority. All things relating to the German bow and it’s earthy grip pique my interest; there are myriad ways to unlock the musicality of the larger-frogged stick. The PBDB blog’s “Great German Bow Guide” took me to a website I’ve bookmarked but not yet explored: Robert Oppelt’s personal site. On his “Get A Grip” page, he outlines eleven different grip-types for the German bow and, next to the demonstrative photo, explains what he considers the weaknesses and benefits of each grip. Among these is a Streicher-style grip and my predominant grip (#11). I would have preferred he more detailed descriptions of each grip, including their origins and names, but this serves an an excellent resource that was not available when I first picked up the bow.

Whatever way you choose to play your double bass, I would highly recommend Paul Brun’s book “A New History of the Double Bass.” In it, he outlines one of the most nagging questions in the string family - why in the world do bassists play with that funny-looking bow?!

By the way - while you’re at Bob’s site, check out his tips.

The following is probably one of my favorite jazz bass Youtube finds. It’s a nine-part feature of a Ray Brown masterclass with English students. It has a watermark in the top left corner, some credits at the end, and is dubbed in French. The cuts appear to consider only filesize, as no effort appears to be made to create cuts that fit the flow of the video.

All that said, there are so many jewels from Brown in this video. Even without the lecture portion, this video is an education in jazz bass. Brown’s wit and charm allow him to lay down the law with his charges while maintaining a light, friendly discourse.

Do yourself a favor and stop to watch them all right now:

I:

II:

III:

IV:

V:

VI:

VII:

IIX:

IX:

There’s a discussion about it at Talkbass in this thread.

It seems like there is a dearth of information about the German bow. I don’t quite know what causes this, but there just seem to be many more French players and information out there.

Imagine my joy and surprise when I read Stan Haskins’ Budget German bow roundup. He seems to give reasonably high marks to the Arcos Brazil bows, one of which I own. The bow is stamped “H. Cirillo” and is a very well-made, well-balanced bow. I paid less than $800 for it and have kept my eyes open for another bow in that range, but haven’t found anything yet.

If you’re looking for a bow in the sub-$800 range, read Haskins’ post and check out the bows he discusses.

Things have been much busier than expected and I haven’t had the time to write as I desired. I’ve been recording a lot of my experiences for a big audio dump and possible podcasting. While you’re waiting, here are some bass shots:

By far, the most common search string directing people to this site is “Charles Barr.” Charles was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Bass Section and was tragically killed last summer, having been struck by a truck while cycling. Richard Waugh, CO violist, embarked on a project to cement the memory of his dear friend and named it Riding For Charles. Today, Waugh dipped the front tire of his bicycle in the Atlantic Ocean following a 17 day coast-to-coast ride to raise money for the Charles Barr Memorial Chair .

I haven’t even had a chance to read all the posts (Waugh posted daily, via phone dictation to people back home), but I have been deeply moved by this endeavor. It is so uplifting to see someone take up a cause so personal. It’s great to do charity events and arts events, but I believe that depth in our daily lives is achieved in the presence of our friends. Waugh poignantly reflects:

After I left the beach, I did break down for a moment. I’ve been focused on this ride for a long time, and now it’s over. I thought of Charles and the RidingforCharles project and how that project has also come to an end. It’s bitter-sweet. But the Charles Barr Memorial Chair will exist as long as the Cleveland Orchestra does, and through this ride I have come to know Eric and Cathy and am pleased to call them dear friends.

My best wishes to Waugh and the Barrs (pictured), who were able to visit with Waugh during some of the precious down time the riders had. Please consider contributing to the fund.

It’s been a bit more than a month since I parted ways with my bass so she could get fixed. I posted some pictures of the instrument, post lobotomy, and now have what should be the penultimate post in this saga.

The guys at Upton have done an excellent job of keeping their www.stringrepair.com site up-to-date with pictures of my bass in progress. I have added some of these to my Flickr page to share here. If you are a gear-head like me, you might find these photos fascinating. Otherwise, I’ll have more updates up for you soon.

After repairing the damages corner and doubling the edges of the table, the top gets glued back on. What you are looking at is several dozen string-instrument clamps, made of cork-lined wood tensioned by a bolt and wingnut.

The fingerboard was then removed.

After discussing my thoughts on the sound of the instrument, Gary and I decided to replace the fingerboard with a longer, stiffer one to afford me a more percussive playing position. The fingerboard is getting the Upton setup.

You can see here the difference between the old shape of the saddle and the new shape Eric carved. It’s primarily aesthetic, but a nice touch none-the-less.

A normal tailpiece is way too short for my bass, so the Upton guys made a new one for me. I was using the Marvin tailpiece and Gary suggested I try a tailpiece with more mass to get me closer to the sound I want. I already told you that I liked what the Marvin tailpiece did to my sound, so I wait with baited breath to hear what this will do to my sound.

That’s a double dose of Eric working his magic on my tailpiece.

This is the repair; post-shaping, pre-finish. Allowing the wood to get a little “dirty” will make the finish less conspicuous.

And here you can see the doubled edge, designed to reinforce the slab-cut top in this vulnerable area (the shoulders).

This shop delivers. What a unique tailpiece!

If all goes according to plan, I will have my bass mid-week. I cannot wait to hear her!

Eric Roy of Upton Bass emailed me to let me know that pictures of my bass have been posted on www.stringrepair.com, the webpage of the workshop at Upton Bass. Eric has been diligently working on my bass while boss-man, Gary Upton Birkhamshaw, is on a little R&R. Eric has been reinforcing the damaged area of my bass and re-building the missing corner. I appreciate the communicative and transparent nature of the shop. These guys politely tell the truth, whether or not it’s pleasant, because they know that the customer would rather hear it up front than deal with it after the fact.

Eric outlined a loose timeline that could have my bass back in my hands by the beginning of the week after next. The whole thing would have been done much earlier had I not had the rosin accident, but the wait is plenty reasonable for work of this magnitude (if not downright amazing) and is only alleviated by the amount of communication they provide.

Eric (and some other Upton folks, I bet) took some of the most eye-catching pictures of my bass imaginable. I love seeing the inside of basses and this is my first glimpse into the inside of mine. He says there are more on the way, so I am looking forward to seeing those soon.

matthewwengerdtrio played its first gig this evening: a 2 hour hit at the Lakeland North Starbucks. I just posted a gigspam on this one. I have to say that I haven’t been this nervous for a gig in a long time. This was the first time I’ve led a band and my compatriots had never met one another before tonight. Things weren’t as loose as they’ve been with either player in the past (under other circumstances), but the people who came really enjoyed it and we had a good time. There was a biker meet right next door that caused quite a ruckus for the first half. I even called a break after only a half hour because I was so nervous (and slightly frazzled)!

I am very disappointed that only one of the jazz students at the University showed up, and he will be playing the gig next week! This was a perfect opportunity for young jazz students to hear free live jazz (only 10-15 minutes from campus!) and they didn’t take advantage. I really hope the student turn-out is better next week.

I’m pretty excited about the idea of matthewwengerdtrio and eager to find more places to play. I learned a lot about doing this kind of thing tonight and am looking forward to next week.

I even made a poster for mwt outings.

I experienced some sickening damage to my bass last week. To most, this damage may seem inconsequential. It is, as far as I can tell, not structural nor does it affect the sound of my bass, but my musical partner, as it were, is hurt nonetheless.

Rumano took the top off last summer and an area on the upper bout of the table’s treble side seemed as though it may have seen an already troubled area exacerbated by the work. There is a very obvious crack or seam (I can’t be sure) that was fine inside the purfling, but never very stable outside the purfling. I had meant to tack it in better with some hide glue, but never did. The table had seen some compaction on the edge from load-in and -out of my car.

Well, the very corner’s gone now, following the pre-existing line on the vertical and a new break on the horizontal. It had been gone for days before I discovered it. My friends and colleagues assumed I knew it had happened and never mentioned it. I cannot find the missing piece and will have to have it rebuilt. I do not plan on having the top removed for this work.

Rick Desgrange and Ron Annis have been recommended for the work. Ron did my Laborie endpin and I am somewhat familiar with his work. I’m just not sure what to do. I definitely don’t have a ton of money to do this, so we’ll see.

Thoughts and (ahem) well wishes appreciated. Click on the pictures for larger views.

Liveblogging from the USF Symphony Orchestra concert. We are in between dress and concert and hit in about 15 minutes. I had planned on doing some homework, but dinner took too long and there is no place to do the requisite listening here.

I described the program here, so I won’t do so again. Tonight was the first time we heard the Chausson all the way through and it was quite nice. Dress went very well and I’m hoping not to jinx the performance.

Off to warm up…

I achieved one goal for this year already: I am principal bass of the University of South Florida Symphony Orchestra. This is an absolutely excellent large ensemble under the direction of Dr. William Wiedrich.

The ensemble’s next concert is February 15 at the Palladium Theatre in St. Petersburg, Florida at 7:30 pm. The program is:
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Schoenberg|Fanfare on Motifs of “Die Gurrelieder”
Chausson|Poeme, Op. 25|Carolyn Stuart, violin
Helps|Gossamer Noons|Joanna Curtis, soprano
Rorem| Symphony No. 3

With the exception of Chausson, all od these were written in the last Century. Though not necessarily revolutionary, it is exciting to see an educational ensemble programming post-Classical/Romantic music.

My view from the front desk:

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Early hit at Lakeland Steak and Ale with Bendelow Road las night. It was my first hit with BR since IAJE, as I was sick and missed a scheduled hit and two last-minute bookings.

I think this was easily the best hit we have done. We played just a couple Bagwell originals, mostly standards and a couple groove tunes (Mercy, Mercy, Mercy; Cold Duck Time; etc.). We’ve got a long way to go, but I am really happy with how things are progressing with this group.

Leader Nick Bagwell:

(more…)

I posted earlier that I would be posting an update related to the modifications I’ve made to my bass recently.  After a couple weeks with the changes and some others’ opinions, I feel that I can make a substantive post about the effects of these changes.

My bass orignally came like this.  It has a taipiece riser and adjustable bridge.  The tailpiece is a beautiful hand-carved image of a woman playing a violin-like instrument.  Rumano doubled the lower-bout ribs as a measure of stability.  One of my first comments on receiving the bass was how heavy it was.  In addition to being one of the largest basses I have personally played, it is also one of the heaviest. 

This was compounded by repairs done this summer.  Rumano doubled the upper-bout ribs, increasing the wieght!

This is what it looked like just before the modifications.  The primary differences are the (rather heavy) KC Strings Extension with chromatic stops and the carbon-fiber Laborie Endpin.

I installed the extneion myself and was marginally pleased with the results.  I had poorly fit the extension to the scroll; I had cut it too long so the deepest point of the brass was beyond the extension and it sat too high, causing very high action with the extension open.

My jazz instructor, Mark Neuenschwander had been opening my eyes to
just how dark my bass sounded.  It was great for arco; my classical
teacher, Dee Moses was very happy with the sound.  I needed to find a
compromise and Mark suggest that removal of mass would be a great place to start.

After all the recent work, this is what my bass now looks like:

1|Extension:
I removed three of the stops to reduce weight.  This is slightly inconvienient, as I am no longer able to close these gates for an open D, Db, or Eb.  The reduction in weight makes this worth it, in my opinion.

I also cut down the nut-end of the extension to center it over the scroll and used a Dremel sanding drum to remove virtually all the wood.  I inserted foam to bring the height up, but have not yet got it high enough to remove all buzzing.  I expect another layer or two of foam will produce the results I’m looking for, buzz-free low action.

2|Strings
I put on a new set of Obligatos.  I’ve used Obs almost exclusively, but some friendly harrassment from teacher Mike Hill led me to try Picatos by Innovation.  I forget if they were the braided or solid core, but they were awful.  THe sound was respectable, but the QC issues with mine were un-ignorable.  There were gaps in the winding upon installation as well as what appeared to be grafts in the outer winding, resulting in spots that were thicker than others.

While changing strings, I performed the most substantial modification to the bass:

3|The Marvin Tailpiece
Kevin Marvin of MD had posted on the 2xbasslist about his wire tailpiece in the past.  I decided to give it a try in order to get rid of more of that pesky mass.  I won’t speak for the intention of its design, only my experience with it. 

The design is very untraditional.  It does not look like a normal taipiece.  It is made of two very thin wires that wrap around the endpin collar, are braided over the saddle, and then diverge into four ends, terminating in a loop through a slice of what appears to be brass pipe.  The brass has a hole opposite the wire, through which the strings are strung. 

Mark and I both received Marvin tailpieces in the same package.  When Mark brought mine to my lesson, I was not sure it was for my (very, very large) bass.  Mark assured me that it was, indeed, the longer of the two and I set out to install it.

Installation was a breeze.  My one concern is that the staggered loops mean that there is less of my C string on the tuning post than I am used to, but there is more than enough to lock the string in place.  Pickups, mustes, and quivers are not very convenient with the tailpiece.  I’ll cover that shortly. 

The soundpost fell during the string/tailpiece change and I had to re-set it.  I do not believe it migrated much at all, as I had clearly marked its location prior to the work, but this is definitely a factor in the sound of my bass.

Playing the bass for the first time yeilded something I had never experienced with this bass: a metallic tone.  Even with metal-core strings, I had never experienced a metallic/twangy sound, but here I was experiencing them with Obligatos!

I am convinced that there is a change in the construction of the Obligatos as this set does not “roll,” as Obligatos are famous for doing.  This may cause some of the change in tone, I will be asking Chris at Quinn Violins this week if there has been a change.

After a couple hours of playing, the string mellowed considerably and are now just extremely powerful.  My bass is louder and brighter than I have ever heard it.  In my case, “brighter” is a welcome change in tone.  I cannot be sure what this tailpiece would do for another bass, but it made all positive changes to the feel, playability, and tone of my instrument.

I have removed the quiver from my bass, which may be less convenient, but (more than likely) is a positive change for the tone.  My Revolution Solo jack was jimmy-rigged tot he C string with a rubberband, an inelegant, but functional solution.  I have not had to use a mute yet, but imagine I will be looking for a non-tourte mute shortly.

This is the most recent photo of my bass:

Come see my play my first Chamber Music gig at First Pres this afternoon at four pm.