zeronyne Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 So as you may or may not know, I'm a creative director the online portion of a HUGE retailer based in Chicago. My particular office is dead center in the Loop (the middle of downtown Chicago), and like almost all of my 350 or so coworkers at this location, I commute in via public transportation. So you can imagine my surprise when I got to my desk last week to see an extremely narrow and tall instrument case leaned against the window along with a tiny Markbass head. I sat there puzzling it out when one of the developers popped over and said "There you are...I wanted you to get a chance to play this". He unzipped the case and assembled the NSD CR double bass, right there in my cubicle. What a fantastic instrument. I have never touched a double bass, so I have no frame of reference for any sort of comparison, but it felt comfortable and amazing. The bass' owner, an amazing bassist, had a few complaints about it, but I was deaf to them as I played note after delicious note. I don't think it sounds exactly like a doghouse, but I imagine only the purest purist would object. So all of you folks who are much more accomplished players than your truly should try to get an opportunity to play one. It's just nice to feel real engineering and attention to detail in a "mass produced" instrument. "For instance" is not proof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Right on! Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b5pilot Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Very cool! Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it. http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Gollihur Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 They are very cool indeed; I was inspired to build my own (not being able to afford one) in response to auditioning one in the late nineties. The five string OmniBass (short scale version) has been calling me, insistently, since I first played one, but I just have no good reason to justify adding one to the arsenal. If you have the opportunity to muck around with any model, go for it. 1000 Upright Bass Links, Luthier Directory, Teacher Directory - http://www.gollihurmusic.com/links.cfm [highlight] - Life is too short for bad tone - [/highlight] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 I just have no good reason to justify . Smiles are a plenty good reason. Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michele C. Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Hmmm, I have been thinking of double bass for a long time. Teachers told me that an electric equivalent is not the same: sound is not like the real thing and there is no instrument body to fight with, to feel the vibrations of and to use as a reference for hand positioning. I listened to that advice, but I am not too satisfied with a fretless and would rather keep my fretted bass and go out for a new adventure. Since buying a large body of wood would create too many problems in the house, I am very interested in all those alternatives. I trust Net Steinberger for taste, in design, in finish and sound. -- Michele Costabile (http://proxybar.net) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Gollihur Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Hmmm, I have been thinking of double bass for a long time. Teachers told me that an electric equivalent is not the same: sound is not like the real thing and there is no instrument body to fight with, to feel the vibrations of and to use as a reference for hand positioning. I listened to that advice, but I am not too satisfied with a fretless and would rather keep my fretted bass and go out for a new adventure. Since buying a large body of wood would create too many problems in the house, I am very interested in all those alternatives. I trust Net Steinberger for taste, in design, in finish and sound. The range of EUBs is all over the place, and true, the "stick" variety generally leans towards a fretless ebass sound, though string types and pickups can get it to lean one way or the other. I purchased an Eminence over a dozen years ago; it was the most URB-sounding EUB I could find, and could be the solution for the space issue as well as the usual transport one. 1000 Upright Bass Links, Luthier Directory, Teacher Directory - http://www.gollihurmusic.com/links.cfm [highlight] - Life is too short for bad tone - [/highlight] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddiePlaysBass Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I have an NS Design WAV 4, and while it does not sound exactly like an upright, it does not sound like a fretless electric either. It sounds more like an electric upright These days I use it mainly to practice either country or latin music, and I do not plan on taking it out any time soon - unless I happen to stumble upon a latin, country or blues band where it would be appropriate. But it's great fun, and makes me rethink my approach to bass / the fretboard when I play it. That alone is worth the price of purchase (though in retrospect I would have added a couple of hundreds and gone for a slightly more expensive model if I had known about them). "I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cthulhu Fhtagn Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 I had some luck using Optima strings. Maybe something with a nylon core will bring it around. You will never hit the upright sound right because the stick works strictly off of piezos and there is no sound chamber to fully develop. I use an active EQ going into the sound board and just do some fine-tuning. Bought a CR4 last spring and did some gigging with it in a blues project. Eddie, I'll tell you, the difference between the WAV4 (you know I have one) and the CR is like playing $275 Squire and a Fender Highway 1 custom. Both playable, both sound good, but there is something about that CR ... it feels tight, solid and well put together before you start playing. The active preamp allows me to skip the EQ and make my adjustments on the fly. The stock strings are ok, but I might still get me a new set of Optimas to throw on to see if I can't get more "thump" out if it. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddiePlaysBass Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I would not mind trading my WAV for a CR4, to be honest. But for what I use it - still being bandless and all - I would not be able to justify the expense. And if I sell my WAV I'll have to eat a substantial loss on the price, I am sure. The market here is still flooded with Stagg EUB's and people don't seem to know the difference "I'm a work in progress." Micky Barnes The Ross Brown Shirt World Tour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane hugo Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Meanwhile, Ned's headless prototype has turned up: eBay http://blip.fm/invite/WorkRelease Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenfxj Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Meanwhile, Ned's headless prototype has turned up: eBay "This bass was the very first instrument that I molded from carbon fiber, built in about 1977 and is a one of a kind instrument" - Ned Steinberger See this is the kind of thing that I just can't get around when it comes to The Great Tonewood Debate. I mean if the wood is that important to the tone, as some say it is, then this should sound like shite and it doesn't. Sorry for the hijack. Just musing... Push the button Frank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 I wish they'd have kept the boomerang body rest thing even though this first version was a shoulder strap instead of waist band. I friend of mine had a Steinberger early issue with the waist band instead of a shoulder strap; it was functional and sooooo cool. Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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