Luthier Barton Applewhite wrote me in an email about his harp bass. This is an interesting and beautiful instrument, and I’m curious what the harp strings are intended for. Look at the details…
Harp basses
Van Zalinge Bass
At the Speurders (kind of Ebay) website, there is a Van Zalinge Bass for sale. A rare find: the Dutch bass luthier Henk van Zalinge built 264 basses in the early eighties. If you buy this one, you know there is only a maximum of 263 copies in the world! And Sting probably still owns at least one of them, unless he decided to get rid of his copy. (owww…that Mickey Mouse T-shirt…)
The prize of these basses currently is relatively high (for 3500 euros you can buy a decent handmade new bass), but nostalgia often has its prize…
Or you could try to build one yourself, like Eric Borst of Eribo Violins did.
I “borrowed” the photos of the ad, before the bass is sold and the images removed from the Speurders site:
Speaking of Van Zalinge Basses, have a look at this old video of Jo Didderen playing his Van Zalinge. (More nostalgia for the Nederlanders: yes, that’s the good old television show “Reiziger in Muziek”…).
Any opinions on the Van Zalinge? Any pointers to information, sounds or videos?
Double Bass “E”
On a Dutch Ebay, Speurders, I found this exotic electric double bass. I have never seen this one before. The prize, accessories and the fact that it features an MP3 input point to a Chinese factory, but I could be wrong.
And, just in case, you can buy it here.
Do you know where this bass is from? Do you own one and love the sound? Let us know!
Video: Azola baby bass
I came across this video of an Azola Ultracoustic Baby Bass, played by Roby Perissin. The sound is somewhat “crunchy” but the sound of these babies is really cool (the Azola had a hollow body, which sure contributes to the deepness). Enjoy the video!
Update: Roby commented here, I’d recommend to check the less crunchier sounding songs on his myspace. Or hisspace, if you like. 😀
New website!
Today, I updated Ebass.nl. New style, new CMS and already some new content. This way, it is easier for me to update the website. I’m still upgrading some old links and moving content, so if you find anything that doesn’t work yet, let me know, please.
For your pleasure, the old ebass website is still online if you want to visit an old page.
Have fun! Sander
Feature: Sendel Baby Bass
Fernando Garcia from Colombia sent me the following picture of one of his baby basses with the following all-caps message:
HI I AM FERNANDO GARCIA FRONT COLOMBIA I MAKE BABY BASS AND MY COMPANY IS SENDELINSTRUMENTS I WHANT TO BE IN YOUR WEB SITE THIS IS A PICTURE A BABY BASS
Well, that is a cool bass. It looks left-handed to me, but I could be mistaken.
You can find more on babybasssendel.com. Beware, the sound design of the website can really scare the hell out of you…
Building a Rubber Bass
I added the old Rubber bass construction page to this blog. Now people can comment and show with their own building projects.
So what is an Ashbory bass? The DeArmond Ashbory Bass is an 18 inch/45 cm fretless bass with silicon rubber strings. Nowadays the bass is produced by Fender. I play upright bass and fretless electric bass and I’m interested in playing this little bass. As a small side-project of building a electric 5 string double bass I decided to make an Ashbory myself (2004)! This is a small report of the work.
The real Ashbory:
The making of my Rubber Bass:
Feature: The Dutch Dieges
Rogier Dieges contacted me and sent me some photos of the Dieges EUB. This is a semi-acoustic solid body bass and – as far as I can see – a very well-crafted instrument. Currently, there is one model with different types of hardware. Pickup is a Fishman Full Circle Double Bass Pickup.
More at the Dieges Website.
Joke…
See me on a large stage, eating a banana, dressed like a banana and playing on a banana.