Hi, folks. In an ITM ‘n’ bluegrass band which used to play with an electric bass, (which sounded fine, purists, honest!), but is now looking for a more ‘trad’ style - and definitely unplugged - bottom end of the sound spectrum instrument to fill that niche.
We’re thinking of going for a cello, played with fingers rather than bow. Have toyed with the idea of buying a 1/2 or 3/4 sized cello and playing that shoulder-strapped, like a bass guitar. At just over 6 foot tall, if it is possible, I should be able to wield it. Daft or not daft? The only drawback is that the band sometimes plays in sitting-down situations, where cello-smallness could backfire.
There are some tasty looking bargain-basement (UK£100-£200) propositions on ebay, but I thought I’d better sound out some folkies before taking the plunge. I’m not looking for stradivarius - so long as it holds a tune, it’ll do fine.
Also, how about acoustic basses? I have very little experience of them, but I’m under the impression they’re not as loud as cellos.
Cheers,
Steve
EDIT: Double bass would be too big, for transport reasons.
The cello idea sounds a bit ungainly, though I suppose it could work…
I don’t know how much you’re willing to spend, but I worked at a retail music store last summer and we had an acoustic bass that I was quite impressed with. It was made by Tacoma guitars.
It wasn’t a double bass and it had a DEEP beautiful sound. Looks like Fender GBI is the closest distributor in your neck of the woods. Here’s the email: ukqueries@fender.com
I couldn’t tell you an estimate on how much it costs (you might want to check Tacoma’s online catalogue) but it’s the only portable acoustic bass I really took a shine to. Hope this helps!
Stuart Brotman, who plays bass in the Klezmer band Veretski Pass found an old cello in a second hand furniture store and restrung it to use as a Polish Mountain Bass.
He was at the University of Chicago Folk Festival a couple years back with “that thing” (what Corky Segelstein, the fiddler in Veretski Pass, called it) loaded onto his body sideways with a guitar strap and playing it with a regular bass bow as he wandered from public session to session during the day.
It sounded great, or at least, he made it sound great.
I not only didn’t hear anyone say “get that thing out of here”, there was a small crowd of us following him around from session to session just to hear how versatile that thing was and his ability to play it.
For regularly strung cello used in Bluegrass check out “Crooked Still” recordings from before they lost Rushhad Eggleston. Granted Eggleston does the mandolinish chops like Casey Driessen does on his fiddle
and they still employed Cory DiMario on double-bass.
Before Bluegrass there was Oldtime and it wasn’t unheard of in Illinois for a cello to be part of an Oldtime string band.
I’ve been told that plucking a double bass in Oldtime string bands (instead of using a bow) is something that got integrated into Oldtime string band music on “the National Barn Dance” (an early radio program originating in Chicago using musicians from all over the country).
Have you given any thought to an acoustic bass guitar? There are a bunch of these to choose from now, although I understand you have you be carefull purchasing, as some models have reported construction problems. I’ve tried a couple and they sound OK acousticaly, although they tend to shine when plugged in.
The bowed cello restrung as a Polish mountain bass had plenty of volume in the acoustic sessions I heard it in, from Oldtime to Bluegrass.
Double basses usually get their own microphone in public performance here even if all the other stringed instruments are sharing a microphone. I imagine a cello sized bass like instrument would similarly need amplification if the other strings were.
Oh, if I had $4,000.00 sitting around with no immediate plans for, this little baby
Thanks for the replies folks, but having asked around away from cyber space, I think the general concensus is that a plucked cello/acoustic bass is simply not going to have the volume needed to back up our set-up. Reckon I’m resigned to electric bass or nothing, which isn’t the end of the world, I suppose.
Hungarian trad music contains a bass sound that I’ve long thought would be awesome in ITM.
The sound I’m thinking of comes from a bowed 3-string cello (I think) which has a flat (or flattish) bridge, so that with a bow you get a three note chord. The bow is shorter than an ordinary cello or bass bow. The player plays short, repeated notes [chords, actually] on every beat or every other beat, depending on the rhythm or tempo of the piece. This gives it a terrific pulsing, throbbing sound that gives the music a headlong, driving feel that works beautifully
