Testing new Bass!

Ooh, last Monday I followed my Principal bassist to test out a new bass! It's handmade by this European guy, (forgot his name and his nationality), but it was a really interesting place. My first time visiting it.

Yeah, the place is called Le Diapason, it's french. It's a really nice place, a bit ulu though. The moment I walked into the air-conditioned shophouse, I could smell the wood. Hmmm.... gorgeous smell. There were rows and rows of violins, and I spied a couple of celli at the back.

Anyway when the maker brought the bass down, I was itching to try it out liao. A bit paiseh, cos my skills are so-so and to mess around with my principal bassist and the other music experts watching seemed a bit disgraceful. Nonetheless, my principal told me to have fun and try it out. It seems a bit lighter in colour than what I'm normally used to, but it's pretty! hehehe... Okay okay... the sound, the sound, I know, the sound is more important.

I'm no good at telling what makes a good bass or not, but I was immediately impressed by the reveberations. The sonority was super easy to produce and the harmonics are so crystal clear!! Except when I tried to be ambitious and go up further and further down the fingerboard... got a bit scratchy... :p

The funny part was hearing the maker say that he consulted the book while making the bass; darn good for a textbook based double bass I say... anyway, my principal requested for a few adjustments and we'll be getting it sometime soon... maybe next week! Woo hoo!

Maybe I'll take a few pics and post it up.