Fretless violin bass, upright bass comparison 

Takamine TB10 is pretty much like the real thing, incredible instrument really, check it out. This one is not bad either.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-af5eGFt-rDI.html

That might be the most american sentence i have ever read.

@@silasabrahamsen7926 that made me chuckle

I’d love to get my hands on a Takamine. They cost more than my upright though. The little guy was only a few hundred dollars.

Except without the hollow body

@@badibuzi6616 you're right, the violin bass is electric.

@@marvinthemaniac7698 I have no doubt some (semi-)hollow, short scale fretless basses are out there, though

@@badibuzi6616 there's the fretless U-bass by Kala.

The violin bass is actually fully hollow.

Ha! Thanks Aaron!

Thank you! It’s complicated. I’ve played fretless electric for nearly 40 years. But.... There were periods of many years when I didn’t play much at all. About 15 years ago I started playing and practising regularly and consistently. Started on upright only 7 or 8 years ago. Before that I stupidly had some resistance to it, as I always played a bass that I built myself, which I told myself was “my sound”. My sound is actually the way I play on any instrument.

@@benbrinkhoff Indeed it is!

Those tapewounds are nice. I’ve had them on another bass. You can get an electric bass to do some kind of emulation of an upright in a youtube recording, but the sound in the room, and the experience of playing one, is vastly different. I’d love to get my hands on a Marcustico.

@@benbrinkhoff just ordered one for upright also . Marcustico, man gorgeous tone, $4g+ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vTzuDVM2L18.html

Hi Brandon, you might have more luck, but I’ve tried various piezos on this and other semi-acoustic basses, and they’ve mostly serve to add nasty upper midrange junk that needs to be eq’ed out. Magnetic pickups do a much better job of amplifying body characteristics than you might think. They’re sitting on that resonant soundboard, picking up vibrations from strings whose movement is affected by the body….

@@benbrinkhoff I definitely have seen how acoustic guitar piezo pickups are very hit-or-miss. They never end up sounding like the actual instrument unplugged. So your reply doesn’t surprise me. It’s good news for me because going with the magnetic pickups saves quite a bit of money, time, and effort. Thanks for the advice!

Thanks Glenn. It is actually a fully hollow body. I’ve tried various ways of using piezo pickups, but found I preferred the sound of the magnetic pickup alone - it captures enough of the string and body sound for my taste. What do you mean “missing notes”?

That was the plan!

It was a special order.

But there’s not really much point in playing anything in any key other than F#, most of the time. Except Careless Whisper - that has to be in D#.

Yeah, true, might try them sometime....

These basses don’t normally have holes….

I did try a couple of different piezo pickups on this bass, and ended up preferring the magnetic alone. I found the mag picks up enough of that “hollow body” sound for my liking, whereas the piezo, on such a small body, just gave too much of those nasty, quacky, tinny sounds. Wasn’t worth blending that in. Worth pointing out though, that at the volume I recorded this, you do hear some of the acoustic sound of the violin bass.

It actually cost a bit less than the regular one. Although it was a simpler kit, it I might have expected a custom order to cost more.

Yes, Chromes are flatwound.

Thanks Victor! To get some upright-like flavour on bass guitar, don’t underestimate the importance of technique, and general approach to playing, note choice, note length, etc. A few things about the actual instrument make it easier too though. As you say, hollow, fretless, flatwounds are the most important. Counter-intuitively, short scale can do something good for the tone too, though that’s a less important factor I think. I did a very brief search for info on the Condor - seems it might be medium scale...? I’m sure you could make that bass work for your purposes in any case. All the best!

@@benbrinkhoff thanks! I bought this Condor and the scale is long.. I search this model on google and it appears another similar bass with the medium scale.. I will buy some flatstrings first of all to see.. then I will think to get out the frets.. I read all the coments and didnt find it.. the Daddario Chromes that u are using is 040 or 045?

45s I think. But I think your decision about string gage will be more about your preference for string tension, rather than tone. Bear in mind tension will be higher on a longer scale. I’m sure you’ll get on well with the Condor! Longer scale has its tonal advantages too...

It was a special order from www.pitbullguitars.com/

Very Nice sound, nice played from you! Was it a special fretless set from pitbullguitars (I find only a fretted beatles bass there) or did you use another neck? BW Peter

It was a special order.

.... including the fretless neck.

You can get a similar sound from an EB-0 by plucking further up the neck.

I hear what you’re saying. I amplified this just to match the level of the upright. At this point you can hear the inherent sound characteristics of the bass fairly well I hope. At greater volume (Ampeg, overdrive, or not) there will be more harmonic richness (inherent in the upright) and eq potential. There’s a sweet spot with the smaller instrument were you get that richness, but it retains enough of its acoustic sound. Maybe a future video....

@@benbrinkhoff this is still a superb demo. Also, I really like the tone of D'Addario Chromes on a electric but I want to hear tapewound strings too. I only play electric bass. I wish I had the space (and the funds!) to get a really nice upright bass.

Thanks! It’s a long time since I had tapewounds on a bass. I reckon I’ll try some again soon.

Thanks! Yes, it’s fully hollow.

@@benbrinkhoff hey i was wondering the specs of your bass I would like to buy one myself sounding exactly like yours

Here’s the standard kit - www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/guitars/pit-bull-guitars-hb-4-electric-bass-guitar-kit/ I ordered mine with a blank fingerboard, no bridge pickup, no control plate, no routing for those of course. The neck pickup is wired straight to the jack.

That’s correct.

At this volume (electric bass matching the acoustic volume of upright) there’s no contest. Electric bass will never replicate the rich, three dimensional sound of upright. At higher volume though, upright loses some of its unique acoustic sound, and there’s more you can do with eq for electric bass.

@@benbrinkhoffi think that almost every electric instrument loses some of the three dimensional sound of the acoustic instruments, i think that is mostly because amps are created to sound directly to the front.

@@benbrinkhoff ---I know what you are saying. And, to tell the truth, the last few months I've been on a sort of Beatle bass kick on RU-vid listening to various players play the Hofners and all the other versions, both fretted and fretless. I'm a retired USAF piano player (27 years in the USAF Bands all over the world) and have had a fair amount of time working with a good number of bassists, both acoustic and electric. You are correct about the fretless you are playing in this video, but I have to say something---you have probably the nicest sound and technique for swing I've heard on that instrument (fretless violin bass) in my life. Keep on playing it along with your acoustic. There's plenty of room and situations where one might be more advantageous than the other. Great video and thanks for posting it!

@@peterharrison5833 Thanks very much Peter! In the end, they’re just different instruments, horses for courses.... and the task is to make the best music you can whichever you’re playing. Of course I wasn’t trying to prove a point (either way!) by making the video, just letting people hear them side by side, as I know there’s plenty of interest in catching some of the upright vibe on an instrument that has some practical advantages in some situations.

@@benbrinkhoff You're welcome. You're right about the bottom line being making the best music you can on the instrument you're playing that evening. I always had a laugh on the horn players in the AF who would complain about adjusting to a new instrument. I'd ask if they'd like to do that every night, which is what I've had to do on some tours. All the pianos, if they were well taken care of, would play great....but there were always lots of little details that I'd have to get used to real fast in order to play the gig that night. The other thing is pianos in bars have a tendency to go from sort of ok to downright atrocious. After I'd tell them that story, they'd usually walk away mumbling under their breath about some "insensitive jerk" named Pete, LOL! When young pianists would ask me about this, I'd tell them that sometimes you don't get a choice. One night it's a Maserati, the next night it's an old Chevy truck with about 250,000 miles on it and it slips in second gear. The whole trick was to spend enough time with the piano (usually about an hour) playing everything I could think of in order to really know how it plays. Ah, life on the road!

It’s a long time since I’ve had tapewounds on a bass, but I reckon I’ll try some again soon.

Hi Anthony, it’s a custom kit from Pit Bull Guitars. (It says in the description.)

flats

Great idea. Recorded direct to vinyl.

Hi! Here’s the kit that mine is based on. www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/guitars/pit-bull-guitars-hb-4-electric-bass-guitar-kit/ .... I think the types of wood used are less important to the sound than the way it is constructed, the flatwound strings, and my playing style.

Thanks Rich. It’s an electric fence on a a neighbouring property!

See the specs here.... www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/guitars/pit-bull-guitars-hb-4-electric-bass-guitar-kit/

@@benbrinkhoff thankyou!

Good question, I should add this info to the description. It’s just recorded with my ipad. Upright is acoustic, violin bass is amplified to a similar volume level, so you are also hearing some of the acoustic sound of that instrument.

@@benbrinkhoff I love the tone of upright obviously but in a mix the violin bass would be so easier to hear and so easier to mix for an engineer. I wonder how different this particular model is from a standard Hofner bass.

Yes, each note on the upright takes time to get going - quite different to a small instrument. The upright has steel strings, not nylon.

@@benbrinkhoff cool to know! I always thought they were nylon strung!

Originally, double bass strings were made from gut. Some people still use them. Most people use steel strings these days, with a smaller proportion using nylon, some “space age” materials, or composite construction....

It was a special order from Pit Bull Guitars. Pickup wired straight out - set (on the amp) and forget. No volume control on the upright….

@@benbrinkhoff damn that sounds so sweet! Any chance you’d be willing to help a fellow out with getting one?

@@billyretrogamer Two possibilities - get in touch with Pit Bull Guitars (pitbullguitars.com) and do a special order, which may take a few months, depending upon where they are up to in their cycle. Alternatively, I actually have mine for sale for AU$450…. Get in touch with me at b.brinkhoff@gmail.com if you’re interested in discussing that. Cheers! Ben

@@billyretrogamer Two possibilities - get in touch with Pit Bull Guitars (pitbullguitars.com) and do a special order, which may take a few months, depending upon where they are up to in their cycle. Alternatively, I actually have mine for sale for AU$450…. Get in touch with me at b.brinkhoff@gmail.com if you’re interested in discussing that. Cheers! Ben

@@billyretrogamer Two possibilities - get in touch with Pit Bull Guitars (pitbullguitars.com) and do a special order, which may take a few months, depending upon where they are up to in their cycle. Alternatively, I actually have mine for sale for AU$450…. Get in touch with me at b.brinkhoff@gmail.com if you’re interested in discussing that. Cheers! Ben

Yes, Pit Bull Guitars do special orders like this. Maybe you have room for one....?

@@benbrinkhoff Good to know, would love to build one! My room is full of instruments and studio gear but another bass guitar should be possible.. Thanks for your quick reply! And also great playing, very musical! Forgot to mention that in my first comment :-)

@@rolandmdill Thank you! All the best!

The little fella is amplified.....

@@benbrinkhoff My bad, didn't realize that was a pickup under your hand.

Electric fence!

@@benbrinkhoff : "clôture électrique" 🤔 ?

Oui

@@benbrinkhoff : tu habites dans un camp ?

@@okxtan2648 Haha! Dans une forêt, près d'une ferme. La clôture est pour le bétail

Nice!