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March
2008 |
Bass
Works Newsletter |
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Feature
CD
Renaud
Garcia-Fons
French bass virtuoso Renaud Garcia-Fons
has grown into a living legend,
both for his breathtaking technique and
intonation as well as his talent as a
composer. A dazzling performer on five
strings, he uses his instrument's entire
range, thus dominating the music and making
the bowed double bass sound rather like
a cello or a violin.
Other
Renaud Garcia-Fons CD's we have in stock
are Alborea, Legendes, Navigatore,
Oriental, Entremundo and Arcoluz.
Click
on picture for song listings and prices.
Price:
$30 |
New
Products! Phil
Jones Bass Briefcase
The
BRIEFCASE is not your usual combo amp.
The most striking difference between this
combo and others is that it features an
extremely clean and powerful amplifier
and full range compact speaker that can
run on AC or DC power. This unit is an
ideal upright bass amplifier and will
also work well for other instruments,
particularly acoustic variety due to its
natural hi-fi sound character. Very
compact making it easily transportable
and perfect to use with upright basses.
Dimensions:
6 ½" W x 14 ½"
H x 15 ¾" D
Weight: 28lbs
· 100
watt RMS amplifier.
· Active/passive input.
· Compressor/limiter.
· 5-Band Graphic EQ.
· Headphone out.
· Balanced-line out.
· Pre-amp out.
· Extension-speaker out.
· Power: 12-Volt DC / 110/220-Volt
AC or Internal rechargeable battery.
· 2 high-power, full-range dedicated
bass instrument loudspeakers in a computer-optimized,
vented enclosure.
For
more information and pictures click on
image.
Price:
$1,299 |
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Dear
Bassists and Friends,
Welcome
to our new (hopefully) monthly newsletter.
A lot has been happening here lately.
Bassworks has gone solar with a new
grid connect photo voltaic electricity
system. Susannah has joined the staff
and is taking care of the office,
website and web sales. She is also
a trained barista and makes a fantastic
coffee.(something you will appreciate
next time you visit) We have been
busy restoring an old 5 string that
was a very borderline restoration
but after several months work has
turned into a magnificent instrument.(click
here to see photos) Also we have
started making two more Qenoil copies
with some great spruce and maple that
has been air drying for many years.
So add the day to day repairs, bow
rehairs and setups we've been flat
out and loving it. |
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Events
2008
Robert
Nairn
Robert
Nairn is a versatile performer and
teacher. He has performed at a number
of international festivals spanning
across Europe, America and Australia.
He
has served as guest Principle Bassist
with the Halle Orchestra, the London
Mozart players, the Sydney Symphony
Orchestra and held the position of
Principle Bass with the Australian
Chamber Orchestra and the Adelaide
Symphony Orchestra. Some of his teachers
have included Klaus Stoll, Tom
Martin and Max McBride. He received
a distinction in his Bachelor of Music
at the Canberra School of Music and
went on to receive a Post-Graduate
Diploma at the Berlin Musikhochschule.
He
is currently Professor of double bass
at Penn State University and has been
the principle double bassist with
Boston's Handel and Haydn Society
since 2003. He has recorded for Decca,
Deutsche Grammaphone, Sony, EMI, Decca,
Virgin, ABC Classics, and Channel
Classics; his first solo CD will be
released this year.
He
will be coming to Adelaide on Wednesday
June 4th for a concert and
master class.
More
details will be posted closer to the
date.
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DIY
Bass Care
By
George Vance
The
trouble with bass strings is
that they don't break when they
are worn out. They just fade
away gradually until one forgets
how the bass sounded when the
strings were fresh.
I
change my strings about twice
a year, usually prompted by
an upcoming chance to play in
public. And I advise my students
who log fewer hours than I to
change them once a year. Someone
told me that the strings will
lose their responsiveness even
if they aren't played just from
being under tension. I don't
know about that but it seems
reasonable. Steel has properties
like tensile strength and flexibility
that are affected by stress.
Do your ears a favour
- put on a new set of strings.
When
you install strings it's a good
idea to fill the bridge notches
with the lead (really graphite)
of a very soft pencil. An art
pencil such as a 6B is practically
like grease. We want to be sure
that the wrapping of the string
doesn't separate at the point
of contact with the bridge.
When that happens the string
gets caught there and tuning
up pulls the bridge little by
little until it isn't standing
up straight anymore. Periodically
one should look at the bridge
from the side. If it's not straight
up push it with your thumb.
Don't be shy. If the bridge
gets warped by the aforementioned
phenomenon you will have to
get a new one and that is expensive
(especially if you go to a luthier
who really knows his job).
I
use a little hand tool called
a string winder to speed up
the process of installing strings.
With that inexpensive little
gadget I can change all the
strings in a half hour and get
on to the fun part of playing
them in. At first they are so
twangy the bass sounds like
a giant banjo. Weird as it is
I rather enjoy hearing the brilliance
of the harmonics.
After
a day or two the strings settle
down and sound as they are supposed
to.
I've
also tried using a power drill
with a bit that fits over the
tuning key. For me that is too
speedy. I broke a new E string
accidentally by over tightening
it with a power drill. That
would be impossible to do by
hand. Be careful with any tools
more complicated than a knife
and fork.
If
you've never changed a set of
strings before, change one at
a time and bring it up to tension.
If you took off all the old
strings at once the bridge would
fall down and maybe the sound
post also. Since those two items
were probably installed in the
right places by an expert you
don't want to mess around with
them. Setting the sound post
is a particularly tricky business
even for someone with experience
and the proper tools.
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Ray
Brown CD Special!
 Ray
Brown Bassface now on sale! Other
Ray Brown CD's on sale include: Superbass,
Some Of My Best Friends Are...the
Sax Players and Some of My Best Friends
Are...the Trumpet Players.
Sale
Ends 30th April!
Sale Price:
$25
List
Price:
$30
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©2008
BassWorks Australia
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