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Two great English Double basses.

George J

Herefordshire member
To follow on and not disrupt the Double bass Question Thread, I'll start a little post about two basses I had back in the day.

IMG_8438 by George Johnson, on Flickr

The dark brown one once belonged to Gustav Holst and eventually was owned by the music department of Pates Grammar School in Cheltenham. With a shaky attribution to Simon Fendt the Elder [Father Fendt] it was over-sized compared to the modern 4/4 bass, and had a long string stop, which did not make it easier to play! The wood used indicated a period of roughly 1770 to 1780. It had a multi-piece front with thirteen different planks glued together and then carved. It was very thin compared to modern making and thus quite light. It was hugely sonorous and responsive. Plus it had a wonderful timbre, but it was terribly sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity. It could be a nightmare to play if the the ambient temperature went outside its comfortable range.

I acquired it in 1992 from my second bass teacher, and had it restored. It had become derelict, and not able too carry strings.

IMG_8441 by George Johnson, on Flickr

The second bass was one I had made for me by the late Ian Highfield in Rednal. It was made over a twelve month period, which is unusual, but had advantages over being made as quickly as possible. I first played it in the white [before varnishing] in late 1995, and was obvious that it was a fantastic instrument. Because of the Holst bass, I was determined to have a modern instrument designed for the baroque style strings. Thinner in the front and back, so more fragile, but more responsive ...

Being modelled on a Maggini of 1666, it had the width to carry five or even six strings, so was natural for a modern five string set-up. It had a standard modern string length, which made it easier than the Holst bass to play well in tune on the lowest positions on the finger-board. It was a slightly larger sized instrument than the modern 4/4, but because of its shape was a very comfortable instrument to play. It had a very deep rib, which tends to give the potential for a big sound when needed.

Best wishes from George
 
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Thanks for the pictures and the back story, sounds like a real privilege to have been able to play these. So sorry you cannot play now.
 
Fabulous stuff! The history of the Holst bass is fascinating. I also never realised that a five string bass existed in the world of classical instruments, I’ve certainly never seen one before. Is the extra string low or high?

PS I edited your post to get the images to display inline.
 
My second teacher saw something in my playing [which I did not], so that he made it possible for me to buy the old London bass. Learning to play on it stretched my technique in a very positive way. Playing on gut is another thing from playing on steel! The range of pressure on the string is much less, for a wider dynamic range than steel allows. Gut keeps its pitch focus even when played very quietly, whereas steel tends to get thin and the fundamental of the note decreases more than the harmonics, which makes the steel piano less precise and certainly less beautiful than the gut piano. but get the attack wrong and the gut string is only too happy to oblige with a Wolf!

The commissioned instrument had something to live up to, and it did. It was also far less temperamental with regard to changes in ambient temperature and humidity, which meant that in reality it was the more practical instrument.

I have to say that it is like having the spring taken out of a clock - giving up playing. Nothing will replace it. Nothing could for me.

But I am glad of the experiences I had playing. Far wider than the concert hall. Everything from recording bowed bass for an acquaintance who composed what I thought was very way out music - more or less for amplified instruments, but made in the studio rather than ensemble performances. Playing against a click beat is really very difficult if you are used to playing in ensemble!

To Folk Music, to playing in a short lived rock band. they did not have an electric bassist, but fortunately their modest powered amplification meant it was not hard to play with them.

Halcyon days. My last pro concert was for the Birmingham Festival Choral Society in Haydn's Creation. I was next to Keith Marjoram [formerly in the Philharmonia], and when it came to the performance, though he was obviously leading, he asked me to play the single bass line in Great Whales with the other solo cellos and violas. An immense compliment of course, and probably the highlight of my playing. I went on to play in a small amateur chamber string group, which was populated by retired professionals, and I enjoyed those concerts more than anything before. It was well rehearsed, and the standard was very pleasing.

Best wishes from George
 
Fabulous stuff! The history of the Holst bass is fascinating. I also never realised that a five string bass existed in the world of classical instruments, I’ve certainly never seen one before. Is the extra string low or high?

PS I edited your post to get the images to display inline.

Dear Tony,

The fifth string [low B] is a fourth below the E of a normal modern instrument. The five stringer is a reversion to the old practice in baroque times of a Violone having five or even six strings as the Maggini would have. Hence the wide model of front with the space between the f holes broad enough for the bridge carrying more strings. Sometimes a sixth string was fitted and would be above the normal range on a modern instrument.

Five stringer basses began appearing in European orchestras at the end of the nineteenth century and in England about 1920. Henry Wood found one of his Queens Hall Orchestra basses fitted with five strings and asked its owner how he managed that "Clapham Junction" of a beast! It allows for a full doubling of the bottom C string of the cello at the octave, though officially no actual low B exists in music of the period. Up till 1914 English basses were set up with three strings, without the now normal low E string!

Richard Strauss made extensive use of the potential of the five string bass, and for Baroque music it is essential if you are to preserve the line.

Best wishes from George

PS: Thanks for fixing the images to appear directly. I cannot seem to make that work!
 
I must confess - despite having a son who graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Dublin (and on account of whom I have been dragged to all manner of orchestral performances of stuff) - I have never taken the slightest bit of interest in double basses, until now.

Those are quite splendid instruments George. I have a sneaking suspicion every time I see one in the future I'll have to give it the once over :)
 
Magnificent instruments both.
Wonderful stuff, George; and thank-you for sharing your experience and thoughts.

Oh, and very interesting comments on gut vs steel: I long ago noticed similar with respect to tone vs dynamic range with guitars, say nylon on a small classical body vs steel-strung dreadnoughts (and this even within my limiting envelope of incompetence). It is interesting how a lot of hifi flufftalk conflates 'dynamics' with merely 'LOUDER/ MORE PRESENT' when actually, it is the extension of clarity of body and presence and timbre and phrasing/timing downward to lower and lower levels/finer degrees that seems to be the core of satisfaction.
 
Dear Martin,

The range of sound dynamic is certainly between the quietest that retains quality and the loudest that retains quality. So if an instrument goes very much quieter with quality [even if it is slightly less loud at its loudest] then it has a wider useful dynamic range than an instrument that might be slightly louder flat out, but cannot retain quality so well at the quiet end.

Same with ESLs really. They are not as loud as most speakers, flat out, but they retain quality right down to the finest detail, and so have a very wide dynamic that is useful.

Best wishes from George
 


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