What Should Beginners Look for When Buying a Double Bass?
Katie Thiroux’s Top Tips for Buying Your First Bass.
In this interview, Geoff and Katie cover a wide range of topics, discussing everything you need to know before buying a double bass. They talk about size, dimensions, strings, setup and where to find a suitable instrument. Katie Thiroux is an excellent educator, as well as a fantastic double bassist, so there is no one better to share their knowledge on this topic.
Please let us know about your double bass and any tips you have for someone buying their first instrument in the comments below the YouTube video.
The bass Katie is playing in this video has Evah Pirazzi Weich strings.
Timecodes
00:00 Introduction
00:41 Sizes and dimensions of basses
01:44 Bridge adjusters & string height
03:00 How to get a good setup
03:48 Finding instruments through teachers
04:10 Modern vs. old
04:48 Changing between different instruments
06:03 String/fingerboard length
06:45 Outro & Katie's social media
Discussion links:
Katie Thiroux Links:
The Hump with Katie Thiroux
KatieThiroux.com
Facebook
Instagram
KATIE’s Step-by-step COURSES
If you enjoyed the video and want to learn more from Katie, please check out her courses From Beginner to Bandstand or Bandstand and Beyond.
Behind the scenes
Photos © Discover Double Bass
Some info about Geoff’s bass
In this video, Katie Thiroux is playing Geoff Chalmers’ double bass. It’s a German instrument from the late 19th century which has previously been re-varnished to match new wood that was used for a replacement. This accounts for it's darker than average colour.
Geoff uses the UK double bass luthier Martyn Bailey for all instrument set up and repairs.
Geoff also uses the following double bass equipment:
Pirastro 'Evah Pirazzi Weich' strings.
Thomastik ‘Spriocore Weich’ strings (currently on his bass).
Fishman 'Full Circle' pickup.
Acoustic Image 'Clarus' amplifier (single channel).
Euphonic Audio 'Wizzy 12” M-Line' speaker cabinet.
Austrian Audio ‘OC818’ microphone for home recording.
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