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ponchonlefty

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LBS-bass said:
Yeah, they're not light, but about 10 lbs lighter than an acoustic upright and a lot less clunky to haul. I have been told that it take a lot more hand strength to play an acoustic upright, but my teacher sez that's not really the case if it's set up properly. I tend to trust him because he's the GOAT when it comes to all things bass and I just saw him doing a solo on upright that was ridiculous. I wish it was online somehwere i could share it.

But another reason I wanted to start with EUB was to determine if I liked it enough to put in the required work to build up that strength. So now I am just more confused.
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could you rent one? maybe see if you like it? is this a thing?
 
LBS-bass

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ponchonlefty said:
could you rent one? maybe see if you like it? is this a thing?
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Yes, you can rent them but they're student-level instrument which won't sound good and probably won't play too well without putting a significant amount of setup into them, which I wouldn't really want. A friend of mine would like to sell me his but I declined his offer because of the reasons already stated.
 
NSYMCE

NSYMCE

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LBS-bass said:
Yeah, they're not light, but about 10 lbs lighter than an acoustic upright and a lot less clunky to haul. I have been told that it take a lot more hand strength to play an acoustic upright, but my teacher sez that's not really the case if it's set up properly. I tend to trust him because he's the GOAT when it comes to all things bass and I just saw him doing a solo on upright that was ridiculous. I wish it was online somehwere i could share it.

But another reason I wanted to start with EUB was to determine if I liked it enough to put in the required work to build up that strength. So now I am just more confused.
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I bought my EUB in 2003 on a lark, but I had already owned a cheap and poorly set up AUB many years before that, so I could play the EUB set up with low action fairly easily on day one. I was recruited into my first legit jazz band just after that and they definitely preferred the EUB to my fretless BGs. In retrospect I should have just ported to AUB right then, but we played a ton of outdoor summer gigs where the heat was going to be scary proposition for a nice acoustic instrument. I'll bet you'll know pretty quickly if it's going to work out, and whether it would be worth it to deal with the undeniable hassles of owning a "real" one. At my Friday bluegrass jam they were more than willing to deal with a complete newb on AUB instead of someone with 50 years of experience on BG, and I totally respect that actually. It's worked out well for me in any case.
 
NSYMCE

NSYMCE

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ponchonlefty said:
could you rent one? maybe see if you like it? is this a thing?
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It definitely is a thing and renting to own student grade instruments is pretty common. Renting a nice one is a whole different proposition though, IME. If you just buy a used instrument resale with minimal cash loss is rarely a problem though, at least around here.
 
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ponchonlefty

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NSYMCE said:
It definitely is a thing and renting to own student grade instruments is pretty common. Renting a nice one is a whole different proposition though, IME. If you just buy used resale with minimal cash loss is rarely a problem though at least around here.
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ive used this method for tools. just thought it might give a good comparison instead of guessing. you could get the feel and determine if it was what your looking for.
 
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ponchonlefty said:
ive used this method for tools. just thought it might give a good comparison instead of guessing. you could get the feel and determine if it was what your looking for.
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The problem is that the feel of a professional grade instrument will be a lot different, so someone who isn't in the early beginning stages won't really learn much about playability. It's like getting behind the wheel of a '67 VW when you're used to driving a Ferrari.

An early learner doesn't know the difference because they've never driven a Ferrari, so the VW is fine for that learner to master the basics, but eventually more advanced players (and drivers) want higher quality - and once you've gotten the feel for that, it's not really useful to go backwards because you feel like the instrument is fighting you when it won't do what you want it to do as easily as you're used to.
 
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ponchonlefty

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LBS-bass said:
The problem is that the feel of a professional grade instrument will be a lot different, so someone who isn't in the early beginning stages won't really learn much about playability. It's like getting behind the wheel of a '67 VW when you're used to driving a Ferrari.

An early learner doesn't know the difference because they've never driven a Ferrari, so the VW is fine for that learner to master the basics, but eventually more advanced players (and drivers) want higher quality - and once you've gotten the feel for that, it's not really useful to go backwards because you feel like the instrument is fighting you when it won't do what you want it to do as easily as you're used to.
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i was thinking you could rent the bass like your considering. ferrari to ferrari. i like the reference. get the feel and weight and action of it. apples to apples comparison. see if it was a fit for your purposes.
 
Pilgrim

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LBS-bass said:
The problem is that the feel of a professional grade instrument will be a lot different, so someone who isn't in the early beginning stages won't really learn much about playability. It's like getting behind the wheel of a '67 VW when you're used to driving a Ferrari.

An early learner doesn't know the difference because they've never driven a Ferrari, so the VW is fine for that learner to master the basics, but eventually more advanced players (and drivers) want higher quality - and once you've gotten the feel for that, it's not really useful to go backwards because you feel like the instrument is fighting you when it won't do what you want it to do as easily as you're used to.
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The same is true of upright basses. There are tons of Chinese "starter" basses out there which won't be good instruments for someone serious about playing.

You might put an ad in a local paper and see if someone who owns a bass of the type you're interested in is willing to let you visit and play it.
 
LBS-bass

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Pilgrim said:
The same is true of upright basses. There are tons of Chinese "starter" basses out there which won't be good instruments for someone serious about playing.

You might put an ad in a local paper and see if someone who owns a bass of the type you're interested in is willing to let you visit and play it.
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Luckily I have half a clue about what to avoid, and a lot of available help and guidance if I ever decided to go for it, but the expense for anything that's not really a starter is fairly prohibitive.
 
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