Zac's+double+bass+project

THE DOUBLE BASS media type="youtube" key="vYIpC27v22o" height="385" width="480"

The four major instruments in the string family are the violin, the viola, the cello and the double bass and are built the same way. The instruments are made of many pieces of wood which are glued, never nailed. The body of the instrument is hollow, therefore becoming a resonating box for the sound. Four strings (sometimes five on the double-bass) can be made of animal gut, silk, nylon, palm fiber or steel and are wrapped around pegs at the top end of the instrument and attached to a tailpiece at the bottom. They are stretched tightly across a bridge to produce their assigned pitches. The double bass, is the largest and lowest instrument of the string family. The double bass has rounded shoulders instead of square shoulders. Because of its size, the player stands or sits on a high stool to play it. media type="youtube" key="gZ4ctFAe7r0" height="385" width="480"

The history of the double-bass has its origins in a far away period when music was linked to the ordinary and extraordinary events of everyday life in the noble houses. Players and composers arrived in Italy looking for fame, glory and easy earnings. **The word "double-bass" at the beginning had several different meanings: it indicated a "register of the voice" or "part of a composition of different voices". But the modern meaning which we refer to the instrument today came about when it was mentioned by the German musical theorist Michael Praetorius. He** **wrote that every stringed instrument had a corresponding instrument in the "low register". The instrument which was most similar to the double-bass as we currently know it is the Gross-Contra-Bass-Geige, a sort of alto-double-bass that consequently evolved into the double-bass.** media type="youtube" key="HX9ckGaL8ns" height="385" width="480"

  __//**The Electric Double Bass**//__

media type="youtube" key="kL73zYyoHHg" height="385" width="480" =Unlike other electric upright bass models with a solid body, the Eminence Portable Upright Bass is a real acoustic instrument. It's smaller and more compact than a standard-size acoustic upright bass. although the acoustic body has an arched top and bottom, a bass bar and a sound post. That's why the electric bass sounds and plays like your standard-size double bass, and not just like fretless bass guitar. The unamplified sound of the Eminence is great for practicing in your room or if you have sensitively neighbors. Played amplified, the electric double bass with its acoustic body sounds like a larger acoustic double bass. The Eminence has a detachable waist extension, and an anti-rotational endpin, the Steady-Foot. That is why it stays very easy in playing position. The string length of 105 cm and a standard-size neck deliver a familiar playing feel and an easy transition from standard-size double bass to portable upright bass. =

= //__**What does the double bass actually play?** __// = ==



= //__What is the double bass made of? __// = = the bass Usually has maple for the neck, back, sides and bridge; spruce for the top; ebony for the nut, fingerboard and tailpiece, brass or steel for the tuning machines and steel for the end-pin. Many cheaper instruments have a body made from laminated wood (plywood) - they will be stronger but will not sound as good as solid wood. In the mid-20th century, some basses were made from aluminum or fiberglass, except these are no longer made. Recently a few companies have begun to make high-quality instruments from carbon fiber. These are light, virtually indestructible and have a tone comparable to that of a fine solid wood bass. =

**// Stages in Making a Double Bass //**

** [|MAKING THE MOULD] ** ** [|BENDING THE RIBS] ** ** [|GLUING THE RIBS] ** ** [|FITTING THE LININGS] ** ** [|MAKING THE BACK] ** ** [|FITTING THE BACK] ** ** [|SHAPING THE TOP] ** ** [|PURFLING THE TOP] ** ** [|THE BASS BAR] ** ** [|CUTTING THE "ff" HOLES] ** ** [|MAKING THE NECK] ** ** [|MAKING THE TAILPIECE] **

**//__ Bibliography __//**

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