LeftyBassist.com

Hi Folks:

I have been wanting to get my hands on an acoustic bass for a while. As a lefty, my choices are extremely limited. I can get a Takamine EGB2S in the mid priced range. See here. Takamine G Series EGB2S Left-Handed Acoustic-Electric Bass and more Fretted Acoustic Bass at GuitarCenter.com. I really wanted to buy the Takamine that was being sold by traceofbass, but it sold before I got a chance to buy it.

I am interested mainly for playing acoustically in living room Bible study settings, coffee house jams, late night practice, and gigs were an acoustic vibe is useful, etc. The Takamine looks perfectly fine for my purposes and reasonably priced. My wife, being the trooper she is, encouraged me to not settle settle for a Takamine, but to go for a Martin or Alien purchased with our tax refund when it comes in. Her logic is that why get mid grade instrument, when you should get the best possible thing to play on. She also felt bad that she was going to nix the purchase of the Takamine sold by Traceofbass, and that it was sold by the time we got to talk about it.

Anyhow, my choices are: a Martin bc-16e for $1700 Left Hand Martin BC-16GTE Acoustic Bass, a Martin OOC16-TAE for $1600,Martin 00C-16GTAE Left Handed Bass, now available from Adirondack Guitar. or a used Martin 00C-16GTAE for around $1300 from NJ Guitar. I may also be interested in the Alien.

Has anyone played these basses? Could someone tell me what their impressions are? Pro? Cons? I know that PJ Muck does not care for these, I would love to hear from him again (cause his opinions are good !), could someone educate me on what the differences are between the basses since I probably won't be able to try all of these out in person. The Martin nomenclature is about as clear as mud to me. Thanks for your help guys.

I've played several and used to own a (huge) Guild B-50 converted to lefty... here is my honest opinion.

Acoustic basses are, for all intents and purposes, completely useless in any kind of ensemble setting, unless it's plugged in... which kind of defeats the purpose, IMO.

A wooden body that small projecting those low frequencies simply cannot compete with any acoustic guitar or hand drum or bongo... or even a human voice.

You will be buried... you will not be heard by anyone standing more than 3 feet away from you, even if they're concentrating on listening to every note you play.

There is a reason why upright basses are so large... it's because they figured out hundreds of years ago that you HAVE to have a body that big to get frequencies that low to project enough volume to compete with other instruments.

So... keep this in mind... if you want one for looks, or if you're totally OK having to plug it in when playing with other people, then cool... I'd recommend a Martin.

Otherwise, I'd just play an electric and get a kickass portable amp setup.

Ditto

Yep!

Maybe just for the look... Nirvana Unplugged...mid-nineties...MTV...

For all that’s practice I agree 100% and personally I would like to take an acoustic bass and stuff it with a Kala uBass and chicken pot pie baste it with gravy and stomp on it.

But I can totally understand wanting for the tone…..Nothing will give that bronzy string tone like an acoustic bass with full rich bottom so for that reason I dig the sound and recording with it or for playing at home then it is cool. This guy has a bunch of videos on YouTube playing the cheaper Korean model and I think they run just a little over a grand for whatever that’s worth.

Sounds beautiful to me and you won’t believe it an actual video of a younger guy playing bass for real and not some typical slappy tappy wanky wanky look at me I can do annoying stuff real fast even though there is no use for it in any practice situation…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A81ZXpEngw

I tried a Tanglewood recently and I was very impressed. It was quite loud actually.

I have this Jonas Hellborg album recorded with a Warwick Alien and in this solo context it is really fantastic. it is very expressive and of course he plays the hell out of it.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the responses. Honestly, I told my wife that, given my GAS for an acoustic bass and the prevailing wisdom, I am probably best off with a Takamine and calling it a day, as they are good for the money, and I rather have a nice electric. I have been surprised that she was pushing for the higher value bass, her thing is that she does not want me to spent some for a Tak, and then seek to upgrade.

Second, I sent over a note to Rigel instruments about lefties for any of you guys who might be interested on this board. They told me that they have had several lefties ask about getting one. I wonder if it is anyone on this board.

Anyhow, he said he is still working on pricing, and trying to minimize any potential upcharge. I'm sad because the price on the web site was $2000. I also asked about pickups, or making it acoustic electric, and he told me that does not appear be in the cards since the bass is meant to be truly acoustic, and you can simply use most pickups that you would use for "sound reinforcement" (never heard this term) on an upright bass.

Never heard of the Rigel before, but...wow. This is one of the few acoustic basses that actually impressed me.

It looks HUGE! Begging the question of whether or not it's better suited for an upright end pin setup, in which case you're not far off an upright to begin with. But I found a couple of YouTube videos of it in action, and it looks to be strappable, if not a bit awkward looking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8ptPt4G ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZjg0Ewf ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwGVrsaFHwU

I don't really dig the slap demo, but I love the sound on the others and you can hear that it's got the volume to cut over the other instruments well enough. I wonder if a righty could simply be converted easily? I'd also consider a fretless one as well.

Pj

The Rigel is not very easily convertible, unless you have Patrick Ewing's wingspan. The reason is that the back is curved so that your arm can rest over the top easily. I imagine if you flip that over that would mean the outwardly curved part of it would be sticking it to your ribs, and your arms would have a hard time getting into optimal grooving position.

Pete Langdell said he would get me a quote soon since he has had a few lefty requests for them recently and seemed to wanted to seize business opportunities. Maybe Andrew had inquired? I think he may have mentioned something. Anyhow, I'll l et you all know what I hear.

Yes I did inquire about these. LOVE the look of these basses.

If the budget for a pricier ABG is on the table maybe the answer is to get a Kala AND a Takamine? Two flavors of acoustic for the price of one fancy ABG.

Recordings are always subjective... in the coffee shop video, the bass barely comes through, but in the outdoor slap video, whatever the camera that is being used has a damn good mic, and the bass sounds rich and full. I'm sure it would emit more volume than a typical-sized ABG, but in a performance setting, amplification is going to be needed. Nice looking bass though - I've been on the website several times, and think the basses have great potential....

quote="andrew"]

Yes I did inquire about these. LOVE the look of these basses.

If the budget for a pricier ABG is on the table maybe the answer is to get a Kala AND a Takamine? Two flavors of acoustic for the price of one fancy ABG.[/quote]

Hey Andrew:

If I recall correctly, didn't you come away impressed with the budget Takamine as well? That would add you and bassatl as fans if that were the case.


Also, you are not kidding about two flavors. I hadn't thought of the Kala route. I am going to give them a try at some point, and see if I can dig them.

The Kala will sound more acoustic than the Takamine. And for what it's worth, the best acoustic non-upright to my ears is a Hofner.

Hi Guys:

So, I just heard back from Pete Langdell regarding the Rigel bass left handed. He is asking for $2500 for it as a custom job, and estimating that it would take about a month to complete. Like others have noted, it is arched top like a double bass to produce volume, not flat top like ABG. Anyhow, I am going to pass on getting a Rigel for now, as it is way out of my price range, but thought that others here might like to know this bit of information. Pete seemed quite eager to get an order, I am just not going to be that first order.

Maybe some from here?

I agree it does sound a little lost in the coffee shop mix, but I'd like to hear it in another live example. Looking at the specs, here's what Rigel says:

body width: 22"
body length: 29"
body depth: 13" (including bridge height; what do we guess the bridge to be, 3"? That would put the body depth somewhere around 9.5"-10"?)
overall length: 56"

Now I've never had a problem hearing a guitarron in a live acoustic setting. (We hit a local Mexican restaurant fairly often and they have a mariachi band there). Granted, they're 6 string and tuned ADGCEA but I've always been impressed with how deep they sound. Anybody know the standard dimensions of a guitarron? I believe the scale length of the larger ones is 29" though I don't know the typical width and length of the body. I believe the body depth is about 11". At any rate, it seems to me that the Rigel is a larger instrument in most respects and should (in theory) project as well or better than a guitarron, unless the tuning has something to do with it, or maybe the short and stout design of a guitarron results in a boomier instrument. Here's a thought: what about silicone strings on a Rigel?

At glance a guitarron has the same type of volume. Guitarron players always play two strings at the same time. I was talking to a guitarron player recently, he had a really nice one. He said he paid $2,500 for it but it was made by the most famous maker in Mexico.

If you guys want to talk to someone about guitarrons I would call the guys at Hermes Music in McAllen TX (just google them), right on the border. I went into their shop when I was down in Texas for a few weeks and they had a bunch of guitarrons, and we talked about them as compared to basses. Very knowlegeable. I am sure they can tell you all about specs, playing, tuning, etc. $2500 for a top of the line guitarron sounds about right, generally they go for cheaper.

Anybody ever seen a lefty guitarron or a conversion?

Never, but it does not seem difficult to do especially that it is tuned A D G C E A and the two A strings are identical in size but you could refer to www.LeftyGuitarronPlayer.com for more info...