Author Topic: Cool Basses at Solo Bass Night, Berkeley, CA (Read 412 times)

oddmetersam · « **on:** June 06, 2013, 10:56:46 AM »

Solo Bass Night at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on June 5 featured David Grossman, Ariane Cap, Jean Baudin and Michael Manring. I had a front row seat and was able to get usable shots of all but Ariane, who teamed up with the incredible Paul Hanson on bassoon. A spectacular show. Check out these basses! Jean Beaudin and his 11-string "Joust" Kenneth Lawrence instrument with fanned frets. "Squid" fins on the headstock are a trademark of Kenneth's guitars and basses. This bass is a total monster in size and sound.

Michael Manring with a Zon Sonus fretless featuring a special deep cutaway and specialized detuning keys for each string.

Michael also had his infamous Zon Michael Manring Hyperbass! Deep cutaway with special detuning keys and detuning devices on the bridge. Constant tuning changes on the fly not just during a break in a tune, but often literally in the middle of a riff or line.

Dave Grossman and his 7-string Hanewinckel. You don't see many of these, either. Dave specializes in electric bass interpretations of Bach pieces.

811952 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2013, 11:05:56 AM »

Cool. I'd love to see a show like that.

John

adriaan · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2013, 02:35:13 PM »

What, no picture of Ariane Cap?

dadabass2001 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2013, 02:54:00 PM »

I believe I'm seeing some PJB cabs in the background...
Mike

oddmetersam · « **Reply #4 on:** June 06, 2013, 04:36:36 PM »

Adrian, I was positioned perfectly to shoot everyone but Ariane, who set up on the far side of the stage to begin with. Then when Paul Hanson came out (they are a duo) he set up his music stand in the only spot that could have further interfered with my line of sight.

I've enclosed pics of Ariane and Paul so you'll see what I mean. The second shot is of the stage area in front of me.

pauldo · « **Reply #5 on:** June 06, 2013, 05:28:07 PM »

Those are some cool pics.
Thanks for sharing.
Must have been a mighty show!

that_sustain · « **Reply #6 on:** June 06, 2013, 10:22:28 PM »

How does the fanned fret system work..and are they in the same positions on a fretless fingerboard? The bridge looks to have a regular intonation setup....

bigredbass · « **Reply #7 on:** June 06, 2013, 11:21:25 PM »

Daniel, supposedly the fanned frets idea is another attempt to tame the vagaries of (ill)tempered-tuning in that the 'fan' angles the frets from further apart to closer together from the low strings to the high strings: You're compensating the fret distances for string diameters. A second benefit is it also mimics the rotation of the wrist/hand as you draw the hand back towards the body from nut to the highest frets. The jury is 'sill out', but it's very interesting.

Would take very sophisticated CAD/CAM for this combined into a compound radius fingerboard ! PLEK this, gringo !

J o e y

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #8 on:** June 06, 2013, 11:24:47 PM »

The way it works is - notice how the nut & bridge angle away from each other to the bass side? Each string is a different scale, and thus needs a different fret spread, just as the frets on your 30 bass are closer together than on your 35 one. The the fanned frets keep it a half-step for each scale. I've never seen a fretless multi-scale (and my head & hands hurt just thinking about the learning curve on that), but yes, the notes would be in the same place as the frets; a half-step on ebony is the same as a half-step on nickel-silver.

Peter

oddmetersam · « **Reply #9 on:** June 07, 2013, 04:22:16 AM »

Thanks for the kind words, Paul.

Except for Dave, everybody used a looper of some sort for a lot of their stuff and minimal pre-recorded backing tracks or percussion sounds. Lots of layered, lush atmospherics with blistering solos on top. Michael used his ebow to great effect with haunting drones, whale calls, etc. Paul Hanson went from beautiful Oregon-inspired, Windam Hill-esque stuff to mind-blowing nods to Coltrane on top of Ariane's beautiful chordal work. Jean was extremely orchestral (easy to imagine with the huge range of that 11-string beast). But words do none of them justice and suggest going to their websites to hear for yourselves.

Luthiers Ralph Novak and Sheldon Dingwall are two of the most high profile fanned fret proponents for bass.

that_sustain · « **Reply #10 on:** June 07, 2013, 09:22:20 AM »

Oh..it's the scale. Thanks guys.

Thanks for the pics oddmetersam.

hb3 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 07, 2013, 04:58:53 PM »

Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

oddmetersam · « **Reply #12 on:** June 08, 2013, 01:10:54 AM »

Thanks Daniel and Hugh. Hugh, as solo performers I'm sure you and Kimberly are among those here who would have been right at home on stage with these guys as far as presentation, chops and most importantly your artistry.

Part of what made the night really cool was the total lack of competition or anyone trying to outdo the others. Everyone was simply comfortable in their own musical skin; as it should be. Good thing, too, cuz' if it had degenerated into a mere chops fest I'm not really certain who would have emerged from all the smoke....

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #13 on:** June 08, 2013, 04:56:57 AM »

I would love to be there...

sonicus · « **Reply #14 on:** June 08, 2013, 11:38:14 AM »

Sam , I would have seen you there___. Thank you so much for posting the pics !
I planned to go to this event mainly to see Michael Manring again . But I got really involved and lost in time in a technical pursuit with parts scattered all around me and did not get done in time. I went to a Bass clinic of his back in the 1990's and have been a follower ever since. I saw him recently at a local fundraiser at his kids school. I am bummed that I missed Solo Bass Night , I even had it noted on my calendar on the wall !
Here is Michael playing one of my favorites

The Enormous Room

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4Ra2KOyas