Extended Range Bass History

[xavier]

For those interested, I believe there's an Ampeg Electric upright on Ebay right now. It came up while I was browsing for Alembics. Called the Devil Bass or some such.

[beelee]

I started playing extended range bass back in 1987 ( a Yamaha RBX 5 string w/ a low B)  so I didn't have to tune down for some of the material I was playing at the time, then moved up to 6 (Peavey TL-6 ) , 8 ( Ibanez Studio , 12 ( Hamer B12A ) and now Conklin 7 string.
A few years ago I purchased a Alembic Series I 5 string ( AWESOME !!) so the Peavey 6's and Yamaha 5's were sold, so now I have a pre- Gibson Tobias 6, Pedulla Hexabuzz, Fodera Monarch Elite fretless 6, and now I'm having a new Alembic 6 string triple omega built (before January 5th !!) as for playing slap,tap and funk on a extended range bass check out the Bill Dickens video, he is amazing !! I'm a big John Paul Jones fan as well ( another reason I started playing extended range bass AND got an Alembic) here are 2 sites that might be of interest for your paper:
http://12stringbass.com/MainFrames.html
http://www.8stringbass.com/
good luck with your paper !!

[David Houck]

Welcome to the group Bruce.  Which Bill Dickens video are you are talking about?

[beelee]

Hey Dave,  thanks........I have 2 Bill Dickens videos : MVP Contemporary Jazz Collection for bass  Untold Secrets Soloing, Chording, Thumb/Finger Techniques for Electric bass
and Untold Secrets 2 ( which I haven't watched yet) He's playing a Ken Smith 6 in the first one, I was blown away at how fast he can slap/pop !! and he plays a 7 str now.
 
correction to my previous post.... Pentabuzz not Hexabuzz......ever since I spoke to Val and ordered my Series II Triple O 6 I've had six on my brain......LOL........I can't wait !!! ;o)

[bassfan]

hey  all
i am new here. I was looking through the topics and Extended range bass caught my eye. I was reading down about the 11-string. Then i read this:
 Later luthier Bill Conklin further developed extended range basses. Today Warwick basses are the most well-known of these type of basses.  
 
From my research ,the first commercial luthier to build a bass with more than six consecutive strings tuned in fourths was Michael Tobias in 1987. It was a custom ordered 7 string, the only one Tobias ever made (see http://www.weedhopper.org/Bass_Guitar_History.asp )
The bass player Tobias made the bass for had been a Chapman Stick player since 1975 and wanted to had the low B string like the one on the Stick to his Fender Bass VI. Apparently he modified a beat up Fender Bass VI into a 7 string around 1978 and was playing it at the Troubadour in L.A. . He approached several luthiers about making a custom 7 string (see Talk Bass ) from 1979-87 and the only one who was willing to build it was Tobias.  He was performing with the 7 string years before any other builders made another one. Turns out he is the guy who owns the 11-string. It would make sense,this guy is really the father of the extended range bass. He plays them like a piano.

[mint_bass]

Welcome to the club Clem
 
That is some vevy intereting information you have hopefully Dave will come ack on the site and use that information. Do you know what type of Alembic you have if not you should post pictures and we can tell you. Also if you post the Serial number someone from Alembic should give you the history and build details of your bass when they have a minute. The serial number is usually on the back of the headstock.
 
talk to you soon
Andrew

[811952]

I just heard You're Leaving Now by Asia, and recall seeing John Wetton playing a 6-string Ibanez Roadstar bass in the video.  It had four tuning keys in the conventional Fender position and two additional keys on the bottom.  They looked like they were definitely an afterthought.  I don't have any clue how it was tuned because I don't think they showed his hands for more than a second or two in the video.  I'm guessing the year was '81 or '82 maybe?
John