New bass guitar

Slightly over three years ago, I wrote about the semi-acoustic bass guitar pictured on the left. Some time after this picture was taken, I noticed that the side of the guitar was beginning to separate from the top. When eventually I got around to looking for a luthier to repair the damage, the whole body was falling apart. Thirty years the guitar lay dormant under my bed with no damage but a year hanging on the wall ruined it. I quickly removed the guitar and put it back under the bed but I doubt that it can be repaired now.

So the space on the wall became vacant. At various stages the 2019 bozouki and one of my mandolins have occupied this slot. Over the last few months I've bought a few new (to me) instruments and something told me that maybe now is the time to buy a 'proper' bass guitar. 

There are two main sources for buying instruments in Israel: one is a company with maybe ten or more shops throughout the country (I bought the Fender 12 string from one of the branches). I had a look at their web site, but the basses displayed there were far too expensive for my modest needs. Maybe they have cheaper items in the shops but I'm not about to visit one (because of the Covid lockdown that has now be relaxed somewhat). There is a music shop in Bet Shemesh but I don't know whether they are open let alone whether they have a suitable instrument. The other main source is a company whose main shop is in Jaffa - I bought the Washburn semi-acoustic here. Their web site was much more promising, with a variety of basses suitable for any pocket. They also offer a 40% discount and no delivery charge, making their goods very attractive.

After some deliberation, I plumped for the bass pictured on the left. It's branded Encore and is made in China but seems eminently suitable. It cost only 500 NIS, which is less than $150. We can spend more money that that in the butcher's. Although the web site said that delivery can take up to 14 days, it arrived three days after being ordered. Presumably they have the guitars in stock and are willing to sell at slightly above cost price in order to have some form of cash flow in these problematic days. They also sell 7/8 scale basses that are even cheaper and might be even more suitable; had I been in their shop, I would have tried both sizes, but I thought it more prudent to buy a full scale bass.

After tuning the guitar (it was slightly flat compared to the piano), I played a bit on Tuesday and a bit more yesterday. It's very easy to play the bass, but I have one small problem (or as my CEO would say, one challenge): because the scale of the bass is longer than a guitar, the distance between frets is greater. I am unconsciously fingering the neck as if it were a guitar, and as a result my fingers often land too far behind each fret, causing the string to buzz. Of course, I'm playing without looking at my fingers: if I paid more attention to the scale then I'm sure that my fingers would press the strings just behind each fret. I imagine that this would be less of a challenge had I bought the short scale bass.

As for the wall on which the new bass is hung: at first I hung the bass where its predecessor had been, but because the headstock (where the tuning pegs are) is longer, it was almost touching a shelf that had been added above the guitar. After thinking for a few minutes, I swapped the bass for the Gibson SG copy bought in 1976 that has a shorter headstock.