Mathias Thoma upright bass
geekg...@aol.com
shop I have borrowed a Mathias Thoma upright from a friend who doesn't
really play. Its from 1972 and made in Germany (plywood). Not in
horrible shape, but a few patcehs in the ply wood (not unlike my
1940's Kay). Plays ok, sounds fine. I couldn't find anything on-line
about this company. Anyone know anything about these basses? I'm
thinking about making an offer to buy this to have a second upright.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
--Eric Elias
www.ericelias.net www.funkyfolkmusic.com
Steven Rosenberg
once:
Eric, just curious. How much did you pay for the Kay, and how much
money have you put into it since?
geekg...@aol.com
> ... having trouble posting this ... sorry if it shows up more than
> once:
>
> Eric, just curious. How much did you pay for the Kay, and how much
> money have you put into it since?
>
Hey Steven,
Believe it or not, the Kay was free. It was sitting in the closet of
a high school band room. A friend of mine was one of the music
teachers there and knew that I was looking for an upright. It had a
broken neck joint (which is fairly common). And they had an insruance
program that replaced broken instruments, so they said, "This bass has
already been replaced and we're not fixing it. If you don't come and
get this it's going in the dumpster." I feel like I had no choice,
but to come and get my free bass.
The neck joint was about $400 to repair (which might be on the cheap
side, since they have to take the top or back off to fix the dovetail
block). I got a set of strings for $95 and eventually I had a bridge
made for $200 (which I think is a bit steep for shaping a premade
bridge blank). I got the case for cost ($75). That's been it for
about 8 or 9 years other than strings. It has paid for itself many
times over in gigs. Of course the neck joint wasn't repaired as well
as it could have been and now needs to be repaired again, and I need
strings and a bridge again, but Lemur Music has very good deals on
bridges and strings, so I'll save a lot there. I'm considering buying
this Mathias Thoma for a second bass, although I sort of think that I
should get a carved bass if I'm going to spend the money. This Thoma
is 1/2 size which is a bit small for me. But I could probably get it
very cheap (but it doesn't need anyhting either other than strigns).
Are you looking for an upright? If so I would hold out for a better
quality (used or new) rather than a new econo from Taiwan or China.
If I don't buy this Thoma and you're interested it might be fairly
cheap ($500 or $600).
I also had a question for you about a CD review, but I can't find your
e-mail. If you get a chance e-mail me at geekg...@aol.com . Thanks
--Eric E.
www.ericelias.net www.funkyfolkmusic.com
Steven Rosenberg
that's for sure.
I wonder if playing the 1/2-size bass is throwing you off in terms of
intonation and muscle memory. All the talk in RMMGJ about 24.75- vs.
25.5-inch scale is nothing in comparison.
For carved basses, two that I've seen that seem to be good deals are
the Hofner uprights from J. Hale Music at jhalemusic.com (probably
Chinese, but carved) and the Romanian-made basses from Bob Gollihur
(urbbob.com, a great web site for all kinds of bass equipment,
including Engelhardt basses, amps, preamps and pickups, and tons of
great links).
As with guitars, however, I'd have a hard time dropping just about any
amount of money for an instrument without actually playing it.
That said, I'm not really at a point in life right now where I can
play an upright ... or anything that isn't guitar-sized, so I'm
looking at fretless electrics. Speaking as a guitar player, it's
amazing how far apart the notes are on an electric bass. It doesn't
seem so bad when there are frets involved, but on the fretless, you
really notice the space between notes near the nut.
Eric, I'll e-mail you about the CD ...
geekg...@aol.com wrote in message news:<55dba6df.04080...@posting.google.com>...
geekg...@aol.com
> I've seen the Lemur Music catalog ... they do have a lot of strings,
> that's for sure.
>
> I wonder if playing the 1/2-size bass is throwing you off in terms of
> intonation and muscle memory. All the talk in RMMGJ about 24.75- vs.
> 25.5-inch scale is nothing in comparison.
>
> For carved basses, two that I've seen that seem to be good deals are
> the Hofner uprights from J. Hale Music at jhalemusic.com (probably
> Chinese, but carved) and the Romanian-made basses from Bob Gollihur
> (urbbob.com, a great web site for all kinds of bass equipment,
> including Engelhardt basses, amps, preamps and pickups, and tons of
> great links).
>
> As with guitars, however, I'd have a hard time dropping just about any
> amount of money for an instrument without actually playing it.
>
> That said, I'm not really at a point in life right now where I can
> play an upright ... or anything that isn't guitar-sized, so I'm
> looking at fretless electrics. Speaking as a guitar player, it's
> amazing how far apart the notes are on an electric bass. It doesn't
> seem so bad when there are frets involved, but on the fretless, you
> really notice the space between notes near the nut.
>
> Eric, I'll e-mail you about the CD ...
>
Hey Steven,
You're right about the spacing. I have to work hard to keep my
intonation on for the fretless electric. I think that I expect to
have to do that for the upright, but I didn't realize that I had to
for the fretless too.
Thanks for the upright info. I'll chceck them out. At some point I
will probably get a carved bass and possibly an electric upright. I
want to check out the Eastman Strings basses too (they're fairly in
expensive as well).
I do like the scale being consistent on the upright so the half size
is a little funny for me (its 37 inches) so its a bit smaller than the
3/4 size that I'm used to playing and about 3 inches bigger than the
electric scale too. It takes a lot of paying attention when playing
(especially with others).
Take care,
Eric E.
--www.ericelias.net www.funkyfolkmusic.com