Double Bass and Beyond - Gary Upton of Upton Bass
Double Bass and Beyond - Gary Upton of Upton Bass
The Fingerboard Factor - Unlocking Bass Potential
Can a perfectly crafted fingerboard revolutionize your bass playing experience? We believe it can, and our latest episode breaks down how! Join us as we dive into the world of bass fingerboards, unraveling the complex dynamics of overstands, projections, and their impact on ergonomics. We'll explore the delicate balance needed to achieve the ideal pitch and pressure on the bass belly, and decode the mysterious "wet" fingerboard effect on the bass's signature growl. You'll also discover why fingerboard dressing is crucial and how different types of ebony – Indian, Chinese, and African – affect the instrument's resonance and resilience. Plus, get inspired by Victor Wooten’s insights on the essential role of the right hand in musical expression.
Ever wondered why the thickness of a fingerboard matters so much, especially when there's no truss rod? This episode sheds light on that too. We'll examine the vital connection between the fingerboard and the neck, highlighting how materials like ebony and seasoned maple ensure stability and longevity. And don't miss our discussion on wood grain and humidity, and how combining materials can lead to a perfectly crafted joint. With our expert tips and tricks, you'll see how small adjustments can lead to a significant improvement in your playing, much like how teamwork boosts efficiency. Tune in for a deep dive into the craftsmanship that shapes your bass's performance!
Hey guys, it's Gary with UptonBase. Thanks for checking out our podcast. We just wanted to let you know that a lot of these podcast audio files are pulled from our videos. So if we're chatting and talking about certain features and things about bass topics and you're scratching your head going what's he talking about, hop on over to our YouTube also our coursesuptonbasecom, and oftentimes Instagram, for partials and entire videos that will describe what you're hearing on these audio files. Again, thanks for listening and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, it's Gary with Upton Bass and we're talking about bass fingerboards today and we're going to talk about overstands and projections, how we get there. I'm going to remind you a few times of a few rules that I have, but most importantly, there's the musical element of the fingerboard. Now I'm talking about the structural element of pitch of the fingerboard and the height of the projection, which results in what you need for pressure on the belly of the bass and the overstand, in what you need for pressure on the belly of the bass and the overstand, which speaks to the ergonomics of how you wrap your arm around the bass and play, or the neck, for example, how it's angled in the body and when I'm playing it, that I'm not playing back here, or I guess vice versa, I could not be playing too far out here. We're looking for balance so that when we play here and here we're very comfortable. When I'm standing with my bass, look at the thing, it doesn't even want to fall over. I'm putting very little effort into keeping the bass in place and I'm able to play in a way that I can at my line of sight, if any of you have done karate or any of the martial arts, when you play you kind of have the gaze. I'm spacing out into nowhere, but I can see my right hand and I could see my left hand and I could check my intonation. So we've established these physical things and we've established these ergonomic things which impact your ability to interface with your bass. After all that's said and done and you've got these things right and you've got the center of the scroll sitting over the body, you've got that nice angled neck set in relation to these rib corners here, the shape of the top of the fingerboard. This is a mystical concept that luthiers talk about.
Speaker 1:I find there's a lot of smoke and mirrors in this territory because many people get a fingerboard to a point of whew, thank goodness it's done and it works. And there's a little funny business going on, and I don't know why. This base is set up with a little bit more of a wet fingerboard, and if you drink coffee and you order yourself a wet cappuccino, it's not going to have a lot of foam, it's going to have a lot of milk and a little bit of foam. If you get a dry cappuccino, for example, it's going to be a lot of foam, lots of foam, very little milk, very little coffee. Same coffee, right, same espresso shots are down at the bottom with lots of foam, and as you drink it the foam settles. So sorry for the lesson in coffee. That is how I refer to fingerboards.
Speaker 1:This has a pretty wet sounding fingerboard, and when I say wet, I refer to growl. What's growl? Everyone's heard. We all know what growl is right. Do you, though?
Speaker 1:This is a note. This is a G played poorly with my third finger, but it's what I do. I'm going to try and dry this note up as much as possible. So I'm trying to get you to hear the fundamental boom, boom, very much. So let's take a very, very dry sound A tuba. A tuba goes to play that G Boom. It's a boom noise, it's not a grrr, right, when I play this bass the way I want to play this bass, locking my thumb back here, listen to the growl. So the fingerboard is intentionally scooped ever so slightly scooped very flat but it's shaped in a way that intentionally buzzes a little bit. Not to be confused with this type of buzz, I'm going to roll the G string off the fingerboard intentionally and I'm going to make a buzz sound for you. If your bass is playing like that, you need to get the fingerboard dressed. A dress might be a couple hundred bucks. You run a plane down the fingerboard, you check for high spots, you establish the right amount of scoop depending on the player and playing the instrument, the type of strings that are used, and then it gets sanded, oiled, pumiced, polished up and you have a nice fingerboard One of the things with fingerboards that I did not believe until I had to eat my hat five times.
Speaker 1:I can dress an Indian fingerboard the exact same way, indian and the ones I see from China. The exact same way versus a piece of African ebony. The exact same shape, the exact same guys. The exact same way versus a piece of African ebony. The exact same shape, the exact same guys, the exact same tools and they just don't have that resonance and resilience that I get out of these fingerboards that I get from Africa. And the reason I want this, it's not about playing notes, right? I learned something from Victor Wooten. Every time I see Victor Wooten I just saw Victor in Boston I learned something from Victor Wooten.
Speaker 1:I'm not a bass player, b-a-s-s player, I'm a B-A-S-E player, love it. But when I'm playing the B-A-S-S, the bass, the expression of the instrument, is what I'm looking to add to my bass playing, my B-A-S-E playing. So the foundation of the music. So I could play something simple. And if I really listen to the bass and you listen to my right hand, that's the difference between playing your bass and then there's talking through your bass. And if you see players pull their funny faces when they're playing, some of them aren't that attractive, but what I believe they're trying to do, they're literally voicing their sound and what they're doing in their mind through their hands. They're so connected that they're I'm not that kind of bass player. I'm sure I have a face, I'm sure I do a thing.
Speaker 1:It's not as expressive as others, thank you, and I play this little ditty on every bass that I play and I should give it a name, but for me it's something I composed, I suppose, to really hear the voice of the bass. I get to find out I'm literally looking as I do that If your fingerboard's wrong, I'm going to hear going on there. If your fingerboard's wrong, I'm going to hear going on there. As I glissando, I also get to hear the resonant frequency of that A going into that B flat. This pitch still exists in the bass as I come into the B and then I get to do a double stop of a G and a C and I pull off on the D too. I mute the D right after it happens.
Speaker 1:Then to the B flat. Then that nice low G, and there I'm intentionally over-goosing the bass and over-goosing the fingerboard, making it buzz a little bit on purpose. G harmonic, and I want to hear it ringing the body. I think if you find something like that when you're playing the bass that you warm up with or you always play with once you get going, it'll really help you connect with your instrument. So you're not just pushing buttons, right, you're actually playing an instrument. You're actually playing the bass, in this case the B-A-S-S. Play the bass, listen to the bass, push your voice through the instrument and not being limited by the ergonomics, not being limited by a funny overstand and a low projection and an instrument that can't ring like this. I can't ask for any more from a bass. Again, when we're just playing, I still think we want to incorporate as much as we visit and say goodbye to those notes so quickly. We're still incorporating the same kind of love for the space and the sound that we're creating.
Speaker 1:So the fingerboard has a round in this direction and the fingerboard has a scoop in this direction. It's not flat. Why is it so important to have such a thick fingerboard? Well, we don't have a truss rod and I don't believe there's any place for pieces of metal inside a piece of maple. The wood changes dimension with humidity. A synthetic object of steel or carbon fiber or something like that can be inset and it won't contract as the wood is doing what it's doing.
Speaker 1:So, while the concept of a rod in the neck might give it stiffness, the stiffness and the strength and rigidity for this piece of maple comes from this piece of ebony, with its grain this way, and the marriage of the two being a really good joint and a nice, high quality piece of seasoned maple. The marriage of the two is what keeps this neck in place. The rigidity of the neck, the rigidity of the neck set the proper placement. All plays in. All those little one percents. You take one percent here and one percent here, and one percent here and one percent here. It's only four, but it's a bell curve. You put these pieces together and somehow four turns into ten. It's like moving. Go, move by yourself. Get a friend, get three friends. It happens fast.