The new toy in question, of course, was an upright bass. I've been dreaming about getting one and learning to play it for several years.
The trick in double-bass-shopping is finding a dealer who sells double basses and knows what the heck they are talking about. Many stores carry them, fewer have a salesperson that knows anything about them, and fewer still have nice instruments and knowledgeable staff.
Our first stop was at the String Emporium. The proprietor is the Assistant Principal Double Bass in the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, so it's safe to assume he knows a bit about the bass. Steve showed us (and played) several beautiful instruments.
He was curious about Lady Luck's Vespa, since he dreams of owning a scooter. He was also curious about how I was going to bring home a bass on my motorcycle. I told him I just needed a few bungee cords and some luck.
After talking to Steve for a while, we rode over to the String Shop of Arizona. They have a super cool store, but none of the basses in my price range sounded as nice as the ones at the String Emporium (several of the basses that were way out of my budget sounded nice, though). I felt the coolest part of the String Shop was the large chest of drawers they had containing a variety of violins and violas. I need drawers full of musical instruments.The String Shop was fun because nobody expects a rough-looking biker and a scooter-chick to walk into a store that gets most of it's business from orchestra kids and their moms.
Speaking of orchestra kids and their moms, one of the orchestra kids was waiting to get into mom's car when I started my bike. She just about jumped out of her skin. I felt kind of bad, but mostly amused (the Triumph isn't THAT loud, it's just a weird noise when it starts).
Anyway, by that point I'd tried a heck of a lot of basses out, and decided to get a bass from the String Emporium. So, now I'm the proud owner of a beautiful Roth bass (that is somewhere between 30 and 50 years old).
For those of you wondering how I got the bass home on my Triumph... I didn't. Some things just aren't possible (without a sidecar).
6 comments:
Oh, now DON'T be starting that sidecar talk in here! You know where that leads...
Pretty soon we have SUV drones and Minivan Commandos parading all around the place in brand new sidehack rigs, thinking that they are RIDERS!
Sidehacks are Wrong! They are unbalanced transportation for unbalanced individuals, and of course, my opinion is Law! ;^)
Congrats on the new bass, bro, but don't be talking anymore of that sick sidehack talk... We'll have to perform an Exorcism.
Ride well,
=gc=
Congrats on the bass!
I know I could transport a bass on the Vespa. It has a nice case right?
I wouldn't try it on the Triumph though. Those aren't made for anything serious...*grin*
Congratulations on a new musical instrument. Something must be in the air. I have been looking as well.
Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks
Gary - You know you want a Ural with a sidecar mounted supersoaker.
I don't think we have to worry about the SUV/Minvan-icapped getting sidehacks and thinking they're bikers. They wouldn't last 5 minutes without air-conditioning and a cupholder for an iced-coffee-like beverage (or a heater and hot-coffee-like beverage in the winter).
Now if I could only figure out how to ride the bass to work.
Michelle- Thanks!
Steve- As a matter of fact, it does have a nice case. It's soft though. Have you seen the hard cases for double bass? They're like huge fiberglass coffins. Of course, if I had one of those I could just pull it behind me like a trailer.
And you're right, Triumphs are pretty much just for giggles. I start grinning as soon as I get on mine. :D
whimp...if I can get a 12 FOOT tall Xmas tree home on a two wheeler, a puny upright bass would be easy as pie.
Btw, have you heard the band, or seen the videos of Apocoliyptica
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQtYPRkS1Lg
wycked - yeah, but what's the worst that happens if you drop a christmas tree? ;)
I actually bought Apocalyptica plays Metallica by Four Cellos when it came out. And just recently discovered they were still putting out music.
I hadn't seen any of their videos, though. It's good to see they've kept their sense of humor!
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