Musical Notes and Thoughts

Today, a friend took me to Springfield, a town about 60 miles away from where I live. My double-bass needed work: the fingerboard had developed some grooves in it in and needed to be planed. As I obviously cannot drive due to reduced eyesight, getting that help is essential.

I also needed a new string set put on. Years ago, I used to do that myself, but I can no longer see subtleties that may need adjusting when restringing an instrument (especially a slightly tilted bridge). I really, really liked my former strings, a set of Evah Pirazzi. They truly sang. But, they were starting to wear out, and they are a high-tension string. As my left hand has aged (I am no spring chicken), between the writing, blogging and double-bass playing that I do, my left hand in particular is increasingly prone to injury. I needed a new set of strings that would have a much lower tension. As I’m intending to resume recitals, practice time needs to increase, and with the former string set, I couldn’t do that.

The new string set, a set of Corelli solo tuning strings from France, have a much lower tension. They are regarded as a good choice for older hands at greater risk for injury (they were designed by, and are used by, Francois Rabbath, a French double-bass soloist who is now in his early 90s). They are a very bright string, so it may take some time to get used to them. Bow technique may end up needing to be adjusted as well given their lower tension. We will see what happens over the next few weeks.

I am particularly thankful for the help of the luthier, Doug Haydon. He was able to fix the fingerboard, and his fee was very reasonable. Even better, I didn’t have to leave my bass up there, so no second trip is required, at least at this time. There will be no extended time without being able to practice. I am also thankful for Bill, who provided the vehicle and transportation (yes, I did pay for the gas).

After being in a warmish car this afternoon, I’m keeping the bass in its case to let it reacclimate: don’t need the wood to crack, something a double-bass is prone to given its large wood surfaces (yes, I use dampit type devices to help regulate humidity inside the bass itself).

I will be curious how things progress as I resume practicing tomorrow.