Posted on

Review: So You Want to Make a Double Bass; To Make a Double Bass; Double Bass Making

Review: So You Want to Make a Double Bass; To Make a Double Bass; Double Bass Making

Reviewed by David Riggs

Originally published in American Lutherie #71, 2002 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Six, 2013



So You Want to Make a Double Bass
Peter Chandler
Peter Chandler, 2001
ISBN 9780968935309

To Make a Double Bass
Harry S. Wake
Harry S. Wake, 1995 (revised edition)
ISBN 978-0960704866

Double Bass Making
Bob Hitchings
Gwyllum Press, 1999
ISBN 9780953715602

Until recently, would-be bass makers have had only one main source from which to get specific information on making the string bass. Harry Wake has now been joined by two authors who present distinct approaches to the subject. For those who may have been intimidated by the prospect of taking on such a seemingly difficult project, there is now a good deal of help available in these volumes.

While it seems unlikely that one without any lutherie experience would tackle a bass as a first project, it is conceivable that one may be primarily interested in this instrument, and it is entirely possible to make a beginning, at least, with any of these books.

For sheer detail and volume of information, I would probably pick the Hitchings book over either of the other two, but more on that later. Peter Chandler’s book is the slickest production with 93 pages and 109 figures, more than 20 of which are color photos. At $60US it is also the most expensive of the three.

Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article

This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page.

If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on

Questions: Double Bass External Linings

Questions: Double Bass External Linings

by Arnold Schnitzer

Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009



Quincy M. from the Internet asks:

Some double basses have what look like external linings, strips of wood on the ribs at the top and bottom edges. Can someone please tell me what the purpose of these strips is and also what they are called?

Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article

This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page.

If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on

Questions: Bass Scroll

Questions: Bass Scroll

by Guy Rabut, Roman Barnas, and Tim Olsen

Originally published in American Lutherie #89, 2007



Paul W. from the Internet asks:

Do you have any advice for someone who is carving his first bass scroll? I have read instructions and seen pictures, but I’m having trouble figuring out what to do after the first turn of the scroll is blocked out.

Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article

This article is part of our premium web content offered to Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. Members also receive 4 annual issues of American Lutherie and get discounts on products. For details, visit the membership page.

If you are already a member, login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on

In Memoriam: Hammond Ashley

In Memoriam: Hammond Ashley

Passed on May 1, 1993

by Dave Wilson, Peggy Warren, and Jonathon Peterson

Originally published in American Lutherie #34, 1993 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Three, 2004

Hammond Ashley died on May 1, 1993 at the age of 91. We have lost an advocate for fine music and fine musical instrument making, and a good friend. Music was always an important part of Ham’s life. He played banjo in a dance band while studying mechanical engineering at Stanford University. Later, when working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Europe, he bought a bass and began learning to play. Years later, while working in Seattle as an engineer for Boeing, he played bass with the Highline Symphony, a group he helped to found. At the age of 80, Ham’s hearing deteriorated so he couldn’t hear directions from the conductor, so he took up the cello, which can be played without a conductor in smaller groups.

He had a woodworking background, too. Ham had his own cabinet shop 1928 and specialized in custom antique furniture reproductions and fine interior woodwork. His clients included Edward G. Robinson, Jack Benny, Jerome Kern, and Mrs. Oscar Hammerstein.

After the Christmas 1963 layoffs at Boeing, Ham planned on having an active retirement. With a background in engineering, woodworking, and music, lutherie seemed a natural choice. He set up shop under the airport’s landing approach and worked on a little of everything — organs, pianos, and even furniture. But the second floor was devoted to lutherie. He ended up having a whole new 30 year career.

His lively interest in advancing the science of sounds led him to explore both the old and the new. Making, restoring, and repairing included experiences with many varieties of stringed instruments including gamba, bass, cello, viola, violin, the eight members of the “new family” of violins, rebec, sitar, sarod, crwth, and harp. But his specialty was the violin family, particularly basses. He worked with Carleen Hutchins of the Catgut Acoustical Society, and was an active member of the GAL.

Dozens of people worked for and with him over almost 30 years. Ham set the pace. You might see him elbow-deep in papers at his desk, or working with the plates and winding up with glitter all over his face, or all bent over, with curled up hands, carving a scroll, varnishing a bass, or talking with customers, many of whom became friends. At age 90 he cut his hours down by taking more than an hour for lunch, and so putting in less than 44 hours a week.

Ham made music by playing, by his craftsmanship, and by making instruments usable and available to others. Joyful noises came from the house over the years as Ham had fun making music with others.

Ham knew what he liked, and generously helped himself, as he in other ways helped others. Friends were invited to stay to lunch or overnight on the spur of the moment. He treated others as he’d like to be treated, giving them the freedom to be themselves. When asked if something was all right with him, he’d say something like,“Whatever works for you,” or, “Don’t undervalue yourself or your work, or others won’t appreciate what you do for them.”

Ham was well educated, interested in a wide variety of subjects, and had a wide variety of friends. He was a woodworker, a builder, a storyteller, a figure-it-out scientific kind of person, a thinker who worked with his hands, a courteous, determined, matter-of-fact, down-to-earth gentleman. He was greatly loved, and he will be missed. Hammond Ashley Associates, Inc. will continue under the guidance of Dave Wilson and Paul Hammond Ashley, his grandson.

— Dave Wilson and Peggy Warren

Photo by Michael Darnton.

Ham called the Guild office a few weeks ago to let us know he was dying, and to say goodbye and thanks for everything. I asked him how he was feeling about it, and he said he was tired, that he was ready. He said he missed his wife. They were married for 63 years. She died in 1991. He said there was to be a party at his house. He was so matter-of-fact.

I went up there with my wife, Ruth. He was sitting in a wheel chair, looking very content. There were kids running around, and co-workers, family and friends eating and talking, having a good time. Not a tear in the house.

Ham and I talked. It was like every other conversation we had ever had. He had such grace and dignity, such honesty. We shook hands, and said goodbye.

I learned a lot from Ham, almost none of it about stringed instruments. What a man! I loved the guy.

—  Jonathon Peterson

Posted on

Letter: Sloane Bass Tuners

Letter: Sloane Bass Tuners

by Fredrick C. Lyman, Jr.

Originally printed in American Lutherie #66, 2001

 

Dear Tim and Deb:

Sorry to learn of the passing of Irving Sloane. I met him at a convention in Pennsylvania. He was displaying his precision guitar machines and I remarked that there was nothing comparable for the bass viol. He asked if there would really be a market for such. I said there really were no good bass machines and all bass players were agreed about that. I have been so out of touch that I have not seen his bass machines, but it appears that they are the new standard of the industry.

I drew pictures of strange imaginary instruments for years before I got Irving’s book and found it was really possible to build something. It’s great that you have been reaching a young audience that has the possibility of developing their work over a sufficient time to solve the problems. In retrospect I should have done many things differently. I did build a lot of the instruments that I was interested in, but it was not a really sustainable enterprise and I found myself too old and feeble to go on. In January I discovered that I had the same disease as Irving Sloane. I had drastic surgery and it seems to have been a success, but my overall vitality is not great.