Hello, i used to play an old ironwood 10 string back in the mid nineties but i never adjusted to the closeness of the strings, and gave up. I aways regretted it and, years later i'd like to resume but with an 8 string. I am a student, bassist and performer with NS Design Bass controllers and flutes.

Before i go that extra push and buy new i was wondering if anyone has a stick bass for sale not an ns/stick though. What is the waiting list on a new stick these days?

Also, if I see a sweet zebrawood 10 string, can the 10 string acommodate a standard fourths bass tuning? I've been out of the loop.

I'm uk, scotland but i travel to usa a fair bit.

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I just read you introduction post, if you want a little bit more string spacing, you should also consider a 10 string Grand.
For a full 4ths tuning in 10 strings you will be really pushing the limits of what strings can do in 36''. You cannot tune that high in such a scale so your lowest string will be REALLY low. Gary Goodman has developed a custom 10 string set for 4ths (www.octave4plus.com).
As a clever compromise Emmet proposed a tuning where the middle string is doubled; sorry I cannot find the post now

Cheers, Daniel.

Yes I had a feeling the Low string would be super super low and the high would be too high for me to use. Its probably why I gravitate towards the 8-string as it feels like the best combo of spacing, familiar tuning and spread over notes across the fretboard. A 10 over a Grand body is brilliant. They do that? It was not something I had considered. Amazing!

The Stick product range has diversified healthily since I have been away.

Hi Daniel and fox,

The tuning Daniel mentions is the Dual Bass Reciprocal tuning:

http://www.stick.com/articles/howard_dbr/

If you think you will be occupying the bass role and don't need "melody" notes, it's a great tuning, with all of the moves you know already available for the left hand, and some "Stickish" aspects as well, plus a really nice bass soloing capability.

On the 10 and 12 string the "bass strings" (6-10 on a 10-string) give you chords that cover the bass range and much of the guitar range as well.

You can use DBR on an 8, 10 or 12 string. I've got it on my Ten String Grand right now, but the whole tuning up a half step so that the let hand is familiar territory.

Greg,
I was actually referring to this post http://www.stickist.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3034&p=21100
in particular to this:


Of course DBR is a wonderful idea if you plan to cover the bass role, here is a nice example

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7MXgHzTbTk[/youtube]


Cheers, Daniel.

I knew you could find it

It wasn't easy

And today I have just done the deed. And bought a second hand Wenge (?) Stick Bass 1793 with case, strings and cables etc.

The seller is in Germany

After the little dance over price and the detailed technical responses to my questions to show this person actually played a Stick (and was not cut and pasted from a forum) The seller sent me different photos of the stick with the serial number and a piece of paper with both our names on it between the stick strings.

Paid via PayPal

I really did not want to have to wait 4 months for a new instrument so, fingers crossed it shall arrive and I can now divide my bass scales and daily rehearsals with the bass stick. For the next four months I'll be going back to musical basics. I like that. Everyone should learn something new.

The NS CR4M EUB I play is delightfully... slinky... it always has been so with me, dead easy to find the notes but it loves finger rolls, sideswipes and trills. The stick I hope will encourage a very different approach.

Plse check your PM Fox.

and replied