You can get a cheap 3/4 full upright bass ( orbass fiddle, contra
bass, double bass, etc) for $500, then you'll spend another $90 to get
the action done, another $75-$150 for bridge manuliption ( reshsping,
recutting, adjusters, etc.), new styings, as what us shipped with if
is $hit most of the time, strings will run you about $65-$500
depending what you get, and don't forget the bow, some give you a
cheap French bow, plastic & fiberglass, where a good bow, or a decent
bow still will cost you $, $$, $$$ etc. Or you go to a pro music
shop, spend about $3,000 and all that is included, minus the bow.
Cost is everything, and I spent the money for the musickit DVD on
their HG, god that sound still haunts me, oh the shivers!
Bottom line is simple, some are destined to play, some are destined to
build, some achieve greatness and do both!
But from my research, its best to get a pro-built low ended a first,
you'll get the proper sound w/o the cool and complex additions, like
symepethic strings, etc, in the end you get what you pay for, and my
time is worth so much to me, I'd rather start on the right then the
otherway.
A friends dad, got him a broken down Benz, and said, has the potential
of greatness, if you put in the labor and time, use up favors owed,
spend more tricking it out, but it will be YOUR creation! But it was
not his first car, again, it all depends in the end in cost, but some
things are worth the wait, only took me 17 years for my first HG'
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 3, 2008, at 10:34, "Mark Kneitinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
Not being a luthier, I have always puchased my instruments. It is a
great talent to carve and construct something. Not all Luthiers are
musicians. I mainly play strings and some winds. I have owned two
Hurdy Gurdy's, the first from a maufacturer from North Carolina. It
was diatonic and I tuned it to Bb and played it with my bagpipes. I
sold it because in my opinion it was a cheap starter instrument. The
second was from a decent luthier from Europe. It didn't take long
before the wheel warped and required Alden's magic touch to make it
playable, some $1,000 later. It is playable now but still is
inferior to the $2500 and up HG's.
The lessons I've learned are:
(1) Do your homework
(2) Ask for opinions
(3) Don't make a haste decision
(3) You get what you pay for, Don't go cheap
All the analogies in the world don't add up to common sense. I
regret not buying from the Alden's and Nagy's of the world. In the
end I would have been better off because the repair costs started to
add up quickly.
Thanks,
Mark from Ni
