Re: [Harp-L] bass harp question

[tom ball <havaball@xxxxxxx>]

Michelle wrote (about the Victory bass)
>  I have one in near-new condition that I snagged off eBay for $50.
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Fifty bucks?  Wow, that's the deal of the century for any double bass 
harp, Michelle, well done!  I gotta start paying more attention to 
eBay...

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> Please let us know what you decide and how you do with whatever bass harp
you end up with.

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After swapping many Email's with bassists and harp-techs from around 
the globe, it turns out I'm buying a restored pre-war Hohner 265 
(G-to-G) from Dick Gardner.

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> Also, having a few ideas of my own, I'm very curious what
you intend to do with it (if'n you don't mind my asking).  8^)

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Well, first I have to learn to play the beast!  I have zero 
experience on one.  I've not as yet taken possession of it, so 
perhaps I'm being naive in assuming I can even learn it (?)  We'll 
see.  It'll be tons o' fun trying.

I intend to spend the next several months woodshedding out in the 
garage, and if all the silver fillings haven't fallen out of my teeth 
by then, I'll try to find a way to work it into the arsenal.   Never 
held a harp so heavy, tho.  (Hmmm... I wonder if SPAH does steroid 
testing at the convention?)  :)

Seriously I doubt the bass will have a lot of application with the 
Tom & Kenny show.  But (assuming I can learn to play it,) I hope it 
will be a useful tool for what has thankfully turned out to be a 
growing demand for session work.  Of course it'd take a lifetime to 
play even close to the way Dick (or my pal Danny Wilson) plays, but I 
s'pose it's never too late to start? <shrug>

In any event, thanks, Michelle, for your input!  You've obviously 
done your homework on the basses...  (For example I didn't realize 
the Suzuki bass had welded-on reeds.)  How do you reckon you'll 
employ your bass?  Let us know?

cheers and stay in touch,

Tom Ball <-- soon to be butchering the low frequencies in Santa Babs

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