The making of a Thomas Martin Double Bass

fretmeister

These chaps do hand carved Double Basses, built in Oxfordshire. 

Thomas Martin used to play with the London Symphony. He still plays, but now he teaches and makes basses

He's on the right playing one of his own basses:

He's only 5ft 5. A full size bull fiddle must be a bit of a battle for him!

Andyjr1515

That is stupendous!  I had no idea they carved the tops from solid.  Where the hell do you get a piece of decent wood THAT big????

Thanks for posting

juansolo

Impressive, most impressive!

fretmeister

Cheap £400 DBs are ply.

Then as you go up the food chain you get carved tops and then carved backs.

Thomas Martin's student models have the top and back carved in Hungary and then shipped to Oxford where the carve is finished off and the rest is made by hand - they are about £6000

If you want it all built by him then you won't get any change from £12,000 +

Still way cheaper than an 1800 German from a more famous name where you can drop £50,000 without trying!!

jd0272

I shall no longer bitch my tits about the cost of 'high end' guitars.

fretmeister

jd0272 said:

I shall no longer bitch my tits about the cost of 'high end' guitars.

Some mid priced basses... 

 http://www.contrabass.co.uk/csbasses.htm

And some mid price bows

http://www.contrabass.co.uk/quality_bows.htm

jd0272

Fck me. 

Well, y'know...

xHymnal

Beautiful craftsmanship. I always admire the ethos and method of violin making and this is very similar. My workshop table was once Maurice Bouettes table whom my parents knew, the legs are beautifully turned from old mahogany.