Bill Merchant's guest appearances

Bill Merchant

Contrabass Conversations

David Allen

Paul Simon

Brian Johnson

Willie Nelson

Henry Chen

William Parker

Steve Metcalf

Scott Dixon

John Davis

Chris West

Leonard Bernstein

Paul Johnson

Miles Brown

Kevin Brown

Rick Jones

OwlTail

Bill Merchant just had the mildest winter in his 40 year career.   For decades, double bassists would come in to get their winter posts set during November.  Now this is happening in January.   "Global warming is real, people," says Bill. That was one of probably 50 topics that we covered in our conversation! Other topics we covered:  why most people set sound posts too tightly the difference between aluminum and wood bridge adjusters the effect that an endpin can have on the sound of a bass designing a folding-neck electric upright Bill's preferred measurements for all sorts of set-up work contributing to Chuck Traeger's seminal text on double bass repair and set-up  If you like going deep on the gear side of things, you will love this conversation with Bill! Links to Check Out:  Bill’s website Setup And Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound: A Manual for Players, Makers, And Repairers by Chuck Traeger (Bill contributed to this book) Coda to The Setup &amp; Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound by Chuck Traeger  Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to your inbox! Learn how you can support the show at contrabassconversations.com/support Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. Enter the D’Addario strings giveaway for Contrabass Conversations listeners at contrabassconversations.com/strings! Hosting for Contrabass Conversations is provided by Bass Capos.  Bass Capos are an excellent choice for any bass player using or looking to implement a double bass extension. Easy to install and adjust, cheaper and more reliable than hand-built latches, also lighter and quicker in operation.

<a href="http://www.merchantbass.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Bill Merchant</a> just had the mildest winter in his 40 year career.   For decades, double bassists would come in to get their winter posts set during November.  Now this is happening in January.   "Global warming is real, people," says Bill. That was one of probably 50 topics that we covered in our conversation! Other topics we covered: <ul> <li>why most people set sound posts too tightly</li> <li>the difference between aluminum and wood bridge adjusters</li> <li>the effect that an endpin can have on the sound of a bass</li> <li>designing a folding-neck electric upright</li> <li>Bill's preferred measurements for all sorts of set-up work</li> <li>contributing to <a href="http://amzn.to/2haoTXX" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Chuck Traeger's seminal text</a> on double bass repair and set-up</li> </ul> If you like going deep on the gear side of things, you will love this conversation with Bill! Links to Check Out: <ul> <li><a href="http://www.merchantbass.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Bill’s website</a></li> <li><a href="http://amzn.to/2haoTXX" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Setup And Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound: A Manual for Players, Makers, And Repairers</a> by Chuck Traeger (Bill contributed to this book)</li> <li><a href="http://amzn.to/2goiWrK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Coda to The Setup &amp; Repair of the Double Bass for Optimum Sound</a> by Chuck Traeger</li> </ul> <a href="http://contrabassconversations.com/subscribe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Subscribe to the podcast</a> to get these interviews delivered to your inbox! Learn how you can support the show at <a href="http://contrabassconversations.com/support" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">contrabassconversations.com/support</a> Thanks to our sponsors! This episode is brought to you by <a href="http://contrabassconversations.com/daddario1" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">D’Addario Strings</a>! Check out their <a href="http://contrabassconversations.com/daddario2" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Zyex strings</a>, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. Enter the D’Addario strings giveaway for Contrabass Conversations listeners at <a href="http://contrabassconversations.com/strings" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">contrabassconversations.com/strings</a>! Hosting for Contrabass Conversations is provided by <a href="http://contrabassconversations.com/basscapos" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Bass Capos</a>.  Bass Capos are an excellent choice for any bass player using or looking to implement a double bass extension. Easy to install and adjust, cheaper and more reliable than hand-built latches, also lighter and quicker in operation.

287: Bill Merchant luthier chat