The Chadwick Folding Bass
Brance and I spent the past two days in the studio with Barry Bales, shooting an AcuTab bass DVD which will be released later this year. Adam Steffey, Kenny Smith and Jim Mills were also on hand for the shoot.
Barry had a lot of news to share, particularly about what will be his newest instrument, a Chadwick Folding Bass. The bass is the brainchild of Charlie Chadwick, a Nashville musician who has suffered the frustrations of traveling with an upright bass for many years.
He had tried using whatever instruments might be available at his performance destinations, and a number of the travel basses available on the market. He tired of the uncertainty of using unfamiliar basses and the unsatisfactory tone and responsiveness of scaled-down travel instruments, which led him to start experimenting with the concept of a folding bass.
Chadwick’s design involved a hinged neck that folds back and is stored inside the body of the bass – along with the fingerboard, tailpiece, bridge and end pin – and can be broken down and reassembled in a matter of minutes. He took his first prototype on the road with John Jorgenson Quintet in 2004 and while touring with Jorgensen this last few years, he has continued to refine his design.
Once he felt that he had everything working as it should, Charlie converted a Samuel Shen bass in 2007. He had the opportunity to show it to Shen in 2008, who immediately recognized the value of the concept. Soon Shen and Chadwick were discussing how these folding basses could be manufactured at the Shen factory in China for the international market.
They are now available for sale as the Chadwick Folding Bass, offered for $2999 with a hard shell case. This is a plywood bass with an ebony fingerboard and an oil varnish finish.
Check out this video of Charlie breaking the bass down for travel:
Availability at this point is limited to no more than 12 basses per month. Bales expects to get his in a few weeks, and once more players see and hear these instruments up close and personal, a wait of several months could be the norm.
Barry said he tried one out for several weeks and found the tone and responsiveness to be quite good, and that he plans totake his Chadwick whenever he has to fly for either Dan Tyminski or Alison Krauss shows.
You can find many more photos and details on the Chadwick site.
Email This Post
| Print | Top | 0 Comments
One of our readers just wrote in to tell us that he recently had several instruments stolen from his home. John did not indicate where his home is located, but since his company is in Atlanta, GA I assume his home is in that area as well. Here's his report about the instruments, and a way to contact...
The Dan Tyminski Band will appear on Saturday night's (2/23) edition of The Grand Ole Opry.
This widely-heralded new group, whose debut release is expected on Rounder this spring, is headed by former Alison Krauss & Union Station and Lonesome River band stalwart Tyminski on guitar and lead vocals,...
Another stolen instrument report. This one is from Bryan Turner of Cumberland Gap Connection. It seems someone swiped his bass Tuesday night at IBMA.
This is a somewhat unusual instrument. It's a Knilling Thinline Jazz Bass. It looks much the same as any other upright bass, only much thinner.
The...
Barry Bales also shared some details about the upcoming Alison Krauss & Union Station album when he was with us in the studio this week.
They are heading into the studio later this month with an eye towards completing rhythm tracks before the end of August. Barry says that some of the material...
Parker Guitars has introduced their first acoustic/electric bass guitar, unveiled this week at the Winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA. Parker has been known primarily for building electric guitars and basses for rock musicians, but have more recently developed instruments for acoustic and jazz players as...
Adam Steffey's first-ever instructional DVD for mandolin is due for release from AcuTab Publications on June 12. It will be a two-DVD set, entitled My Approach To Bluegrass Mandolin.
The first of the two disks focuses on Adam's approach to the instrument, including his thoughts on proper technique...
Sim Daley has introduced a new mandolin, built to Adam Stefffey's exact specifications.
Sim hasn't decided yet whether it will officially be dubbed the Adam Steffey Model, but that is what it will be no matter what its called. It's the instrument Adam is playing now with The Dan Tyminski Band and...
Leave a comment
Comments are open and unmoderated for our registered users, only your first comment will require approval before publication. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of The Bluegrass Blog. Obscene, abusive, silly, or annoying remarks may be deleted, but the fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes an endorsement of their content by The Bluegrass Blog.
You must