It's a two or three octave harp, where you can sharp the keys with the use of levers. From what I could tell the last time I saw them, the strings are made of nylon, with the exception of the very bottom register, which appears to be made of steel. They aren't too expensive (I've seen a few floating around ebay for a few hundred) and can be played sitting on a stand or in your lap.
I love the idea of the stand-up bass. It's one of the coolest sounding instruments I've ever heard, and I had hardly ever heard of it before I got more into Tiger Army and psychobilly in general.
But as I say, it's the idea I like, not the reality. From what I gather, they're super-expensive, fairly difficult to learn, and obviously a real pain in the ass to transport.
Si, there's "Cheap" basses out there for around $US 1,000.00 (Soutweststrings.com) Shipping, however... But they are a ton of fun. Im TERRIBLE at upright bass, but i have a lot of fun doing slap bass when I can. From 2005-2008 (June) i had at least 4 basses at my disposal at any point, one of which was a standard american rockabilly slap bass - King. Neat.
I love the idea of the stand-up bass. It's one of the coolest sounding instruments I've ever heard
Amen. I agree completely. Good jazz bass slays me. I went kind of crazy one day and bought Danny Thompson's entire ouevre on a bass kick. I'm pissed I just missed Henry Grimes, but I'm going to see Esperanza Spalding this weekend, so yeah. Cheers to bass.
