A Brief History of the Double Bass by Lawrence Hurst The modern double bass is not a true member of either the violin or viol families. Most likely its first general shape was that of a violone, the largest member of the viol family. Some of the earliest basses extant are violones, (including C-shaped sound holes) that have been fitted with modern trappings. At the beginning of the 17th century, Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) described a violon da gamba sub-bass, a five-stringed specimen tun ...

Making a double bass VISITOR Web counter supplied by My name is Bob Hitchings and I am a bass player living in Somerset, England I play double bass in a couple of amateur orchestras and I am also a semi-pro jazz bassist. As I was making this bass I kept full photographic record of the manufacture from the very start so that the processes can be clearly seen.The site is broken down into a number of pages dealing with different parts of the manufacture. Scroll down the page to se ...