DocBass ready to roll

[drbassman]

Thanks again guys!  Here's bass #1 ready to go.  I did blacken the f-holes as some of you suggested.  It was a pain in the ass to get it right, but I did it!  Not so easy doing this by hand.  It turned out great however, so it was with it.

I've got my Reverb account set up and once I get my studio lighting set up, I'll take some HD pics.  I love Reverb, they let you add Sound Cloud clips without any hassle.  Probably will use TB as well.  eBay's site is a crap in that category.  I won't be using them for now.

[patman]

That is beautiful...

All it needs is a low B string...

Seriously, it is a great looking design.

[drbassman]

Played both of the basses at practice last night and I was thrilled with the results.  The maple top bass has the typical solid maple tone, brash and gnarly.  The TV Jones pup is outstanding by itself.  I was blown away, really.  You can't find a better pup for $125 IMHO.  The vintage white bass was very different in character.  Even though it has the maple neck, the semi-hollow mahogany body seems to mellow it out just enough to make it sound like a slightly more aggressive HB bass.  Again, the pup performs so well, I am sold on it as a mainstay.

I am going to do some computer recordings soon, so I'll keep you posted.

[Dave W]

Elegant! 

[drbassman]

Thanks Dave, it turned out better than I expected.

[drbassman]

Took a couple shots with my new studio set up.  A couple more adjustments and I should have some nice pics of my basses.

[Pilgrim]

Lighting is a trick.  It appears to be as hard to get detail on the surface of a white bass as on a black bass.  A little reflection or glare can wipe it out.

[drbassman]

For sure Al.  I'm still experimenting with it.

[Pilgrim]

Try some diffusion material or bounce lighting..might reduce glare and let more detail stand out.

And ask Carlo for ideas - he takes beautiful photos.

[BTL]

Very nice, I like it!

[dadagoboi]

I think your raw photos look good, doc!  The full body shot is really the only one that needs help IMO.  It's difficult to get a good reflection from a white object.

I photoshop my stuff quite a bit, mostly with levels, brightness and contrast.  You can get a gray background to go black with a little practice.  The contrast between background and the bass helps a lot to make it pop.

I also use a manual digital camera (Panasonic LX5).  It allows me to set exposure and aperture if I need to.  Mostly I just use the lightness/darkness function.  A tripod is a big help.


From the camera. I clipped the edge of the Ebird so I hadn't used this 2 year old image until yesterday.  It's also a little blurry.




Sharpened, color corrected and background extended.




Cut out and dropped into another corrected and extended image.



Sometimes it can be more fun than building the stuff!

[drbassman]

Thanks guys.  It will just take some practice and as Carlo said, some adjusting of the images afterward.  I have an indirect lighting system using umbrellas to diffuse the light.  It's going to work well once I get used to it.  White objects are a big pain to shoot for sure.  This is especially true cuz it's really more vintage white than white.

Also, I've used Reverb as you guys suggested and I really like it!  I've sold a couple items just to test it out and I love its simplicity and reasonable fees.  Bye bye eBay!  Next I'll work on a web site.

[drbassman]

DB#2 is finished.  Thanks again Carlo.  I'm finding that having good lighting isn't all you need.  The glare issue is most of my problem, even with diffused lighting from umbrella deflectors.  The surfaces are just too shiny!  Color correctness is a problem too and I don't have photoshop to help me there.  I did just find a color correction button in Photobucket of all places and it works really well.  I think it's gonna be OK after all.

Note:  I don't think I can sell this one.  I put so much into it and I love the way it turned out.  I'm gonna keep it for awhile and see how things work out.

[Pilgrim]

That shore is purdy!

[Dave W]

The bass came out great. Is the color in the middle and bottom photos accurate?