Alessandro Zolo

Italian            5 strings electric upright Uzzanu/Zolo mod. 1.1

I designed this instrument years ago thinking of all the problems a professional bass player often meets (beyond playing fine, would say my evil friend): carrying (due to dimensions and fragility of acoustic instrument), and amplification (and monitoring at high SPL on stage). Honestly I have to say it  wasn't secondary the idea of playing comfortably sitting on a chair without having to think of the stool, too.

The meeting with young -but proud- classic luthier Ettore Uzzanu (known for the, unfortunately almost periodic, repairing of sides of my acoustic double bass) persuaded me was the moment for concretize my ancient project, so we jointed our curiosity and "science" for trying to realize an electric upright with sound and feeling of classical double bass and practicality in use and transport of electric basses.

A true resonance chamber (closed, to minimize acoustic feedback effects, and calculated to obtain a sound as similar as possible to an amplified acoustic instrument) is the most important difference with the main part of electric uprights.

Thinking to its live vocation we preferred to privilege the solidity to a possible further weight reduction (anyway contained within 6.5 kg).

 We eliminated all it wasn't necessary to amplify the bass in the best way, while neck thickness and angle, (and the scale length) are identical to a classic double bass, as the feeling playing, thanks also to the lateral prothesis (fastly detachable for carrying) who simulate the edge of a classical instrument.

Measures and shape allow playing comfortably sitting on a chair. Anyway, a long steel rod permits to play the instrument standing up.

The electric bass-like peghead, so as the machines; the position and the distance of the tailpiece are conceived for the maximum compatibility with standard double bass strings.

After some tests, actually my instrument mounts Pirastro Obligato strings which, in addition to their easy availability and very good quality / price ratio, have a really warm timbre who help to come close the sound of this bass to the acoustic one. The only necessary operation has been cutting with a sharp plier the strings at the end (within the colored area!) for winding them on the machines.
 

The wood of resonance chamber is mahogany, and the soundboard is maple.

The keyboard is ebony made.

The classic bridge actually fits some brass wheels to adjust the strings height.

The finiture is made with water varnish and the author of the decor patterns on the front is an artist I appreciate very much: my brother Francesco Zolo.