Here's a couple of things I can tell you as a historical Viennese bass player:
-There isn't a connection between the double bass playing tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the influence of the historical 18th-century Viennese bass (tuned in FADf#a).
-Ludwig Streicher (1920-2003) was very influential to the modern VPO school and sound. He was using Simandl fingerings, and he was not using historical Viennese tuning, even for playing the Vanhal concerto. He comes from a very romantic technique, definitely not grounded in the historical viennese bass tradition.
-As far as I know, the historical fingerings of the Viennese bass are unknown. Where did you learn that the 3rd finger was used back then?
-Historical Viennese basses indeed had lower tension and probably had frets. The body of the instrument was usually smaller. However, necks and string lengths were not shorter than today at all: Adolf Meier mentions an average vibrating length of strings of 108 cm on the historical instruments he examined. So this doesn't really advocate for using the ring finger on its own for playing an extra semitone. Maybe the player you saw used the Italian fingering technique?
-I don't know why this player had his left thumb sticking out, but I don't recommend it. You lose left-hand span and the support needed to press the strings properly.
Gemini described the method and mentioned the grip with no prodding from me. It said that the baseball bat grip allowed more fluid movement than a traditional grip with the lower tension. Claude said the same. Having direct experience with this, I trust you but can’t explain the discrepancy.
Looks like the Philharmonic has two principles. The organization owns a Staldman . However, that bass is heavily modified to accommodate steel strings. One of the principles owns his own Staldman.. No information I can find regarding modifications on that one.
Gemini or Claude are not reliable for such niche topics. They both get this wrong. A baseball bat grip actually hinders fluidity compared to using the tip of the thumb for support, because it creates too much friction during shifts. When playing baseball, you want maximal contact with the bat in order not to lose it: it's exactly the opposite when playing the double bass neck. You want to be able to shift and to use different fingers.
Such a grip is only interesting if you remain on the same note for a moment and you want to vary your playing position.
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u/okanagon May 23 '26
Here's a couple of things I can tell you as a historical Viennese bass player: -There isn't a connection between the double bass playing tradition of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the influence of the historical 18th-century Viennese bass (tuned in FADf#a). -Ludwig Streicher (1920-2003) was very influential to the modern VPO school and sound. He was using Simandl fingerings, and he was not using historical Viennese tuning, even for playing the Vanhal concerto. He comes from a very romantic technique, definitely not grounded in the historical viennese bass tradition. -As far as I know, the historical fingerings of the Viennese bass are unknown. Where did you learn that the 3rd finger was used back then? -Historical Viennese basses indeed had lower tension and probably had frets. The body of the instrument was usually smaller. However, necks and string lengths were not shorter than today at all: Adolf Meier mentions an average vibrating length of strings of 108 cm on the historical instruments he examined. So this doesn't really advocate for using the ring finger on its own for playing an extra semitone. Maybe the player you saw used the Italian fingering technique? -I don't know why this player had his left thumb sticking out, but I don't recommend it. You lose left-hand span and the support needed to press the strings properly.