About the Czech-Ease
The Czech-Ease™ is a full sounding bass with an abbreviated body that makes it exponentially more portable than its full-bodied cousins without losing the true-bass sound.
With 3 new models available, the Czech-Ease™ now meets the need of every bassist.
Hybrid H1
The Hybrid (H1) Czech-Ease bass adds a carved top to the same plywood ribs and back as the Standard CE. David Gage made this model for those players who demand portability paired with a sophisticated, orchestral-grade response to the bow. The H1 Czech-Ease's authentic arco tone is unmistakable and augments the already punchy pizzicato sound.
Carved C1
The Carved (C1) Czech-Ease has a fully-carved top, ribs, and flat-back. The flat-back design gives an agile response, the carved wood body gives it sparkling sound- in short, the Carved Czech-Ease is ready for the orchestra, Broadway pit, or your next chamber concert. If you require the rich and colorful tone of a fine carved double bass and the portability required to get that tone where you need it, David made this bass for you.
"Vintage" Ply K1
A new blend of laminated tonewoods are used to match the presence of the most vaunted vintage plywood basses. This new bass follows in the sonic footprints of those American plywoods made mythic for defining low-end sound on the greatest blues, jazz, pop and country records. Played acoustically or amplified, the K1 produces the warm and driving sound players, band-leaders, and engineers want and need from the bass in any style of modern music.
It has never been truly easy to travel with the double-bass. In fact, most bass-players are reminded everyday that their instrument is the largest musical instrument commonly transported by a musician.
But just because the bass doesn't fit in cabs well, is expensive to check onto an airplane, and challenges our bodies physically in the act of just getting to the venue, bassists are not flocking to the world of the Electric Upright Bass (EUB). The reasons for this are clear. -EUBs just don't sound like basses.
Nothing sounds like a real bass except the real doghouse. Bass players spend a lot of time perfecting their tone, which is very rarely the same as the sound that comes out of an amp with an EUB connected to it. Although they are big and painful to carry, the bass-playing world prefers sound over portability when it comes to their instruments. EUBs just don't cut it. It is for this very reason that David Gage was so intrigued with Ira Coleman's request for a bass that sounded and felt like a real upright bass, but didn't take up as much room and wasn't as heavy. The Czech-Ease™ was born. The name is derived from a combination of the country where the bass is manufactured and the benefit the instrument provides bassists when traveling. It has a short body, but a standard string length. It has a custom-made David Gage adjustable bridge, but is made to be thrown in a cab or packed away for a 2 week tour. The Czech- Ease™ is a full sounding bass with an abbreviated body that makes it exponentially more portable than its full-bodied cousins without losing the true-bass sound. And furthermore, the bridge and the rest of the bass's components will work with any acoustic bass pick-up, so that you don't have to relearn how to set up your amp.
The package of Czech-Ease™ bass, gig bag, and travel case has revolutionized bass travel. Its fiberglass and carbon-fiber custom-fitted travel case is small enough to fit airport x-ray machines and baggage conveyor belts. Oversized-baggage fees will be a thing of the past and, for once, bass-players will arrive at the performance in the same physical condition as the rest of the musicians on the stage and they won't have to sacrifice the sound that they work so hard to maintain.