About Me
Well, I'll spare you all the gory details of the first 21 years. But I will say that years of playing the drums led me to appreciate the role of the bass to the point of making a conscious decision to pursue it as my main instrument at the ripe old age of 21."Working" on upright basses actually began before I learned to play the upright bass.
With the guidance of Ken Cartwright of Salem, Oregon, I restored an old German bass in my kitchen and began my journey as a bassist and luthier.
Lot's of things coulda, shoulda, woulda been done differently in that first restoration, but overall it came out decent and off I went to Mt. Hood Community College in 1986 to study music and learn to play the double bass from one of the best. Dr. Larry Zgonc.
No musician who knows him can deny his contribution to the local and international bass community. I also studied jazz with Tim Gilson and Phil Baker; classical with the brilliant and droll Ken Baldwin ( I still remember drinking Gin and tonics on his patio and his entertaining story about transposing the Paginni Variations piano accompaniment while on a family road trip his Sophomore year in high school).
And I can't leave out the masterful Lawrence Hurst at Interlochen Arts Camp (summer1990), with whom I learned more in 8 weeks than I did the whole previous year with an unmentioned Ore. Symphony player.Still honing my skills on any upright bass that I could get my hands on, I continued (and finished) my Music Ed degree at the University of Portland.
I continued to play with many of the local "greats" in Portland; The Columbia Symphony, and taught band and orchestra in the public schools for 9 years until my son Graham was born.
At that point I took a much needed leave of absence for a year, was a stay-at-home dad, and started "Pete's Bass Shop" (now Pete's Upright Bass Shop Inc.) and never looked back!Over the course of 24 years I have developed my skill setting up, adjusting and repairing the double bass and owning a rescued Kay M-1 bass, an old German bass and having access to numerous other school instruments, allowed me to experiment and try things out.
I've also had everyone in Portland work on my basses at one time or another, to greater and lesser degrees of satisfaction. Don Kinch, David Frierman, Pat Marshall, "Don" at Schubacks, and Maureen Pandos, ( not in order or rank) to name the locals.
When I found my beloved German flatback on June 11, 1991, I knew "She" was special.
Too special in fact, not to have her restored by one of the best. Thank you Don Kinch!
He wouldn't take me on as an apprentice, but he taught me more from that restoration than he'll ever know, and he was willing to take my ideas into consideration when it came to fingerboard and other issues.
I still own and play that bass at nearly every gig.
As a matter of fact, Ron Carter played that bass at his Portland concert in Feb. '08.to be continued.....
