Ralph Dammann relates the history of the Dammann Bass
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I made my living playing rock and roll until I reached the age of thirty. At that point the bank was about to foreclose on my mortgage and I had to get a steadier job. I became a carpenter and then a building contractor. I still run my construction company, which has become one of the best restoration firms in the area and for the last six years, I have had Dammann Custom Basses as a second company.

I built my first bass in the early seventies and the second one I made was the instrument I played for seven years approximately 300 nights a year. This instrument was the prototype of the unique instruments I have made recently. My construction business has afforded me a very functional (though ugly) woodworking shop in which to make my instruments.

I was inspired to take up the building of basses again when my son became an electric bass player. The first instrument in the modern series was made for him to play in 1997.

When I was building and playing this instrument I became aware again of how strong the design was. I dubbed this new model the Vertical Bass and went on to build many like it.

In 1999 I made a major design alteration to create the V2 which had decorative improvements but also made the instrument lighter and made it play easier still.

The balance and left and right hand playing techniques remained the same.

I designed this style of bass to alleviate what I feel are design flaws in the Fender style basses so plentiful today. I don't conceive of the electric bass as a four-string guitar tuned down an octave. Bass players usually play with their fingers, not picks. So there is no advantage to having the bass horizontal.

Meanwhile if the bass is vertical, left hand advantages are apparent: The neck and fret positions of the electric bass are spread out considerably from conditions on guitars. Therefore the bass player benefits from getting behind the neck and being able to pivot with the thumb to cover more ground on the neck. When one plays with the thumb behind the neck it is possible to play 5 and 6 string basses with much more comfort and ease.

I designed the body to provide an armrest so that the player did not always have to use his thumb as a pivot. The hand is supported over the strings so that the thumb and all the fingers can be used as the player desires. This new design will, in the hands of a creative musician, lead to that rarest and most prized commodity among musicians - new styles of playing.

In my youth I played the classical guitar and in my twenties I played the double bass. The techniques used to play my vertical basses spring from my experience with these instruments.

The left hand plays like on the double bass and the right plays somewhat like on the classical guitar. The right hand technique gets modified and adapted to the percussive sounds one may want to produce on the electric bass.

People can and do use a technique much like they might on the double bass if this is their preference. The right arm is extended as on the double bass and the right thumb can easil be used as a pivot. The sides of the finger can be used to get a fat sound like on the double bass as well.