any double bass players?

[Fler]

Check out the video for Black No. 1 by Type O Negative. Specifically, the dude playing the bassline. (No idea if it's on Youtube.) Never seen a DB in RL (except for the liquid type) mind.

Hell mo-fackin' yeah!!!

[clubhouse]

Double basses are incredible. As mentioned, Dali and Denis' sister, Darija, is pretty intense to watch playing. Listen to a well played double bass in a good sounding room and it fills the place with overtones.

For jazz upright bass, no idea. I've had a go on a few and they're wicked fun. I ponder however, if the scale lengths are shorter than that of classical basses...hmmm....

There is no difference between DBs used for orchestral, jazz or whatever music. There are generally two schools of design; French and German with the French having a more narrow upper-bout than the German.

Basses are sized to suit the player with height of the player determining the size of DB: 4/4, 7/8, 3/4, 5/8, 1/2 and even smaller for kids. So the scale lengths are in keeping with the sizes. There may be slight variations in exact sizes and lengths as there are variations in manufacturer/luthier specs but it has nothing to do with music genre.

There are differences in style of ribs such as Gamba, Violin and Busetto and backs can be arched, violin-style, or flat. I've seen orchestral players use solid and plywood top types but most prefer solid, spruce soundboards for the timbral complexity, volume and note balance in all positions. Same for jazz. Country, folk, rockabilly players generally use a plywood topped bass which is more rugged, cheaper and probably mic'ed anyway so is easy to control at high stage SPL.

About the most noticeable difference between orchestral and jazz usage is the string action and arch which is more curved and higher for the orchestral player to facilitate bowing and is lower and flatter for a jazz player for easier plucking and fast note playing and where string slap is slightly more acceptable. Even this varies as some jazz pros like to arco (bow) some passages and so may prefer a higher string arch with a lower finger-board action.