Nine Bass

The nine bass is the lowest regular instrument of the steelband. The nine drums accommodate altogether 27 notes, ranging from A1 to B3. To get a set-up of nine drums to be playable, three of the drums have been hung in a tilted position in front of the player.

Overview of the Nine Bass

Special crafting techniques

No separate sinking is done on the basses. The surface is lowered at the same time as the pan is backed. A nine bass is sunk down to 9 cm in the middle. It is important that the borders of the notes have a straight slope (not curved) down towards the middle. To raise the notes of a bass a special tool is often used; a paddle-like wooden stick that is long enough to reach down to the bottom of the drum, see fig. B.12.

Measures for the Nine Bass

No nine bass has yet been available for measurements, but to give a brief idea of the measures for a nine bass, data from the six bass and the tenor bass have been compiled.