This was installed on a bass briefly, but never played. For all intents and purposes, it's brand new. __ Hipshot originally made their name creating innovative replacement de-tuning keys for electric bass and guitar. They're now a premier manufacturer of those, as well as excellent "standard" tuning machines and other useful hardware items for musical instruments. Now they've taken that same concept of quick, accurate re-tuning, and applied it to the upright bass. Using the new Hipshot FreeRange Xtender, you can play musical pieces that were previously out of the range of your bass (or impractical to try to quickly re-tune the low string onstage between songs.)
A quick flip of the lever retunes any of your bass strings to another, preset pitch. Clearly, in our examples and photos, we're showing how the FreeRange Xtender can be used to de-tune the low E string, down to any pitch from Eb down to B, completely in tune, and back. However, you're not limited to using it in that fashion - you could also put one (or more) on your high string(s) in order to facilitate a temporary "SOLO" tuning. You could even get three de-tuners and switch from standard bass tuning to fifths (cello-style) tuning in seconds!
The detuner features a finely-threaded adjustable "stop" which allows you to both choose the pitch, and very accurately tune it.
The detune lever works with most upright bass strings¹ and most basses², and installation is super-easy; the ball end simply inserts into the FreeRange's holder, and the unit has a bracket that simply hooks into the string opening of your tailpiece. The FreeRange Xtender is "installed" onto your bass in only minutes, with no modifications to your valuable instrument. A felt insert protects the string saddle from damage or pressure from the detuning unit, and no moving parts contact the actual instrument.
