Upright bass

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Seaman Jay on July 10, 2012 at 11:22am

I play an EDB (Stagg). It's a 3/4 electric upright. 

Imagine you're building a fretless long scale bass guitar, with slightly stronger radiused fingerboard and neck angle compatible with the tall bridge. You can go the "less standard" way and mount it on a mic-style stand. This way you can change it's position between "totally upright" and "bass guitar, floating in the air"...

Like here: 

Put one (rod) piezo PU under the bridge, the second under the lower ("body") end of the fingerboard... 

"Right hand" muscle memory is probably not a big problem (angles are different, but hey, it's still bass). Plucking hand will have to adapt...

Permalink Reply by Yellowbelly Flatt on July 10, 2012 at 12:01pm

Hi Dan.

as well as playing C.B.G.s (mainly slide) I play a multitude of basses (of many scales) plus double bass - a cigar box one that is like a long bass guitar and a conventional electric stand up bass.

The cello idea seems a good one for the reasons that you have said and also much easier to transport than a double bass. Would you use bass guitar tuning? Probable easier than cello tuning, but depending on the scale length it may be awkward to find the strings you need. Strimmer or weedwacker strings might be a thought.

For the size of a cello. I would probably play it as an upright and play it sitting down, Once a bit of muscle memory is ingrained, upright is not a problem,

Permalink Reply by PhilUSAFRet on July 10, 2012 at 12:15pm

How about something like these?  On my build list.

Attachments:

• 3 string upright bass 37inch scale Kevlar core nylon strings.jpg, 294 KB
• upright bass.jpg, 81 KB
• upright bass 2.jpg, 17 KB

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on July 10, 2012 at 2:14pm

I hadn't thought about the mic stand option. This is a good idea.

I was sort of planning on putting a collapsible strut in the bottom, like a leg from a camera tripod. If the player was going to use it conventionally, they could just collapse the strut inside the box, or extend it for more upright playing while sitting down.

I would have to watch the mounting of the strut to make sure it didn't cause any unwanted vibrations though.

My initial thought was to do a 2 or 3 string model, with weed wacker strings.

Permalink Reply by Seaman Jay on July 10, 2012 at 2:22pm

With 3 strings one can play the octaves - "as usual" ;-)