Comment

Comment by Thorsten Hinrichsen on January 7, 2015 at 12:41am

I think I've read that the first ubass constructions were made with baritone Ukuleles. A common 3/4 classical guitar has a scale of about 62 cm. Aquila Thundergut or Pahoehoe strings are made for about 52 cm scales (about 20/21 inches). So there will probably be too much Tension on a 3/4 guitar scale. If you tune down to DGCF it may work with the common uBass strings. Another Problem: The strings won't fit into common classical tuners. you Need Special uBass Tuning machines or bass guitar Tuning machines with a wide top that the fat uBass strings don't slip over the top.

Comment by Tony Brown on January 1, 2015 at 3:03am

A question

Could I use a 3/4  size Classical Guitar as a Ukulele |Bass base.

or

A Ukulele Baritone ?

I recon with the |Guitar the frets would be about right.

???

Comment by Thorsten Hinrichsen on June 25, 2012 at 8:12pm

Hi Chuck, thank you for the kind words.
Scale is 20 inch, 21 is possible but might cause string break on the g-string. I mounted the two piezo discs under the bridge (glued to the top/lid). I've also made one with one piezo ON the lid, between the bridge and the top (you'll see this on the pics on my page). The neck goes through. There are also pics of the raw necks on my page. It was not more difficult to build this bass than building a normal cbg. I used Ashbory tuners and bridge (from largesound.com). The tuners are okay but you'll find better (and much more expensive) ones at HipShot. For me they do what they should. I used roadtoad Pahaoehoe strings (there are different ones for different scale lengths available). It takes a lot of tuning until the strings really fit and they don't hold the tunings for the first couple of weeks. But I heard that that's even worse with the cheaper Ashbory strings. Keep the nut as low as possible and the bridge high enough. There's almost no sound from the strings without amplificatin but through an amp you'll get some monster deep bass growl.

All the best and good luck with your bass

Thorsten

Comment by Chuck Cobillas on June 25, 2012 at 9:17am

Thorsten, Great looking Bass! Very nice work! I am planning to build my first UBass very soon for my brother (He plays a standard Bass). What is the scale length on this one? Where did you mount the double piezo?Is this a "through neck" design?

I've built many CBGs & CB Ukes but this will be my first UBass, is there anything different about the Bass that I should know about? I appreciate any tips you can pass along.

 

Best regards,

Chuck