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Permalink Reply by Road Rash Roy on July 12, 2015 at 7:03am

First a disclaimer:  I've made a couple guitars with 1" dowels, but have not yet built a bass.  So I'm just sorta thinking outloud about how I'd do it...

I'm guessing you're not building an upright.  So you're gonna need tuners.  And also some amplification.

You'll need to cut out a notch at the top of the dowel for your tuners (a headstock) which will be the weak spot I'd worry most about. ( And I assume bass tuners are larger than guitar tuners, so I wonder if 2 will even fit on a 1" dowel.)  But I think a one stringer with a 1" dowell is doable.

Are you going to use a cigar box?  'Cause if you go with a thicker neck to fit that other string on there, you might end up neck heavy and it'll be hard to balance for playing without putting a weight at the heel.

If you are going to use a box, what about pickups?  I'd be worried about putting another notch in that dowel.  Not a big fan of piezo's, but others have success with them.  I just don't think you'll get much volume without a pickup unless you use a really big box.

As far as strings...hell if I know.  I reckon a root-fifth combination for a two stringer?

Anyway, that's my two cents.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on July 12, 2015 at 9:06am

Thanks for the reply.

I have done quite a few diddley bows and 2 stringers using a 1 inch dowel and think I have on my 2 stringers come up with a good head design and if the 1 inch is enough I would do the same for a bass. Going to try to attach a couple of pics.

I did purchase some bass tuners. But was not sure on strings.

In terms of pickup it would either be piezo or just go accoustic if that is possible.

Attachments:

• image.jpg, 1.3 MB

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Permalink Reply by Road Rash Roy on July 12, 2015 at 2:19pm

Great headstock design, way better than my hack jobs.  Looks like the dowel will work for you.

I'm also interested in which string combination to use too, so hopefully somebody else will chime in soon...

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Permalink Reply by john mackay on July 12, 2015 at 10:00pm

I've made a two string Bass 30" using a short scale bass strings.

personally a 1" dowel what ever hardwood it is made from will not be strong enough.

put two together yes but one no.

don't put all your effort into one dowell only to find it will bow.

Bass string put a lot of tensions in the neck so you will need to use some that will take the pressure.

on the other hand if you are using the bass string off a 6(E & A) stringer it might work.

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Permalink Reply by JL on July 13, 2015 at 1:47am

I was reading this and did a little browsing on the D'Addario's tension guide to find some numbers.

the standard Gdg tuning using strings 5-4-3 from a pack (42, 32, 24 gauge) exerts 27, 28, and 28 pounds of tension, 83 pounds of tension total on the neck.

The Bass 4 and 3 strings E' and A' (100, 80 gauge) exert 37 and 33 pounds of tension, 70 pounds of tension total on the neck.

so I'm guessing what works for a 3 string CBG should be strong enough for a 2 string CBB.

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on July 16, 2015 at 3:15am

Helpful info there JL. Great job finding that! Thanks for sharing it!

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Permalink Reply by John W Brown on July 14, 2015 at 2:56am

Hi Mike--- I made a "kit' for my Grandson for Christmas to make a hockey stick into a guitar---" guitockey stick", 2 strings, pickup I routed in the shaft, made a bridge, added the tuning machines and we built a hockey stick guitar  ----See you tube guitockey stick.

That idea might solve your problem.-----jb

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