Hey folks, working on my second bass build. This is an upright suitcase bass.

Does the fingerboard need to be radiused? The fingerboard I have now is flat red oak. My access to power tools is limited so if I can get away with a flat fingerboard I will.

I should also mention that I would like to play country/bluegrass/rockabilly/psychobilly if that makes a difference. I know little about upright bass playing technique and I am wondering if the radius on the fingerboard is essential to playing slap bass styles.

Views: 927

Replies to This Discussion

I have heard in the past that there are a few tricks that work such as sliding a small spring such as you would find in a ball point pen over the strings over the pup to be picked up. Haven't tried it but I don't like the idea of putting crap on the strings. Makes good armchair sense though.

I think the best route for me as far as amplification goes is to simply mic the current set up that I have. I may re-wire it to exclude the volume knob but I do like having control on the instrument. I have toyed with the idea of an active preamp like you linked and I may do that in the future. I think I may have to remake the bridge for a rod peizo if I decide to go that route.

The reason I used a small speaker for a mic is because I have recorded bass cabs and bass drums for years using a speaker wired to an XLR cable as the bass mic. The large diapharm picks up bass tones "better". The low E on a bass is only at around 41HZ, just barely above the limit for human perception. Thus my logic was that more surface area of a mic diapharm the better. That am I am cheap and am not excited about convincing my wife that I 'need' another microphone for such a limited function.

The speaker I am using for a mic is a very small 8ohm speaker I picked up in Korea. I had some DIY amp kits that had 8ohm outputs and had to look far and wide for a small speaker in that rating... most had no indication of their resistance. The paper cone is rather stiff and I think it would be better with a more sensitive diapharm... like vocal mics are often a clear thin plastic that seems to be more responsive. When I was in the Army I threw away dozens of the old rotrary phones and I took the vocal elements out first. The quality surprised me but they don't seem to be terribly responsive.

Another idea I have kicking around my skull is to cover the f-holes. My logic is that if they are covered the air pressure inside the box (suitcase) has no place to go and will exsert greater force or pressure on the speaker (microphone) element. I'd do this in a way that still has the f-hole form but no real function other than look pretty flicking cool.

Regarding the f-holes on the one hand I get what you mean, on the other hand when I mic a kick, the front skin is usually off, so there is no pressure, just sound waves.

Different loudspeakers have different motors and different suspensions, but yeah if you have a stiff speaker but it as a large range of travel, and you only move it a little then you aren't getting much out of it, OTOH, if it only has a small range of travel, you shouldn't need to have to move it far to generate a signal.

I never had much luck using a speaker as a kick mic, I tried it with a few speakers I had, and it never gave me a satisfactory result.

I have used headphones to mic an acoustic instrument quite a bit though.

Most foils aren't made of magnetic metals. And copper or aluminium foil (the most common types) wouldn't work with magnetic pickups in any case. It would have to be some ferrous metal like nickel, or some combination of the two. I'm guessing it would also sound pretty crappy.

Fellow member Turtlehead tried dipping peizos in a rubber compound that seemed to help things greatly. Take a look at his video here:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/hand-dipped-piezos-and-a-washtu....

FWIW, I have never heard a peizo pickup that didn't benefit from going through even a simple basic onboard preamp. I personally think they're pretty harsh sounding when used on their own. And their bass response isn't that great to begin with, so you really need some EQ if you're using one with a bass.

Sticking a high impedance microphone inside the soundbox is definitely worth looking into. As long as you can control the feedback you should be good.

Luck!

Nice, you need one addition though.

 A cup holder in that top panel for your beer after you open it :D

Very nice job! What scale is it? Is it more like an upright scale (~41") or a bass guitar scale (30"-35")?

RSS

The Essential Pages

New to Cigar Box Nation? How to Play Cigar Box GuitarsFree Plans & How to Build Cigar Box GuitarsCigar Box Guitar Building Basics

Site Sponsor

Recommended Links & Resources


Discussion Forum

Cigar box a little different

Started by Phil Farabough. Last reply by Phil Farabough Nov 10, 2018. 10 Replies

first bass build

Started by Patrick. Last reply by BrianQ. Nov 8, 2018. 6 Replies

looking for alternate tunings-

Started by Daniel Walter. Last reply by Ken Hutchinson Oct 14, 2017. 16 Replies

Bass build help

Started by Ro'Nique Staley Mar 22, 2017. 0 Replies

My first bass build

Started by Bryan Putnam. Last reply by Richard Haas Dec 2, 2016. 15 Replies

Building my first bass

Started by Henry S. Last reply by TN Twang Nov 30, 2016. 11 Replies

fingerboard question(s)

Started by Euraquilo. Last reply by Fomhorach Nov 1, 2016. 6 Replies

3 string bass questions

Started by Euraquilo. Last reply by Euraquilo Oct 31, 2016. 18 Replies

3 String Cigar Box Bass Guitar Parts

Started by Will T. Last reply by Murdoc_420 Jul 16, 2016. 3 Replies

Bass strings??

Started by jeffrey ross. Last reply by jeffrey ross Mar 25, 2016. 13 Replies

Magnetic vs Piezo pickup

Started by PhilUSAFRet. Last reply by Murdoc_420 Mar 25, 2016. 8 Replies

Weed eater strings and tuning.

Started by Poppy. Last reply by Murdoc_420 Feb 29, 2016. 7 Replies

Bass Uke string question(s)

Started by Lane Martin. Last reply by Where's Uranus? Jan 7, 2016. 6 Replies

Looking for 2 string bass plans

Started by Mike. Last reply by Mike Jan 6, 2016. 8 Replies

UBass strings

Started by Bobby Fields. Last reply by Bobby Fields Dec 11, 2015. 3 Replies

First bass build got a few questions .

Started by Piht Bull (Delta Dawg Guitars). Last reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted Apr 23, 2015. 23 Replies

bass frets...

Started by john mackay. Last reply by john mackay Feb 4, 2015. 4 Replies

Music

© 2024   Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

\uastyle>\ud/** Scrollup **/\ud.scrollup {\ud background: url("https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/963882636?profile=original") no-repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;\ud bottom: 25px;\ud display: inline !important;\ud height: 40px;\ud opacity: 0.3 !important;\ud position: fixed;\ud right: 30px;\ud text-indent: -9999px;\ud width: 40px;\ud z-index: 999;\ud}\ud.scrollup:hover {\ud opacity:0.99!important;\ud}\ud \uascript type="text/javascript">\ud x$(document).ready(function(){\ud x$(window).scroll(function(){\ud if (x$(this).scrollTop() > 100) {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeIn();\ud } else {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeOut();\ud }\ud });\ud x$('.scrollup').click(function(){\ud x$("html, body").animate({ scrollTop: 0 }, 600);\ud return false;\ud });\ud });\ud \ua!-- End Scroll Up -->