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Want To build upright bass from box

Hi, I aint been on in a while. Ive made tackhead banjos etc. But now I got my sights on building myself a small version upright bass.

I bought a old foot locker to use for the box,, but realized its gonna be a booger to carry around.

So Im to the idea of building something like the one Charles Atkinson built, but a 4 stringer.

I got a idea how to do it, but got questions. If any of yall would be kind enough to help me out it would be appreciated.

1. I really want to make it so I can sit on a stool and play, Im old and lazy and don't want to stand up all the time.

2. Its gonna be fretless, do you think 35-37 scale would be good? I guess Im going to use weed eater strings. I ordered some of the "Weed Whacker" string in light . But the E is too big to fit in a regular bass tuner,, and the upright tuners are very expensive.

3. Could I make the box out of decent plywood, and use tone wood for top, and expect a decent sound? Im guessing yes, and I have the A spruce I bought for a guitar I never built. Its about 3/16.

4. Im sure I have more questions ,, these are just the first to come to mind.

5. I figure Ill build the neck similar as I did my gourd and tackhead banjos , only longer.

thank you if you have read this far. I know its lots of questions, I m just trying to get a good handle on this, and Im sure there are things Im not even thinking of,, inspite of the fact this is almost all I been thinking about for maybe 2 weeks :)

thanks

Steve Jeter

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Permalink Reply by Alan P. on April 28, 2016 at 6:35am

I've been so tempted to try a 2 string bass, too. I'm curious about the weed whacker string, though. If you're wanting to tune just EA, for instance, what line weight works best? Also, will the tuners hold the line in tune? Or does it tend to slip and need to be re-tuned often? My knowledge base is only with regular guitar/bass strings, so I have no reference points with anything else. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Alexander on May 1, 2016 at 3:36pm

I want to build one of these too. I believe Charles built his neck out of a wheel barrow handle. What do you plan on using for strings?

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on May 1, 2016 at 4:44pm

I have weed wacker strings on my washtub bass and they go .105", .095", .080", and .065" The .105" doesn't really get down to low E, so I don't use it much. They say a clothes line will work - the coated metal kind - but I never tried it. The ADG strings work great.

I just used regular guitar tuners thinking I'd replace them with bass tuners eventually, but never felt the need. They hold and the strings stay in tune remarkably well all things considered. I did have to drill a couple of them out to fit the strings.

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Permalink Reply by JL on May 2, 2016 at 2:58am

I have a similar build on my "to do" list, and I've already decided to make things easy on myself and buy a set of bass tuners and strings.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Jeter on May 2, 2016 at 4:40am

Im kinda with you on this. I bought so used fender bass type tuners. But to use them as I want Im going to have to make a wide slot headstock. Never made one before , but I guess Ill figure it out.

I got my clotheslin,, and most of the parts cut and sanded , some glued. I will put pics up tomorrow, when a I ask for more advice.

Not sure about a bass bar and the sound post , totally greek to me,, other than the pics Ive google of a regular upright soundboard underside.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Jeter on May 2, 2016 at 4:47am

https://youtu.be/LZDA_foHn-0?list=FL2AEMYpcWQlGyS1xlaKxzvA

Nice box bass, cool headstock , kind I want to use. I wonder why 3 strings. I see a lot of that why not 4 , cant be that much more work

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