Anyone convert guitar to bass or vice versa?

WarriorJoe7 · #1 04-21-2008, 12:09 AM

just wondering...

joeyl · #2 04-21-2008, 06:48 AM

no never, but either way you look at it, you are getting a baritone instrument

WarriorJoe7 · #3 04-21-2008, 06:57 AM

in 1 of the 2 yes you are correct about the baritone instrument thing, but that is just a label so it doesn't matter.

the bass converted to guitar would just be a really long scale guitar. I wonder how different that would be from a regular guitar.

And a guitar converted to bass would be a really short scale bass... maybe too short but if you had super heavy strings it might work. Actually this would be a bass... not a baritone.

Just seeing if anyone tried it. Not really for pracical use but jsut seeing if anyone did the experiment.

Do they make strings heavy enough for the converted super short scale bass? How about strings long enough for the super long scale guitar?

ZolkoW · #4 04-21-2008, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarriorJoe7

just wondering...

my first axe was a (self-made) bass with second-hand guitar neck. converted to 5 string (ehh... I was young and thought 12mm string spacing was something good...

).
I then built a normal 34" bass as soon as I could

with 60-80-100-130 strings (0.040 5string set) and normal E tuning it was playable, maybe a 0.035 set would have been better.. (after converted to four string, simply left one tuning machine out

, now 16mm string space)

that time I made some terrible "experiences" :-D

Darkstrike · #5 04-21-2008, 07:12 AM

Wouldn't picallo strings work for the long scale guitar idea?

eleonn · #6 04-21-2008, 07:34 AM

Im not sure if you could be able to get strings heavy and short enough for such short scale. I saw a bass at the bass forum and it have the string ferules placed no behind the bridge but in front and the strings where place from the top of the bass, go all the way through and the back of the body and to the top through the ferules in the common place. With such short scale I imagine that you could place the first set of ferules no in front the brigde but maybe between the pickups or even between the neck and neck pup (if the guitar don't have a humbucker next to the neck) so you wouldn't need special strings for that scale.

scottbass · #7 04-21-2008, 07:41 AM

My first guitar was a $15 dime store beater - that tells you how exceptionally old I am. When I bought my second guitar - a step up to a $30 Montgomery Ward Airline arch top - I "converted" the old guitar to a bass. Yeah, I know, all I did was take off the top two strings. I tried to downtune it an octave but the E just kinda laid across all the frets.

Woodchuck · #8 04-21-2008, 08:30 AM

I think Bootsy started out with James Brown on a converted guitar, until James told him that he can't be seen with him on stage "with a Cracker Jacks box with strings on it". So he bought him a Jazz Bass.

Yvarg · #9 04-22-2008, 05:42 PM

I converted a dean playmate electric guitar that was given to me into a fretless bass a while back. I just moved the bridge to the end of the body making it a 30" scale, the normal strings I had on it worked fine. Ended up coming out like this (forgot to mention that I routed the body out and added a cheap home depot poplar top) :

All in a week's boredom in woodshop.

SDB Guitars · #10 04-22-2008, 08:21 PM

I haven't converted a guitar, per se, but I *have* made a super-short-scale bass... 28 5/8" scale:

I managed to find some extra heavy short scale strings, and they are not floppy at all. *Very* punchy...

Nelson Guitars · #11 04-22-2008, 10:12 PM

I believe it was Victor Wooten's book where I read that he converted a guitar into a bass so he could play with his brothers as a young man. I think one of the points he was making was that if you don't "know better" then it doesn't matter. Just play!

Greg N

Anthrax · #12 04-23-2008, 01:57 AM

i was just about to make a thread about this.

I have a guitar body which i want to attach a bass neck onto.

WarriorJoe7 · #13 04-23-2008, 03:33 AM

Good luck! pics and let us know how it goes.

analog_freak · #14 09-25-2010, 03:04 PM

Dennis Havlena has done a guitar-to-bass conversion. Here's a photo:

http://dennishavlena.com/crest11.jpg

Here's a description of what he did:

http://dennishavlena.com/gitbass.htm

He makes it sound so easy. This shall be my next project.

Michael Yoder

archer121 · #15 09-25-2010, 03:38 PM

are guitar necks substantial enough to handle the added tension demanded of bass strings? I understand that one would have to replace the bridge and nut (perhaps the tuners as well) and this would widen the string spacing a bit but I'm concerned about the neck being strong enough to handle the tension over time.

nato101010 · #16 09-25-2010, 03:39 PM

I tuned my Strat down an octave once with 10's, plugged it through my bass amp, worked well. Even stayed in tune.

scarab · #17 03-03-2013, 02:56 AM

couldn't you just get a regular bass neck, and carve it out so it would fit? probably be a neck heavy bass/guitar but i could see that working

Jazz Ad · #18 03-03-2013, 03:12 AM

I sometimes think about a band that would use a Fender VI an a piccolo bass, just to confuse people.

rubbadubdub · #19 03-03-2013, 04:11 AM

I woke up to find that everyone has gone mad. Magnetic frets, pickups on sideways and now converting one instrument into another.
Why bother?
I did know someone who made a mando cello out of a mandola but it was a waste of time and was a pretty lame version of neither. He probably only did it because mando cellos are not easy to find but basses and guitars are available anywhere.
I suppose you may learn quite about why basses are basses and guitars are guitars so don't let me stop you.

Smilodon · #20 03-03-2013, 05:42 AM

Kala makes a bass ukulele. That`s even shorter than a guitar, so i guess a guitar to bass conversion shold work just fine. Converting a guitar will cause problems with string spacing unless the number of strings is reduced.

Using a bass as a guitar isn`t that unusual. I think it`s called piccolo bass.