piccolo

odin70 · #1 09-23-2009, 10:57 AM

Im about to make a piccolo bass. I want to tune it EADG (up one octave) I just cant decide on the scale lenght. 31 or 32..or even 30?
My 34 bass with piccolo strings is tuned to D. E is out of the question with that scale length.
Suggestions?

pilotjones · #2 09-23-2009, 11:15 AM

You can try out 32 and 30 by using a capo at the first or second fret of a standard bass, and restringing and retuning as desired.

odin70 · #3 09-23-2009, 11:19 AM

Thanks!
Why didnt i think of that

Basshappi · #4 09-23-2009, 11:29 AM

Why is E "out of the question" with a 34" scale length? That's what I tune mine to and it works just fine.

odin70 · #5 09-23-2009, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basshappi

Why is E "out of the question" with a 34" scale length? That's what I tune mine to and it works just fine.

To me the string tension (when tuning EADG on 34 scale) is not nice

As someone here said ..it feels like playing an egg slicer.
I use 0.20 - 65 strings

**TheEmptyCell** · #6 09-23-2009, 11:01 PM

Why not even less than 30"?

odin70 · #7 09-24-2009, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheEmptyCell

Why not even less than 30"?

Good question.. Im afraid that then the instrument will feel less like a bass and more like a guitar. Any experience?

Kalyptic · #8 09-24-2009, 07:38 AM

yeah if you get down to much lower than 30 it will basically be a guitar with missing strings. that's a generalization, but yeh.
I'd say keep the scale as long as you can, its one of the reasons you use a piccolo bass instead of a guitar.

**TheEmptyCell** · #9 09-24-2009, 12:23 PM

I have a 4 string super short scale bass, tuned piccolo. It's 26" scale. For piccolo tuning, you can use any gauge of guitar string you can find, they'll all fit. There's only a few piccolo bass string sets out there. And hey, it's a piccolo bass... pretty darn close to guitar, in theory.