Say hello to my little friend!

[Marc61]

I believe this thread belongs here because I'm really discussing ABG not upright.

Some of you may remember from another thread I started on a quest for a true acoustic bass guitar tone.One that needs no amplification for projection. What you are looking at is a 1/8 size upright bass.

approx. dimensions are 54" long, 30.5" scale(if I placed the bridge correctly), body is 7" deep, 20 inches wide at lower bout,12 inches wide in the middle, 16 inches wide at top bout. Body is about 33 inches long.

I believe an Ernie Ball Earthwood body is 24 1/2" long, 18 1/4" wide, and 6 5/8" deep. Although the article I copied it from speaks of a deluxe model which is 2" deeper.

Crazy as it might seem, I believe it's possible to take the neck off this thing, get an acoustic bass guitar neck and bridge, then some how work it onto the upright body. My plan is to get such a neck by purchasing a Musicians Friend or Music 123 ABG with damaged body. Then I have to learn how to remove parts and glue together. Might work, might not. Either way, it's not really that expensive a proposition except that if it turns into junk, it'll be somewhat unsalvagable as parts.

[waleross]

Good Luck !

[christw]

Why not just play it like that sideways? Or look into a guitarron?

[JonahTheAmazing]

Why would you want to mod that? It's the coolest thing I've seen all day. I second playing it sideways. Anyways, hope to see the finished product.

[Marc61]

yeah, right now I'm playing it sideways. Even using a pick a little. Problem is the scale is too short, and the string spacing too tight, although who knows? Maybe I'll get used to it.

It is cool, and not expensive...especially if you're in driving distance of Cleveland and don't have to pay for shipping

[christw]

Originally Posted by Marc61

yeah, right now I'm playing it sideways. Even using a pick a little. Problem is the scale is too short, and the string spacing too tight, although who knows? Maybe I'll get used to it.

It is cool, and not expensive...especially if you're in driving distance of Cleveland and don't have to pay for shipping

Tell me more!

I can play on just about any spacing with very little mental adjustment necessary. Then again, I use everything from a mandolin to a 3/4 upright during my good weeks.

[Mayers]

Buy a bow, you will be heard !!!

[Marc61]

Originally Posted by christw

Tell me more!

sent ya a PM on the info

[Marc61]

Originally Posted by Mayers

Buy a bow, you will be heard !!!

It actually came with a bow. Needs rosin though...

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Marc61

It is cool, and not expensive...especially if you're in driving distance of Cleveland and don't have to pay for shipping

Tennessee?

[Marc61]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

Tennessee?

Hey Jeff, don't laugh. One of my thoughts was to have you pick it up and bring it with you this weekend. Originally he thought they would have to ship it freight but, they managed to get it in a box that Fedex would ship ground

[Jeff Scott]

I could have done that, I am not bringing the usual 8 instruments, or so!

Where did you get it from?

[Jason P Bass]

Originally Posted by Marc61

Crazy as it might seem, I believe it's possible to take the neck off this thing, get an acoustic bass guitar neck and bridge, then some how work it onto the upright body. My plan is to get such a neck by purchasing a Musicians Friend or Music 123 ABG with damaged body. Then I have to learn how to remove parts and glue together. Might work, might not. Either way, it's not really that expensive a proposition except that if it turns into junk, it'll be somewhat unsalvagable as parts.

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

But here's what I see wrong with this.

1) The neck joins the body on a double bass somewhere near the equivalent of the 7th fret. (Db or E neck in upright bass lingo.) Any existing ABG design will have the body meet the neck at the 10th, 12th, or 14th fret. The consequence of mating an ABG neck to an upright bass? The scale length will go from ~30" on the upright to 36"??? with an ABG neck. You'll have to cut the ABG neck down, or try to devise some kind of floating fretboard like an upright bass neck.

2) The body of an upright bass is NOT designed to take the load of a bass guitar bridge. The upright bridge ONLY takes load perpendicular to the top of the body, while the tailpiece attached to the endpin takes all of the string tension. An ABG bridge will move all of the string tension to the top of the body, with (I predict) catastrophic results. The bracing inside an upright bass is VERY different from an ABG.

3) Even if you manage to overcome the first two issues, I doubt you would be satisfied with the resulting sound. The structural modifications would be so drastic that I think you would lose much of the upright bass tone.

I am NOT a luthier, these are just my beer-inspired, late-night, avoid-my-angry-wife internet opinions. If you prove me wrong, I'll be glad to see it.

[Jason P Bass]

PS - your bridge placement looks a little short from those pics. To the best of my knowledge, the nut side of the bridge should be aligned with the inside notches of the f-holes.

If that's what you've done, then apologies - just guessing from the pics.

[Marc61]

Jason, excellent points all.

I'll double check the bridge placement in the morning. You might be right there too

[Marc61]

Jeff - PM sent

[Jeff Scott]

Got it, Marc, thanks!

See you in a few days, this is going to be fun!

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Congrats, that's way cute.

What Your pics don't show though is how relatively tiny a 1/8 DB actually is .

The scale IIRC is 34" BTW, not 30.5", making it very well suited for a slab player.



One of these days I'm gonna fix her up for sure .

Bought it like that BTW, didn't break it myself. The other half of the top is there, as well as the strings and other needed bits and pieces.

How much did You pay for yours?

When I bought mine a 5 or so years ago, the price for a fully carved was around 600€ new. When I suggested someone to go the same route a few years later, the cheap ones were nowhere to be found, the prices started at roughly 1200€ for the carved 1/8's.

As for the conversion You're thinking, I'd consider doing it a few times more.

Sure, as said previously, that can be done, but to what end?


Regards
Sam

[Marc61]

Originally Posted by Jason P Bass

PS - your bridge placement looks a little short from those pics. To the best of my knowledge, the nut side of the bridge should be aligned with the inside notches of the f-holes.

If that's what you've done, then apologies - just guessing from the pics.

You were correct. The bridge was not properly placed. measuring from the nut side of the bridge, holding the tape across the strings to the bottom of the nut measures 31". I believe I had the bridge on backwards as well. There's a flat side, and a contoured side. Seems like the contoured side should be facing the nut.