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A crazy idea that my friend had.

R

ricdiculous5487

Jan 23, 2007
62
2
39
Whiting, Indiana
#1
A couple of months back, I had to sell all my bass equipment to help out my family (dad lost his job, mom's hours were cut) and all I have left is an SX P bass with no amp. A friend of mine and I were talking yesterday and began talking about acoutic basses. Since I currently don't have any source of income, I can't afford to buy even the cheapest of ABG's. This where his crazy idea came in.

He has an old Washburn acoustic guitar that's pretty much useless to him (he quit playing music years ago). He had the idea to convert it into an acoustic bass. He said he would just use a nut from an old neck I have and possibly take off the guitar bridge and swap it for a bass bridge (somehow, he has one of those laying around).

So before he goes and destroys an acoustic guitar, I want to know if it would actually work. I told I would consult the wise members of the Talkbass community before we decide to go forth with this project.

I guess desperate times do call for desperate measures. Keep in mind that the guitar is really dinged up, so the idea to sell it is thrown out the window.

Thanks in advance, gang.
 
#2
I wouldn't use just any old bass bridge though, because I think most of them would rip out of the top of an acoustic guitar once you tried to tune up. Look for (or DIY make) the type of old-school tailpiece where it attaches to the butt of the body and wraps up over the top. That kind will work better in that application.
 
#5
this sounds too risky too me. but, i think you've got a couple other options. 1. just the play the guitar LIKE it's a bass until you have a proper setup or 2. even if the guitar is crap, if it's playable then i bet you could trade it for an amp that's equally crappy, yet usable. try craigslist or freecycle, i'm sure some something will turn up.
 
#8
I think that all you'll get out of it is a ruined SX P bass which in all probability is pretty decent. You'd probably be better off looking for the most beat up POS bass amp which somebody wants to give away for cheap and use that until you can afford something better. No matter how crap the amp, it will still sound better than a franken-SX-acoustic.
 
#11
Hi.

There has actually been a number of DIY threads about converting old acoustic guitars to basses, mostly in the luthiers corner IIRC.

Most of the conversions have "worked", i.e. plays like a (very short scale) bass and nothing has broken down. The sound however hasn't been too good, as can be expected.

To be able to tune the bass in 40HZ E, the E-string has to be quite thick, I'd put a B (130) in there.

^ Wadge, what I fail to see is how converting the Washburn to a bass would render the SX unplayable? ;).

As suggested earlier, swap the acoustic for an amp if Your friend is OK with that. If the amp is only for practising, You'll have an unlimited choices of amps ranging from transistor radios to actual bass amps.

Regards
Sam
 
#19
Man! What a way to start the day! First of all, a guy digs deep and helps his family out by selling off some bass gear! Then two total strangers offer him a practice amp so he can keep his music dream alive! Awsome! Just awsome! I'm gonna go build something...or hug somebody! I'm inspired! I'm in! If you get one of these guy's amps and need some other stuff, get up with me. I can come up with a strap, cable, tuner, some extra srings, all of the above....SOMETHING!
 

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