3 string P bass? What's the story?

[klokker]

I was watching a YouTube video the other day when I noticed this bass. The player is Aden Bubeck who plays for Miranda Lambert. I had never seen or heard of such an animal before. Any info. would be appreciated.



Best views are at about 1:31 and 1:58. Thanks.

 

[lz4005]

There have been a couple of threads on that bass. From what I remember there's not much info available about it.
Basically he wanted a 3 string and either had one made or had an existing bass modified.

3's aren't as uncommon as you'd think.

 

[mmbongo]

Roscoe did it first! Or at least best

 

[Lowbrow]

I had an acquaintance who used to strip his P bass of the G just to make a point about what a savage caveman he was. Even took off the tuner and just left a hole.

 

[klokker]

There have been a couple of threads on that bass. From what I remember there's not much info available about it.
Basically he wanted a 3 string and either had one made or had an existing bass modified.

3's aren't as uncommon as you'd think.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Just had no clue, and that's happened before.....thanks for the replies.

 

[lz4005]

I had an acquaintance who used to strip his P bass of the G just to make a point about what a savage caveman he was. Even took off the tuner and just left a hole.

Am I more or less of a caveman when I use my Krappy 2 string? Or my Bogdon 2 string acoustic?

 

[Malak the Mad]

There have been a couple of threads on that bass. From what I remember there's not much info available about it.
Basically he wanted a 3 string and either had one made or had an existing bass modified.

3's aren't as uncommon as you'd think.

Funny that custom-made MusicMan should come up. I mentioned it in another thread mere minutes ago, before I opened up this thread.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Just had no clue, and that's happened before.....thanks for the replies.

If I remember correctly, Levin used it for the bass line of Peter Gabriel's "Big Time". He was doing the fretting and Jerry Marotta was literally wailing away at the strings with a pair of drumsticks. This is what inspired Papa Bear to develop his patented "Funk Fingers".

 

[bobba66]

 

[Dub56]

I think it would be really interesting to play a purpose-built 3 string. I feel like it would make you interact with those same 3 strings differently than you would with 4 strings in the equation. Might be a good training exercise, actually..

 

[lz4005]

I think it would be really interesting to play a purpose-built 3 string. I feel like it would make you interact with those same 3 strings differently than you would with 4 strings in the equation. Might be a good training exercise, actually..

There's a great video of Yves Carbonne, who's been a pioneer of playing extended range fretless basses with 8+ strings, playing Donna Lee on a 2 string. He basically said the same thing.

 

[MEKer]

I was watching a YouTube video the other day when I noticed this bass. The player is Aden Bubeck who plays for Miranda Lambert. I had never seen or heard of such an animal before. Any info. would be appreciated.



Best views are at about 1:31 and 1:58. Thanks.

Man..that is one classic country voice. She's a looker besides.

Instrumentally and guitar-soundwise they really remind me of the Marshall Tucker Band.

 

[Nephilymbass]

I see 3 strings every once in a while. This is the bass player from Body Count with what looks like a 3 string schecter.

 

[fretno]

One of the 3 Roscoe Lg 3003's are with me !

This bass is all Roscoe if you know what I mean . It's a lot of fun to play and definitely keeps you in the zone or in the heart of the tune . Holding it down is the name of the game so... take off your g strings

 

[BassAndReeds]

All these spare G strings lying around. Sounds like a party we’d all enjoy.

 

[bassdude51]

I don't really see the point of a 3 string bass. If it is to keep a bassist in low register, then why not just play a 5 string or a 4 string and not go any higher than the 8th fret?

Back in the late 60s, Fender made a 15 fret, 5 string bass E to C. Somewhat of a good idea. A short scale. A bassist could play almost continuous without moving out of a single position.

 

[fretno]

yeah it's an interesting and fun instrument but I doubt you'll see too many . You can get the job done with whatever you have . On a side note I used to have an Atlansia solitaire , which doubled as a pool cue

 

[lz4005]

I don't really see the point of a 3 string bass. If it is to keep a bassist in low register, then why not just play a 5 string or a 4 string and not go any higher than the 8th fret?

Back in the late 60s, Fender made a 15 fret, 5 string bass E to C. Somewhat of a good idea. A short scale. A bassist could play almost continuous without moving out of a single position.

The point of a 3, or better yet a 2, string is to play minimally and have fun. As well as to jump around more on the neck. It's an interesting challenge. And did I mention fun?

It's also a bit of an in-joke, both because of extended range basses and guitars, but also because many people either don't use or joke about not needing the upper range of a bass.

It can be argued that our instrument originated as a 3 string, since that's how many the first orchestral uprights had.

The Bass V was absolutely not short scale. It was 34", exactly like a P or J.
It was a terrible idea. Nobody wanted them, which is why they only sold a few hundred and then cut the leftover bodies up to make Swinger guitars.

 

[fretno]

^^^ That is a beauty !

 

[MEKer]

I don't really see the point of a 3 string bass. If it is to keep a bassist in low register, then why not just play a 5 string or a 4 string and not go any higher than the 8th fret?

Back in the late 60s, Fender made a 15 fret, 5 string bass E to C. Somewhat of a good idea. A short scale. A bassist could play almost continuous without moving out of a single position.

View attachment 2987047
View attachment 2987048

What is the model name of these? I want one! drool

 

[bassdude51]

The point of a 3, or better yet a 2, string is to play minimally and have fun. As well as to jump around more on the neck. It's an interesting challenge. And did I mention fun?

It's also a bit of an in-joke, both because of extended range basses and guitars, but also because many people either don't use or joke about not needing the upper range of a bass.

It can be argued that our instrument originated as a 3 string, since that's how many the first orchestral uprights had.

The Bass V was absolutely not short scale. It was 34", exactly like a P or J.
It was a terrible idea. Nobody wanted them, which is why they only sold a few hundred and then cut the leftover bodies up to make Swinger guitars.

View attachment 2987146
View attachment 2987147

Thanks for the correction on the Fender Bass V being a 34" scale bass. My uninformed mistake. Sorry.

I like your comments.

I've never played a Fender V. But the idea of it makes at least some sense to me. I would imagine that the C string on any 5 string bass that's tuned E to C would be kind of too twangy.

I have an old Jethro Tull album, Living In The Past and there is a photo of the band playing live in the early 70s and the bass player at the time was using a Fender Bass V. I can't find the photo on Google Images.

Here on TalkBass there have been many heated discussions about 5 string and 6 string basses vs 4 string basses and here's a thread about 2 string and 3 string basses vs 4s.

We human beings are a strange lot!