Anyone have experience with piccolo basses?

[MrWalker]

Hi everyone!

There are guys who are successful using the piccolo bass out there, I'm thinking of especially Foley and Stanley Clarke. The concept has intrigued me since I was in my teens and I heard Stanley Clarke on the piccolo for the first time. I have on a number of occassions attempted to string basses up as piccolo basses, with various scale lengths (34", 32", 22"), but I have still not found something that "feels right" to me.

Anyone have any good experience on this to share? It's an itch that hasn't subsided in 35 years, so still hunting

Thanks

 

[KohanMike]

I have a fair amount of experience with bass ukes and small bass guitars that sound like full size basses, but I think you're specifically talking about one octave higher tuning.

 

[MrWalker]

Yes, exactly. I'm looking to tune a bass an octave higher than a regular bass.
I guess the issue has changed a little with the extended range basses, you could always just pick an 8-string, and the top four strings would be in the range of the piccolo bass....

 

[ruk]

I play a Piccolo for years: a Richwood RB-137:

It is a little 30" Shortscale made in China, good quality, Wilkinson Hardware - but hard to find.
I use the lower four strings from guitar strings, but they have to be long enough: Fender or Martin Strings do the job. Look for a medium gauge (010-012) with a wound G-String.

 

[Gorn]

Did Stanley Clarke play piccolo or was it ADGC?

 

[MrWalker]

He plays both, actually

 

[toddsterbassist]

I use them a lot for writing and recording. I employ them mainly like you'd use a guitar. I'm more comfortable with 4 strings.

 

[MrWalker]

I play a Piccolo for years: a Richwood RB-137:

It is a little 30" Shortscale made in China, good quality, Wilkinson Hardware - but hard to find.
I use the lower four strings from guitar strings, but they have to be long enough: Fender or Martin Strings do the job. Look for a medium gauge (010-012) with a wound G-String.

Ah nice... I was thinking probably 30" would give a slightly lower tension and more "bass-like" feel for those light strings. Should probably try to get hold of something like that Thanks!

I use them a lot for writing and recording. I employ them mainly like you'd use a guitar. I'm more comfortable with 4 strings.

Cool, which bass do you use and what strings?

 

[UNICORN BASS]

I had a Gretsch Electromatic set up piccolo years ago. It was fun to play and sounded good but didn't do much for me in a band setting. Although that may just have been my playing i suppose.

 

[Stdjazz4]

I'd like to hear more about the Mikro strung as a piccolo.

Just use 4 guitar strings and tune??

Switch to a guitar amp or stick to bass amp??

 

[mp40smg]

you should check out the wing bass.

 

[lz4005]

I'd like to hear more about the Mikro strung as a piccolo.
Just use 4 guitar strings and tune??

With any bass the place to start is with strings half the thickness of whatever you would use to tune to standard. Then experiment until it feels right.
I've got a 30" scale Kramer Duke tuned piccolo currently. Sounds great, and with the aluminum neck and zero fret no adjustments were needed other than intonation.
Used heavy guitar strings. Starting with a .056 for the E, going up to a plain .020 for the G.

 

[TolerancEJ]

Why not set one up yourself? If you've been thinking about piccolo basses for awhile, maybe you already have some ideas in your mind. It doesn't need to be an expensive endeavor. You could easily pick up a cheap, used Squier/Ibanez/Yamaha on your local Craigslist and restring it with piccolo strings.

 

[Stdjazz4]

With any bass the place to start is with strings half the thickness of whatever you would use to tune to standard. Then experiment until it feels right.
I've got a 30" scale Kramer Duke tuned piccolo currently. Sounds great, and with the aluminum neck and zero fret no adjustments were needed other than intonation.
Used heavy guitar strings. Starting with a .056 for the E, going up to a plain .020 for the G.

Thanks!!

How about the amp??

Bass/guitar any preference??

 

[lug]

I use them a lot for writing and recording. I employ them mainly like you'd use a guitar. I'm more comfortable with 4 strings.

This. I've used an EBO as a piccolo for years.

 

[lz4005]

Thanks!!
How about the amp??
Bass/guitar any preference??

I've played it through both. They sound different, but either will work.
I prefer it with a bit of reverb, regardless of which kind of amp.

 

[katysax]

Hi everyone!

There are guys who are successful using the piccolo bass out there, I'm thinking of especially Foley and Stanley Clarke. The concept has intrigued me since I was in my teens and I heard Stanley Clarke on the piccolo for the first time. I have on a number of occassions attempted to string basses up as piccolo basses, with various scale lengths (34", 32", 22"), but I have still not found something that "feels right" to me.

Anyone have any good experience on this to share? It's an itch that hasn't subsided in 35 years, so still hunting

Thanks

I have this Luna Tattoo. Super cheap. It has a pickup. I got it because I was trying to play on the higher frets on a ubass and having issues with room and intonation. I sometimes use this like a guitar.

 

[Sigurd]

I have some real, non-troll questions as someone who genuinely doesn't know the answers. What is the point of a piccolo bass? How is this used in a musical setting?

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Good question.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I played one for a while and found it very strange - the thinness of the strings dug into my fingers and the neck was too wide - I'd love to try a narrow neck really purpose built piccolo base, rather than stringing a 32" bass with piccolo strings.