Bass with a twist

[Harley Marty]

This is a banjo bass tuned in fifths GDAE two octaves below mandolin. The G is 31” long & the E is 30”. This thing carries very well acoustically. It has a 14” Remo Ambassador drum head to push the volume.

 

[Ghastly]

Would be interesting to hear sound samples.

 

[Element Zero]

A fanned fret banjo bass? That’s hella cool!

 

[Harley Marty]

Would be interesting to hear sound samples.

I’m not so flash at the sound sample thing I from either a tech perspective or a playing perspective. It has a wooden tone ring to mellow out the banjo sharp decay & behind the tone ring I designed in a sound chamber that runs around the perimeter. The band that holds down the head is also wooden instead of brass or steel and is bolted directly onto the back creating more resonance. I just build them but in the hands of a good player this banjo sounds well. Here’s a photo of the side port it pushes the sound to the player, note the bamboo neck & bamboo fretboard. Also a pic of the rim & tone ring.