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Building a short-scale piccolo bass.
- Thread starter RainH2O
- Start date
3M Finesse-it II is awesome stuff! Buffed by hand with the stuff after sanding the clearcoat to 2000 grit. The camera on the iPad doesn't show the depth on this top (there is a lot of color variation the iPad just isn't picking up too, the dead looking spots on the horns have black line spalt and some color variation and the quilted areas have a lot more color overtones). I will recharge camera batteries and take proper pics tomorrow. Still needs some detail work/cleanup, fret job, and wiring.
Please explain to me, what is the difference between a Guitar and a Bass "one octave higher than an EADG-Bass"? There are only 2 strings missing. You should consider ADGC, "A" the same as on a normal Bass on the 5th fret on E string.
A short scale Bass (30") has the 5th fret approximately on 22.5"
Look on my avatar pic, this is a 30", I have my left hand on the 5th fret, a very comfortable playing position.
A short scale Bass (30") has the 5th fret approximately on 22.5"
Look on my avatar pic, this is a 30", I have my left hand on the 5th fret, a very comfortable playing position.
Hopkins
Commercial User
The same difference as a guitar and an extended range bass played in the upper end of its range. Even though extended range basses upper registers stray into the same octave covered by a guitar, they sound, feel, and play nothing like a guitar. An ordinary four string bass can play notes in the same register typically played by a guitar. Still, sounds nothing like a guitar.
Take a look at some of the you tube videos of people playing a Marleaux Consat Sopran. It's within a half inch in scale length to my build and it is tuned EADG. It also sounds nothing like a guitar.
A lot of it has to do with string gauge. A typical guitar will have a set of 9's or 10's (I use 10's). The low E on a set of guitar 10's is .056. The E on the Marleaux is .080.
It also has to do with the feel of the instrument being totally different. Doesn't feel like a guitar at all, and doesn't lend itself to being played like a guitar. When you pick it up, you don't think "guitar with missing strings", you think "odd little bass."
I don't want to change the tuning for two reasons. I don't want to change the position a note is typically played, and I intend to use an octave pedal sometimes to put it in the register of an actual bass.
You may be overthinking this, I'm building it as a novelty and a personal toy. Maybe something my toddler son might like to play when he gets a little bigger (he already plucks the strings on my guitars with a wide-eyed expression - I'm hoping he will take an interest). I like building weird stuff, it doesn't have to be practical.
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Scale length, string spacing, and string thickness & tension separate a piccolo bass from a guitar. Its not meant to hold down the low end, its meant to give a bass player a comfortable and familiar instrument for playing melodies, chords, and soloing. I've personally been thinking about getting one of those Ibanez Mikro 5 string basses and restringing it BEADG one octave higher. Heck, I might even get it defretted and learn to play fretless piccolo like Jeff Schmidt!
So do I
When I think "Piccolo Bass" I think "Stanley Clarke" he's using the ADGC tuning, or am I wrong? Okay it's your instrument, do you use standard strings on it? The tension will be very high on 22.5" eadg tuning.
That's called "tenor tuning." Piccolo tuning is one octave higher than standard. He probably uses custom gauge strings or something like a 7 string guitar set and leaves the top three off.
I was thinking before that this was, as you said, a really cool novelty instrument. Then when you added the part about your son hopefully taking an interest, I now have to build one. My 8 month old daughter loves to sit on my lap and pluck the strings on my upright. Thanks for the inspiration!
Beveled the frets and strung it up just to test how everything is going to work under tension. Stll need to do a fret level and crown, a little buzzing over the first three frets. My nut slots and tuners lined up nicely. Always nice when your measurements turn out to have been accurate.
