campfire bass?

[micguy]

Solid body bases are the best for campfires. They burn longer.

 

[giantoz]

Solid body bases are the best for campfires. They burn longer.

Nice

 

[micguy]

Nice

Somebody was going to say it. We all know that. I just got there first.

 

[Killing Floor]

If you want to play Femmes try a big 'ole Guild B30.

 

[AdeptBerry]

That is an option (I'm a fan of Savarez nyloncores, they're inexpensive and sound good:
Invalid Link Removed for a 32" scale acoustic bass guitar;
Invalid Link Removed for 34" scale.
Only drawback is you need to tie their bridge end into a knot if the bass has bridge pins.)
The ABG would still sound like a guitar though, if a little more like a classical one. So I can't guarantee you're gonna like the result. You could buy a used acoustic locally, put on the nylons, sell if it doesn't work for you.
Or try darker strings (flatwounds, or Rotosound Tru Bass 88 black nylon tapewounds) before selling it.

The solution might be as simple as using a stethoscope with your electric bass. Really.
(Or, for something less lo-tech, a Vox AmPlug and headphones.
Or, for a hybrid of the two, in that it would use electricity but also capture the unplugged tone of your solid-body: a cheap piezo pickup of the removable kind - suction cup, clamp or adhesive - placed at the headstock, plugged into a headphone amp, with headphones.)

I've never used a steth but on my electric guitar I was wearing a hoodie with the hood upand the string around the hoodie neck was behind the guitar neck and it picked up the vibrations. I'm not sure what the set up was but I just kinda forgot about it.

What's a uke bass? Is it tuned differently? A giant wall of text and no links.

 

[giantoz]

Here's an uke bass
Wanderer Acoustic-Electric U•BASS® - Kala Brand Music Co.

I also mentioned a custom. It's the one on the bottom of the page
Kinal Basses

I've never used a steth but on my electric guitar I was wearing a hoodie with the hood upand the string around the hoodie neck was behind the guitar neck and it picked up the vibrations. I'm not sure what the set up was but I just kinda forgot about it.

What's a uke bass? Is it tuned differently? A giant wall of text and no links.

 

[giantoz]

If you want to play Femmes try a big 'ole Guild B30.

Yeah! That's it!

 

[Eilif]

If you're considering a Kala, I'd recommend at least looking at a Goldtone microbass or similar instrument. I found the unplugged tone of the Goldtone and the feel to be much more enjoyable compared to the Kala . It's still not loud enough musically to compete with a strummed acoustic, but it is notably louder than the Kala unplugged.

The Goldtone comes in 23 and 25" versions compared to the Kala 20". Either is better than the Kala in my hands but the 25" is especially nice.

I had a similar Hadean 24" solid body uke bass that was nice. Really sounded similar to an upright when amplified. Rondo has Hadean uke basses in 20" and 23" in solid and hollowbody. If you want to go affordable, here's a 23" Hadean acoustic uke bass on sale for $159!: Hadean Bass Uke UKB-23-33 Long Scale
If you just want a campfire bass for playing by yourself, that's how I'd go.

One last thing, The Aquilla strings are fine, but a set of Pahoehoe strings were much nicer on the fingers and held a tune a little better.

 

[Eilif]

I've never used a steth but on my electric guitar I was wearing a hoodie with the hood upand the string around the hoodie neck was behind the guitar neck and it picked up the vibrations. I'm not sure what the set up was but I just kinda forgot about it.

What's a uke bass? Is it tuned differently? A giant wall of text and no links.

A uke bass is a term for an extremely short-scaled instrument (usually about 20"). It manages to achieve the same range (tuned same too) as a traditional electric bass by using thick polyurethane or silicone strings (sometime metal wound wrap). Pickups are piezo and the scale, strings and pickup usually result in an amplified tone similar to an upright bass. Kala is the best known example.

There are also longer-scale versions such as the Gold Tone Microbass which comes in 23 and 25" versions.

All these basses owe their origins to the Guild (later Dearmond) "Ashbory" bass which was a tiny 18" scale electric bass with silicone strings.

 

[Pauly 4001]

Solid body bases are the best for campfires. They burn longer.

But an aged and well cured upright will get you there too:

 

[micguy]

But an aged and well cured upright will get you there too:
View attachment 3948968

I could live with that. So long as someone else had a car that would get it to the beach.

 

[MattZilla]

I know how acoustic basses sound and I don't really like it...you know what I mean.

I do. Most of them suck. Ibanez had a 000 body size mahogany looking thing that sounded surprisingly great. Fun little mid-mid bark. It might’ve been an “Artwood” (...minutes) and scrolling through google shopping images makes me think it was the short scale Parlor bass which might be great for...

I'm often fiddling around the 16th fret so damn often

...Tuning lighter strings up to C#F#BE would bring those notes down into an acoustic’s fingerboard, effectively yielding you a neat acoustic piccolo bass?

Or would the better route be to get just any acoustic and put nylon core strings on it?

either get a steel string acoustic or a nylon string acoustic (classical) depending on what your ears like. Yamaha is the easy sub-$1k choice either way.

I remember really liking All of Ibanez’s mahogany topped Artwood series from ~2013 on, especially that little bass.

 

[BarfanyShart]

My campfire bass is a piccolo I made from the cheapest "parlor bass" I could find, tuned CGDA, like a cello, an octave up from where I tune my BG. It's got flats on it, so it has the tone of a bass, and guitarists like what it adds to the sound of a jam. Chordal stuff sounds good - straight up strum it if you want - and it works very well to accompany myself singing. There is a guitar-scale acoustic bass thread on here if you are looking for way too much info on these types of instruments. I used to bring a DB to the campfire, but this is a bit more portable, and you won't really miss the lowest octave for what you are trying to do.

 

[blastoff]

I'm really curious on how that would sound on a solid body


Edit: solid

actually i dont think it would work. i was watching some videos and i guess theres a thing you gotta stick inside yer sound hole. still though, you could get the cheapest acoustic bass, slap one of these puppies on there and away you go

 

[Lowtonejoe]

I got one of these.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[giantoz]

If you're considering a Kala, I'd recommend at least looking at a Goldtone microbass or similar instrument. I found the unplugged tone of the Goldtone and the feel to be much more enjoyable compared to the Kala . It's still not loud enough musically to compete with a strummed acoustic, but it is notably louder than the Kala unplugged.

The Goldtone comes in 23 and 25" versions compared to the Kala 20". Either is better than the Kala in my hands but the 25" is especially nice.

I had a similar Hadean 24" solid body uke bass that was nice. Really sounded similar to an upright when amplified. Rondo has Hadean uke basses in 20" and 23" in solid and hollowbody. If you want to go affordable, here's a 23" Hadean acoustic uke bass on sale for $159!: Hadean Bass Uke UKB-23-33 Long Scale
If you just want a campfire bass for playing by yourself, that's how I'd go.

One last thing, The Aquilla strings are fine, but a set of Pahoehoe strings were much nicer on the fingers and held a tune a little better.

Thanks for that recommendation. The best uke bass I've played was the standard gold tone and I've really itching for the 25 but it's so pricey...which is understandable since they blew up the body but still. Thank you for the recommendation on the hadean too-that looks like the best budget option and probably what I'll get if I go the uke route. And I haven't heard of those strings too. Btw my cousin has the same name as you!

 

[giantoz]

That sounds perfect. I haven't looked up parlor basses yet I'm going to do that.

My campfire bass is a piccolo I made from the cheapest "parlor bass" I could find, tuned CGDA, like a cello, an octave up from where I tune my BG. It's got flats on it, so it has the tone of a bass, and guitarists like what it adds to the sound of a jam. Chordal stuff sounds good - straight up strum it if you want - and it works very well to accompany myself singing. There is a guitar-scale acoustic bass thread on here if you are looking for way too much info on these types of instruments. I used to bring a DB to the campfire, but this is a bit more portable, and you won't really miss the lowest octave for what you are trying to do.

 

[giantoz]

Awesome info. This sounds perfect I need to look up parlor basses. And I'm going to search for that artwood

I do. Most of them suck. Ibanez had a 000 body size mahogany looking thing that sounded surprisingly great. Fun little mid-mid bark. It might’ve been an “Artwood” (...minutes) and scrolling through google shopping images makes me think it was the short scale Parlor bass which might be great for...


...Tuning lighter strings up to C#F#BE would bring those notes down into an acoustic’s fingerboard, effectively yielding you a neat acoustic piccolo bass?

either get a steel string acoustic or a nylon string acoustic (classical) depending on what your ears like. Yamaha is the easy sub-$1k choice either way.

I remember really liking All of Ibanez’s mahogany topped Artwood series from ~2013 on, especially that little bass.

 

[giantoz]

I got one of these.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

That looks really nice.

 

[Lowtonejoe]

Sounds great too.