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Design for a Bass

L

Lord Henry

Mar 1, 2006
321
1
Shoreditch, London, UK
www.41stnight.co.uk
#1
I admit that I'm not going to be having a bass built for me just yet, but it's a long term aim. I've been playing with ideas for a while and I've come up with a body shape that I really like (I'm still playing with the head stock).

So, I'd like to know what you guys think. Partly I want to know what you make of the look but I know nothing about how body shape affects the sound so I'd like to hear about that as well.

Just to point this out now, the short upper horn is very much intentional. There is something about how a bass sits on me that means that my body is in the way of the upper frets, so a short horn is what I need.

The measurements are for a 34" 5 string with 16.5 mil spacing.

What do you think?

Cheers

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#2
Those horns would get snapped off in a second. IMO it's the ugliest design ever. It'd be pretty difficult to sit down with that as well. If you really like it, go for it, it'll be unique.
 
#10
Lord Henry said:
I know nothing about how body shape affects the sound so I'd like to hear about that as well.
Click to expand...
No one can hear the shape of a solid body, any one who tells you they can is lying.

Now onto the design, simply walking around on stage you're going to hit that lower horn with your knees, if you haven't snapped it off first.
 
#12
Well I'm not gonna say it's ugly (although I don't particularly like it), but this reminds me of a this site I found a week or so ago. I'm mad that I can't find the link (I don't remember where I found it first), but basically it was a guide on how to build a guitar and stuff. And when it came to the body, they used the "Enterprise" bass or something like that (looked like a ship from Star Trek). It had this big horns jutting to the side, and he made the point that it's a bad design because they'll probably snap off.

Had to share that. Although I don't think this design is very good. Plus I'm sure the lower horn will make it heavier than it needs to be.
 
#13
regarding teh previous comment about shape of solidbody not influencing sound. I disagree. I have experimentd with chopping up basses just to be weird. Usually it kills the sound. I would think the round bongo type body with the perpendicular running arms might have some cancellation nodes. think of a tuning fork which resonates at one frequency(and its partials). Now if there was a pckup in between those two horns right under the strings and if the total length was about 34"?
 
#15
Calaverasgrande said:
regarding teh previous comment about shape of solidbody not influencing sound. I disagree. I have experimentd with chopping up basses just to be weird. Usually it kills the sound. I would think the round bongo type body with the perpendicular running arms might have some cancellation nodes. think of a tuning fork which resonates at one frequency(and its partials). Now if there was a pckup in between those two horns right under the strings and if the total length was about 34"?
Click to expand...
A solid wood body on a bass is not a tuning fork and making up unrelated things does not change science. Also I'd suggest that chopping up a bass is likely to be detrimental to it's overall sound.

There is no one who can say the shape of the wood changes the sound and back it up with anything besides uh huh!

Everything that you can see on an instrument has someone who claims they can hear it. The chemical compound of the finish, the color of the hardware, the Wooten autograph on the headstock, the composition of the fretwire. But no matter how many people that swear they can hear what they see if they see it first you'll never find anyone who can listen first and tell you the shape of a bass. In other words, they're always right when they get the answer first and never right without it. Hmmm...

When you play a bass you can make drastic changes to its tone by taking a step away from the amp. We simply can't come back another day and tell subtle differences no matter how confident we are.

Cancelation nodes because of perpendicular horns? Please :rolleyes:

How come all these people can hear the difference between the gums used on the headstock decal never hear a change when holding a bass on a beer gut? Why can't we hear how fat the guy holding the bass is? Shouldn't body fat percentages influence the amount of resonance a bass has and the flow of tone through the neck joint? Crap, I got a bit sarcastic :)
 
#16
Moo said:
How come all these people can hear the difference between the gums used on the headstock decal never hear a change when holding a bass on a beer gut? Why can't we hear how fat the guy holding the bass is? Shouldn't body fat percentages influence the amount of resonance a bass has and the flow of tone through the neck joint? Crap, I got a bit sarcastic :)
Click to expand...
Actually, I can.
 

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