Double Bass EUB materials

[larryA]

Heya all!

I am building my own EUB and have all the required parts, just i need to build myself the bridge and the body (and put all the other parts together)
The bridge is easy and no-sweat to make.

I wanna ask you guys in bass land the answer to a question that has been bugging me.

Okay, i have 6 planned ideas, the one i am considering the most is one where i would make the body out of a bit of bent metal tubing in the shape of a treble clef (ironic eh? its a bass instrument)

And there lies the question: will a metal body affect the bass performance. Like will the sound quality get totally destroyed?

I have a "Fishman" pickup that clips onto the bridge, so it picks up vibrations rather than electro-magnetic signals as bass guitars have.

The neck and fingerboard are made of wood and the tailpiece is plastic.

So will a metal body be a stupid idea? 4 out of the 6 ideas are made of wood, so its all okay if i need to make it from wood. I am not yet building it, i am planning the making, and i am considering whether the metal idea could work.

Cheers for your advice (if anyone can)

 

[Francois Blais]

Okay, i have 6 planned ideas, the one i am considering the most is one where i would make the body out of a bit of bent metal tubing in the shape of a treble clef (ironic eh? its a bass instrument)

How about this?:
Link Removed

And there lies the question: will a metal body affect the bass performance. Like will the sound quality get totally destroyed?

Depends on the rigidity of the system, and if it develops stationary waves. (resonance frequency)

I have a "Fishman" pickup that clips onto the bridge, so it picks up vibrations rather than electro-magnetic signals as bass guitars have.

I didn't have luck with a Fishman used the traditional way on a solid-body EUB.
Putting it between the bridge and body, like the Kydd bass, seems to wotk better.
But some may disagree with this!

Best of luck with your project!

 

[larryA]

Sound.
That picture is quite impressive actually, i had to reject the idea of wood treble clef because the CNC machine i have access to is limited enough to not allow that kind of sized cut. I could make separate bits and attach toegther, but with the tension, it would not be practical.

The pipe is like cylindral, and is hollow, and about 1 inch diameter. It is dam rigid, and i could use stainless steel if i wanted something REALLY rigid. Or i could use mild steel to be able to colour the metal possible in a colour e.g. green? lol

But with the pickup, i saw on Invalid Link Removed that the guy on that site has piezo pickup put on a non-acoustic EUB, so therefore the pickup i have is decent enough i feel, could be improved though.

But i just dunno whether metal will not allow as many vibrations run through the instruments than wood will allow. It may have a very 'metallic' and treble sound to it (which could be good i suppose). But it could also rattle if the metal tube is bolted to the wooden neck etc. (although, duh!, i can just tighten the bolts!)

hmmm

 

[quee]

I would reccomend that whatever design you go for you use a full size double bass bridge bridge with brass adjusters, resting on some kind of sound box. Even if it is a small sound box it will resonate, then you should get something more like an acoustic bass tone.

The revolution solo might be the right kind of pickup for this.

Another thing to consider is that you need a curved bout to rest the bass against you while you play which would suggest that you turn the teble clef upside down or use a bass clef with the body of the bass running through it!
I guess you could use metal in the body but I would always recommend wood as the whole bass resonates and thats what gets amplified, even if the pickup is in the bridge, you will be able to hear any metalic ring.

Good luck with the project
cheers Quee

 

[Francois Blais]

The revolution solo might be the right kind of pickup for this.

I tried this one on my modified Carruthers.
I replaced the stock bridge with a regular bass bridge, but with shortened legs.
The bridge rests on 'floating' tone bars, and there's a small cavity under them, in the body.
There was not enough vibrations for the Rev Solo.
Same problem with the Bass Max.

The sole acoustic pickup that worked "well" was the Barcus-Berry 3150. (see attached pic)
However, the E string was too emphasized, gradually decreasing toward the G one. So the string to string balance was uneven.