Lately I've been thinking a lot about building instruments: cigar box guitars, electric basses, EUB's, etc. I've also started playing in a blues/rock(abilly) band where I play my double bass but have trouble being heard and am always worried about someone hurting my baby
. This has got me thinking about buying or building an EUB, but I don't want to give up the tone of my double bass, so I've been thinking a lot about what contributes to the tone of an amplified (using a piezo pickup) double bass. All this has led to an idea: build an EUB "test rig" that can be used to test various parameters that affect the tone of the bass.
I thought I would post here to see if anyone in the Portland, OR (or PNW) area is interested in working on this sort of a project. I have very little experience building instruments, but the point of this is not to make a beautifully finished instrument. I do have experience as an acoustical engineer, and have access to measurement microphones, accelerometers and signal analysis software for providing quantitative documentation of the affect of various changes.
The test EUB would be set up for easy interchangeability of various parts and parameters: bridge, body, scale length, materials, etc. I know that in working with an organic material like wood there are a lot of variables that can't be controlled, but the idea is not to come up with the end all be all of what does what; I just want to get a better idea of how the parts of an EUB contribute to its tone.
If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions or would like to join in on the project, please let me know.
If I get around to doing some sketches over the weekend I'll try to scan and post them, and if I get a chance to do some CAD drawings I'll post those as well.
. This has got me thinking about buying or building an EUB, but I don't want to give up the tone of my double bass, so I've been thinking a lot about what contributes to the tone of an amplified (using a piezo pickup) double bass. All this has led to an idea: build an EUB "test rig" that can be used to test various parameters that affect the tone of the bass.I thought I would post here to see if anyone in the Portland, OR (or PNW) area is interested in working on this sort of a project. I have very little experience building instruments, but the point of this is not to make a beautifully finished instrument. I do have experience as an acoustical engineer, and have access to measurement microphones, accelerometers and signal analysis software for providing quantitative documentation of the affect of various changes.
The test EUB would be set up for easy interchangeability of various parts and parameters: bridge, body, scale length, materials, etc. I know that in working with an organic material like wood there are a lot of variables that can't be controlled, but the idea is not to come up with the end all be all of what does what; I just want to get a better idea of how the parts of an EUB contribute to its tone.
If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions or would like to join in on the project, please let me know.
If I get around to doing some sketches over the weekend I'll try to scan and post them, and if I get a chance to do some CAD drawings I'll post those as well.
