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First project: Folk Bass DIY upright
- Thread starter NKBassman
- Start date
Ask someone else to hold it while you take a picture, then pull out a gun and politely suggest that they play.
Be photographed playing a Bass Banjo, or get shot for refusing? Not an easy decision.....
Why does everything around here devolve into threats of violence???
Well, I'm back. My legs are stiff, my eyelids feel like sandpaper and my brain feels like a bucket of mashed potatoes, but it was a great long weekend away with old friends that I rarely get to see and a whole lot of great music!
I had several chances to play the Thing between about 12:00-3:00 AM on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, just wandering around the campground and posting up in front of random people's campsites for 20 minutes or so, then moving on down the road. Material covered included everything from The Band to Ray Charles to Tyler Childers to Rage Against the Machine!
Overall I'd say it performed quite well! The nights were very unseasonably cold this year (lowest got down to about 8 degrees C) which made it very difficult to keep in tune and to keep my fingers working. But the tonality and volume were a good blend against acoustic guitars and accompanying vocals, djimbes, etc. Audience reports fell somewhere between "hard to hear" and "sounded great", but overall it was a real hit with the musicians amongst the rabble in the campground. I had some trouble hearing it myself while playing, and combined with the poor ambient lighting I did have a few moments of rethinking my fretless approach for the new neck, but I'm carrying on with the plan, if anything to simply avoid spending more money on tools and supplies.
The shims currently in place under the bridge were a bit of a problem as they tended to rattle out of position after some play time, but that was easy to fix. The arc of the bridge was uncomfortably flat (as expected), but the bridge in general will be redone when I finish and attach the new neck.
Unfortunately there were no good photos or videos taken as it was mostly played by campfire light and there was no formal jam spot (or at least I couldn't find it) with better lighting as there was in previous years. I did get one short video of someone else playing it, but the bass isn't very audible in the video. I recall it sounded better in person.
Several name suggestions were tossed around in the wee hours of the night, and the only one I can recall is The Banj-low. Suggestion Box is still open, I think. haha
I had several chances to play the Thing between about 12:00-3:00 AM on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, just wandering around the campground and posting up in front of random people's campsites for 20 minutes or so, then moving on down the road. Material covered included everything from The Band to Ray Charles to Tyler Childers to Rage Against the Machine!
Overall I'd say it performed quite well! The nights were very unseasonably cold this year (lowest got down to about 8 degrees C) which made it very difficult to keep in tune and to keep my fingers working. But the tonality and volume were a good blend against acoustic guitars and accompanying vocals, djimbes, etc. Audience reports fell somewhere between "hard to hear" and "sounded great", but overall it was a real hit with the musicians amongst the rabble in the campground. I had some trouble hearing it myself while playing, and combined with the poor ambient lighting I did have a few moments of rethinking my fretless approach for the new neck, but I'm carrying on with the plan, if anything to simply avoid spending more money on tools and supplies.
The shims currently in place under the bridge were a bit of a problem as they tended to rattle out of position after some play time, but that was easy to fix. The arc of the bridge was uncomfortably flat (as expected), but the bridge in general will be redone when I finish and attach the new neck.
Unfortunately there were no good photos or videos taken as it was mostly played by campfire light and there was no formal jam spot (or at least I couldn't find it) with better lighting as there was in previous years. I did get one short video of someone else playing it, but the bass isn't very audible in the video. I recall it sounded better in person.
Several name suggestions were tossed around in the wee hours of the night, and the only one I can recall is The Banj-low. Suggestion Box is still open, I think. haha
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I also had an idea about ordering a custom string set and tuning it an octave higher than normal (into the range of a Bass 6) instead of all the way down to E1. Just an idea for now, but hoping that would help a little with volume projection at the expense of some low frequencies.
Edit: Going up an octave might lead to prohibitively thin strings on the D and G strings that would be uncomfortable to play finger style. I probably won't go in this direction.
Edit: Going up an octave might lead to prohibitively thin strings on the D and G strings that would be uncomfortable to play finger style. I probably won't go in this direction.
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Spent my lunch break sketching out an adjustable bridge design, based on using a pair of tune-o-matic bridge thumb screws from Stew Mac.
I could probably also just use some plain threaded rod or machine bolts from the hardware store, but finding something suitable for the "thumbwheel" nuts might be challenging.
I could probably also just use some plain threaded rod or machine bolts from the hardware store, but finding something suitable for the "thumbwheel" nuts might be challenging.
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I would worry about the little tune-o-matic adjusters holding up under the load of greater bass string tension and vigorous acoustic playing. If you want to DIY something, there is a huge range of knobs available for 1/4-20 threaded rod. Or you could buy ready-made upright bass bridge adjusters.
Well, I can promise you I'm not spending $75 on a pair carved from ebony
.It would be easy enough to DIY if I can find the right knob.
EDIT: They are referred to as Thumb Nuts and there's plenty on Amazon.
These look good (M8 size).
And these (M6 size).
The StewMac ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic thumbwheel set has posts that are 0.157" (4mm) diameter, which seemed reasonably robust to me. Most of the thumb nuts I was just looking at were metric sized, so M6 would be a step up from that in thickness (6mm).
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My suggestion: Don't use the thumbwheels. If you've ever set up a bass with thumbwheel jacking screws, they are annoying and painful to adjust. I usually end up turning them with arc-joint pliers.
Instead, use standard bolts with fairly large round heads and either Phillips or Allen socket drive. Adjust them using a screwdriver or an Allen wrench down through a hole in the top bridge part. Like the holes you have shown now.
If I were building it, I'd use 10-32 Socket Head Cap Screws. The heads would fit up into 5/16" diameter counterbores on the underside of the top bridge part. Use 3/16" holes up through the top, and a 5/32" Allen wrench would fit down through to turn the screws. I'd put brass inserts with 10-32 threads in the lower half of the bridge. That would have plenty of strength, and would be adjustable forever.
Down there in Metric Land, you could do the same thing with M5 Socket Head Cap Screws.
I do like the idea of it being adjustable on the fly without tools, but I’ll take your word for it wrt the physical limitations of actually using the thumbwheels.
I had that thought as well, but I'm not really set up to do any sort of metal work. If that were the case, I could probably just as easily drill holes in a regular ol' hex nut (at the risk of buggering up the threads).
Every setting on a bass should be made to work with an IKEA hex wrench because everyone in the world has several spares (only half joking)
I've been making a point of this for a few years now, and mine include a brand new ikea wrench.
Do they sell those on Amazon?I've been making a point of this for a few years now, and mine include a brand new ikea wrench.
I haven't checked yet. I'm still working my way through giving away my own collection gathered over the years.Do they sell those on Amazon?
