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good acoustic basses? a myth?
- Thread starter basstotheface
- Start date
- Jan 28, 2009
- 2,929
- 4,152
- Disclosures
- Owner: Moonshine Custom Guitars
+1. I helped my buddy get one of these. They are really nice basses, all solid wood. A great value. I been looking for one for myself now. Still, they are comparable to other ABG's, volume-wise.
Moonshine
It boils down to AGB's are not generally loud enough to do much of anything unplugged with other instruments (mine is loud enough only when my guitardist uses a 3/4 sized guitar). You buy one for it's unique voice, not it's "campfireiness". 
They have their own sound that I've found unique and useful. If you want a solution to play with guitars and don't care about the acoustic nature of your tone, get a steinberger knockoff and a pignose Hog 30 battery amp and have at it.
They have their own sound that I've found unique and useful. If you want a solution to play with guitars and don't care about the acoustic nature of your tone, get a steinberger knockoff and a pignose Hog 30 battery amp and have at it.
Anybody heard of Boulder Creek acoustics ?
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There's one on E-Bay. I seem to remember hearing good things about them. Never played one myself.
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There's one on E-Bay. I seem to remember hearing good things about them. Never played one myself.
I've been looking for a great ABG for the last 5 years. ( un-amplified )
I've played an Old Earthwood ABG. (Simply amazing)
And a Taylor AB2. ( sounds better plugged in)
Marco Cortes, of Marco Basses.
Is building me his version of an Earthwood style ABG.
It will be close to size of the Earthwood.
And were trying to make it without a pickup.
But, with volume to compete with other acoustic instruments.
Should have bass in about two months.
There's a BC being used in this video. Kinda low in the mix, but still sounds nice. The fretless would be on my list if I were looking.
Yup!
It's a simple matter of physics. ABGs of today are made to handle like an electric bass. The body resonates, but is not large enough to add a whole lot of volume in the acoustic space. The Ernie Ball Earthwood's body-to-neck proportions are much different from the ABGs of today--bigger body, shorter neck free of the body. I played one in a store over 30 years ago and it had an astonishing amount of bass volume. Ernie Ball (the man) got the idea for his bass when he brought a guitarron back from a trip to Mexico. If you've ever heard a live mariachi band with a guitarron, you know they create enough acoustic volume to hold down the low end in a small ensemble.
I've been looking for a great ABG for the last 5 years. ( un-amplified )
I've played an Old Earthwood ABG. (Simply amazing)
And a Taylor AB2. ( sounds better plugged in)
Marco Cortes, of Marco Basses is building me his version of an Earthwood style ABG.
It turns out you can get a guitarron from Musicians Friend or Elderly for about $350. It has a much shorter neck than a typical bass, but it's a 6-string, so you play horizontally more than vertically. If you want a campfire/front porch bass, this is the way to go without spending custom job money. They're tuned A-to-A like a 6-string baritone.
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On the subject of resonator bass, I just came across this:
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I've played their ABG and was impressed by its sound:
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I've played their ABG and was impressed by its sound:
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I took a look at the michael kelly bayou found it for 599? I think and the dragonfly fretless 4 for around 620. I need help choosing between these two please no more options before i explode from GAS intake
no you won't. a double bass is hard pressed to pull that off.
despite what a lot of people think though you can get enough volume out of an abg for it to work without an amp with other acoustic stringed instruments. like you said in an earlier post high action and really laying into it are what make this happen.
I'm playing an Ovation Celebrity and I love it. It cost around 500 bucks fresh, and has a lot warmer rounder tone that the twangy Takamines I see everywhere. And since it's an Ovation, it looks great and is boss for dragging around.
Don't know which Takamine you've played. Perhaps one of the lower tier "Jasmine" S Series with a poor setup and ultra bright bronze strings. I own two, and I can assure you, there's nothing twangy about either.
No it doesn't. No matter what ANYBODY tells you about this brand or that model, it WILL NOT keep up with (at best) more than two acoustic guitars without being plugged in.
Cold, hard fact.....accept it.
With that said, my MK fretless is a GREAT ABG! got is setup with tapewounds and it has a tone VERY close to an upright.
And that's why the vast majority of ABG's are fitted with onboard electronics. They're expected to be plugged in when their acoustic output becomes inadequate.
3 Rob Allens. Used to play them a lot in bands and gig them. Never had any issues with their durability.
