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Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses

#741
Having played bass for 30 some years, I’m using the Magma primarily for solo entertaining friends and family around the campfire. I beat the crap out of this thing and it takes it pretty well. The nylon core strings are quiet, but resilient. It’s nice to finally be able to play chords and lines together while singing so that those close to me can enjoy singing some songs together. My 30” fender came close but this thing makes me almost a guitarist... almost. I could never play the six string treble guitar. (Tried my butt off)Those strings are just too durn small. Loving this thing. I may order another so that when I finally ruin this one...
 
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#742
TBLuthier said:
Having played bass for 30 some years, I’m using the Magma primarily for solo entertaining friends and family around the campfire...

It’s nice to finally be able to play chords and lines together while singing so that those close to me can enjoy singing some songs together. My 30” fender came close but this thing makes me almost a guitarist...
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Interesting way to use these things.

If you tuned it up an octave, you would basically have a full-scale tenor guitar. All you would need is a regular set of guitar strings!
 
#744
steve_rolfeca said:
Canadians, the Ibanez PNB14E is finally available in Canada:

Invalid Link Removed

They don’t have stock, but they are taking orders. Pricing is consonant with US stores, when you take the US/Canadian exchange rate into account.

I’m still happy with my choice, but this is a great budget alternative.
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Yeah I found that out last week.... too late... last summer I drove over to the US and picked up a PNB14E after ragging Ibanez Canada for a couple of months to bring one in for me. It is too bad because I really would have liked to purchase it from my local store, however I'm glad they finally saw the light.
On the bright side, it appears I saved $100 :-)
 
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#746
I was cutting out another wood feedback buster on Friday and caught the top of my left hand middle finger across the fingernail with the blade. Ouch, I’m able to play after letting it heal up for a few days.

Anyhow it works fine, in the picture you can see the white thumb rest on the left side of the disk.

A8BC8406-AACF-4846-9D18-E960A9F8F2C1.jpeg
 
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#748
I went to a trade show/annual sale at Cosmo Music in Richmond Hill on the weekend. Lots of vendors represented, concerts and demo performances, etc.

While in the main store, I tried a pair of Taylor GS Mini basses with the flame maple back and sides. Both intonated just fine up to the 12th fret, which is a big contrast to the Sapele versions that I tried when I was originally shopping...

I don't know if this is a running change to the way they are built, or if I just happened into some bad ones last year.

I still prefer the electronics and the longer scale on my Ibanez, but I wouldn't have written off the Taylors as quickly if they had been as good as the ones I played this weekend.
 
#750
hushnel said:
I’m really enjoying this Ibanez, even though it’s the cheap one. It’s so convenient and ergonomic. Even the stock strings seem to be mellowing. The AVNB1FE Fretless is haunting me.
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I don't know why, but my intonation seems to improve dramatically with every scale reduction on a fretless.

I had a DeArmond Ashbory years ago. It was crazy small (18" scale), yet I could play the stupid thing perfectly in tune out to about the 10th fret, literally from the moment I picked it up. Based on that experience, I have picked up a few 34" and 35" fretless electrics over the years. I ditched them all, because I didn't have the patience to wait for my intonation to improve with practice.

A couple of years ago, I got a great deal on an NS NXT electric upright. I thought that the longer scale would give me a wider sweet spot for intonation, but that wasn't the case. I loved it to death, but it was like putting a magnifying glass on my lack of technique.

If your nervous system is wired like mine (disclaimer: my wife says that is highly unlikely!), the AVNB1FE could be a lot of fun.
 
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#751
hushnel said:
I’m really enjoying this Ibanez, even though it’s the cheap one. It’s so convenient and ergonomic. Even the stock strings seem to be mellowing. The AVNB1FE Fretless is haunting me.
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I wanted to get an AVNB1FE - but if I could put flatwound strings on it. The LaBellas made for the Microbass would probably fit, but I'm concerned that the extra tension would be too much for it. I got a 30" scale Guild B-240EF instead. Medium scale D'Addario Chromes work really nicely on it, but the body is huge compared to the Ibanez.
 
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#752
I had the DeArmond Ashbory, I got rid of it just before I meet Owen Holt of Road Toad Music, nothing fun about a broken G string, unless your at the beach. Owen introduced me to his Pahoehoe strings. I built a 20” scale cigarbox bass using Owen’s tuners, K&K transducers and his strings, which also gave me more scale options. I had no trouble with the Ashbory’s 18” scale, now with all our synthetic string options I wish I still had it, those silicone strings made me crazy. I’ve got The Aquila strings on the cigarbox now, they don’t seem as tacky as the Pahoehoes. My first serious build was a fretless P-Bass, I used it exclusively for around 5 years. Above the 12th the very short scales do get a bit wonky. Still the intonation is better than the very short scale fretted basses. Keeping them tuned is crucial.

I’m not overly concerned about short scale flats for the AVNB1FE, there are a few options already but the quality, price and playability of these newish guitar scale basses will create the demand for more string options. It was only 15 or so years ago only the option was the silicone Ashbory strings. Look at string options since the Taylor GS Mini hit the streets. I also have a Guild B-50 factory fretless, it’s a beast, I rarely pull it out.
 
#753
macmanlou said:
I wanted to get an AVNB1FE - but if I could put flatwound strings on it. The LaBellas made for the Microbass would probably fit, but I'm concerned that the extra tension would be too much for it. I got a 30" scale Guild B-240EF instead. Medium scale D'Addario Chromes work really nicely on it, but the body is huge compared to the Ibanez.
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That's kind of a catch-22 with ABG's:
  • Most 30" and 34" ABG's sound a bit "off" to me, at least with bronze rounds on them. IME, they often sound best with steel core, nylon tape wound strings, like D'Addario ETB92's or La Bella 760N's.
  • The 23" to 25" mini basses in this thread mostly use nylon-core strings. They have a pleasingly mellow sound right out of the box, both acoustically and amplified. Once the strings break in, there's really no reason to change...
...Unless you're addicted to the smooth feel of conventional flats. Unfortunately, they are verboten on most minis, because of the extremely low string tension that these basses were designed for.

It's not a guitar-scale or even a short-scale bass, but I checked out a Breedlove Solo Jumbo Fretless CE on the weekend. 34" scale, conventional flat-wound strings, ebony fingerboard, cedar top, Ovangkol back and sides with a side port. You can see Breedlove's proprietary "bridge truss" through the port.

It had a really nice, mellow tone unplugged and amplified. By far the nicest-sounding fretless ABG I've heard to date, and pretty good value at $800 US street.
 
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#755
Pressurewounds might be an option still too if someone has one they didn't mind testing on. I have said before that I am a fan of goldtone. And when asking how they determined that the flats would work for their microbass, they just strung it up and let sit for 3 months. Labella doesn't do tension numbers as you may recall
 
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#758
I ordered a guitar players glove, mostly for my healing figer, I mentioned above. I tired it out yesterday and it really reduces the figer noise on these wound rounds, also makes the neck feel faster. I considered ordering two but I can get different sounds with my plucking fingers and feel it would reduce that palette of tones.
 
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#759
I haven’t had any problems with bridge pins, I haven’t had to change the strings on this
PNB14E yet. I’ve slotted my bridge on both of my Martin 6 strings in insure a better mechanical connection between the strings and the bridge plate. I imagine the PNB14E would benefit from this also, it also helps keep the bridge plate from damage from the string anchor rings.
 

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