How about converting one of these?
How handy are you?https://www.amazon.ca/Enya-Acoustic-Beginner-Acustica-Packaging/dp/B09HC6L4GZ/ref=sr_1_19?crid=CYYWAJLN6I06&keywords=acoustic+bass+guitar&qid=1702406072&sprefix=acoustic+bass+guitar,aps,161&sr=8-19&th=1
Enya nova go. it says it has a 23-5/8" scale, so does that mean any of the typical super-short scale strings would work assuming pegs, bridge and tuners will accommodate the thicker strings?
Modding an acoustic guitar into a bass is more complicated than typical upgrades on a solid body bass.
The new strings will not fit without mods.
You'll have to swap out the tuners. There's not enough meat in the posts to drill them out for the D'Addario, La Bella or Savarez strings, and I can't imagine that there would be for Aquila Coppers or Savarez either.
Most repair people including myself, would either replace or plug and re-drill the bridge.
On classical guitar bridges, there's a 6-to-4 conversion trick where you tie the 2nd and 4th strings through the 2nd/3rd and 4th/5th string holes to get approximately correct string spacing. But on a pin bridge, you're already going to lose too much meat when you ream out the outer pair of holes for the larger Bass pins.
Other factors to consider:
String tension, action height and intonation:
The Enya's neck, truss rod and top are set up for standard guitar string tension, about 73lb total for D'Addario EJ16 12 to 52's. The current D'Addario XT strings for the GS Mini bass, Cordoba, Guild, Ibanez PNB, etc., are about 50.2lb for a set of 4.
Those numbers are slightly off because of the slight scale differences between a normal acoustic guitar and a 23 to 24 inch bass, but still pretty representative- you're going to have significantly less string tension (roughly 20lb), so hopefully you can slacken the truss rod off enough to compensate. If not, you'll also have to fix a backbow, or possibly correct the heel angle as well.
Regardless, nylon-core bass strings are more flexible than phosphor bronze/steel strings, so you'll need to craft a higher nut to prevent buzzes and rattles when played as a bass.
After the steel-to-nylon conversion, the intonation is probably going to be off anywhere much higher than the 12th fret. If it's reasonably close, you can play around a bit with string brands. Correct intonation point for the La Bella CB40's is slightly different to the D'Addarios, which gives you some wiggle room.
If the intonation isn't good enough to suit you, you can glue small pieces of bone or plastic to the front or back of the saddle above the face of the bridge, then re-shape the contact point to improve the intonation.
You may find that moving the contact point forward or back to improve the intonation will transfer too much of the string pressure to the top of the bridge, spoiling the pickup balance. A bit of fiddling with a jewellers file, and maybe a tiny shim under the pickup, may improve the balance.
If that doesn't work out, the worst-case scenario is to either pull the pickup, fill the saddle slot and then recut a new slot and re-fit the pickup... Or shave the bridge off altogether, and start over with a new bridge blank.
Headstock layout:
In order to mount the new tuners, you can simply ream out the outer 4 peg holes (don't even think about using a drill, even in a drill press, unless you want to risk cracking the headstock). It will work, even if it looks unsightly.
For a nicer appearance, I would plug and re-drill the peg holes, and either paint or veneer the face and back of the headstock in order to hide the damage and make it look more presentable.
In short, is it do-able? Yes.
Is it worth the effort? No way to tell until you are fairly deep into the project.
Best case, the playability is pretty good, the stock electronics work well in the bass register, and you end up with a unique-looking, shallow-bodied bass that works best when amplified. You like it enough that you don't care about resale value, and you feel like you got a good value for the amount invested.
Worst-case, you don't have the necessary skills to bring it up to the sort of quality you could have gotten by buying new. Just to make it playable again, you sink more money into getting a good repairman to fix it up. And if it still doesn't meet your use-case, you take a bath on your investment when you sell it on.
I have made my share of silk purses over the years, and seen other people produce some pretty cool stuff as well, but I see far more failed projects on Facebook Marketplace...
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