Have I gone too far with this one?

[smart51]

I like small basses, I've got to admit it. But maybe I've gone too far this time. What do you think?

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that there is no bridge or pickup yet. They're coming. I just wanted to see what it was like with strings on.

Yes, of course I've played it! 9mm spacing at the nut is too small, but it's fine. I'm annoyed that the string pins are not straight. It will bug me, but there's no nice way to fix it. Oh well.

 

[smart51]

For comparison, here it is next to a 34" and a 30.5" scale headless.

I got the idea while playing the short scale 5 and realising that I often play at the 4th fret and one string down rather than stretching my fretting arm. So I thought why not make a bass with just the 4 thicker strings and lop off the long end to make a super short scale bass. This one is 22.75". Just for giggles really.

 

[TrustRod]

I'd love to see more of those tuners.

 

[smart51]

I'd love to see more of those tuners.

Here you go!

They're M5 thumb screws with thrust bearings held against a plate of African Blackwood. The cylinders are 15mm dia brass with M4 grub screws. Now that I've seen them, I think 12mm brass would be enough. The recess for the bearing on the A string needs to be a fraction bigger, which is why the string is wonky.

This is the view from the bottom. The plate is just screwed into a recess cut into the end of the through neck.

This thread What's the best glue for African Blackwood / Ebony covers the tuners I made for the short scale bass. After using that for a bit, I've decided it is way over engineered and that the simpler tuners on this bass are more than good enough.

 

[TrustRod]

Thanks so much for the pics. I've been a huge headless fan since the '80s and have recently had the ability to start making some of the designs and I'm trying to absorb everything that works. I did see the blackwood thread. I like that bridge a lot as it looks great.

Here's some of my stuff Reverse Alchemy Weight Loss Bridge (headless)

And this is based off a design I found on Pinterest. It's similar to what you have above but instead of the force being pull and slide it's push and pivot. Here's a proof of concept video https://youtu.be/Bh3AGKEkaug

 

[smart51]

I now have a pickup and have played the bass. It sounds just as you'd expect. The E string sounds like a B fretted up the neck. Other than that it sounds good. It is tiny, and light. It makes my other basses feel like they're made of rock.

One note about the tuners. They work but the thumb screws move a bit. It would be improved by having another piece to hold the end of the thumb screws in place. I haven't left space for that so I won't. This is a toy bass not a "real" one after all.

 

[inchoate]

One note about the tuners. They work but the thumb screws move a bit. It would be improved by having another piece to hold the end of the thumb screws in place. I haven't left space for that so I won't. This is a toy bass not a "real" one after all.

yeah, it wouldn't be too hard to make that setup a lot more elegant but, as you say, it's a prototype so no one should get too picky.