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Hollow or Semihollow 6 string basses ?

steinny

steinny

Mar 7, 2008
100
36
California
#1
I've been looking into this and there seems to be surprisingly few options out there. Ideally I'd like something like Thundercat's one-off fully hollow Ibanez Artcore:



(Actually, Ideally it would be a fully hollow short scale but I can live with semihollow standard scale).

In fact, the only non-custom thing I've been able to find is this super low-end KTone:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-String-El...g-/191283286481?pt=Guitar&hash=item2c895f51d1

Any suggestions? If Ibanez came out with a six-string version of any of its hollow or semihollow short scale basses that would fit the bill perfectly, but there doesn't seem to be much of anything out there...

Thanks.
 
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#2
steinny said:
I've been looking into this and there seems to be surprisingly few options out there. Ideally I'd like something like Thundercat's one-off fully hollow Ibanez Artcore:



(Actually, Ideally it would be a fully hollow short scale but I can live with semihollow standard scale).

In fact, the only non-custom thing I've been able to find is this super low-end KTone:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-String-El...g-/191283286481?pt=Guitar&hash=item2c895f51d1

Any suggestions? If Ibanez came out with a six-string version of any of its hollow or semihollow short scale basses that would fit the bill perfectly, but there doesn't seem to be much of anything out there...

Thanks.
Click to expand...


You are right on about Ibanez 6er... we all wish!

Also you are right about few options save getting out your wallet. I bought a cheap Chinese Harmonia 6 string fretless and I'm still working on it trying to get it useable. I've got a Carvin AC50 and I love it but it only comes in 5 strings. I don't have anything in a hollowbody bass in the Jazz guitar F-hole shape.

My comments are first I recommend semi-hollow over full hollowbody. My Carvin semi has ZERO feedback problems. The full Harmonia is a feedback machine! The tone difference is not that serious.

Next I VERY much would like for such a bass to have both piezo and magetic pickups you could mix and match. That creates much more versatility.

And though I played short scale for a long time and loved it, I don't see how a short scale B string is going to work out well without a lot of effort.

So there's my wish list: Semi-hollow body, both piezo and magnetic pickups to mix, and 34" (or even 35" but that makes getting nice strings hard to do (like say nylon tape wounds)).

You know Ibby could easily do this if they thought they could sell more than three!
 
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#9
It is, I have an Epiphone EB-0 that has been converted into bass VI (i.e. six string with E-e tuning). You need to plug the tuner holes, drill new ones, change the nut and the bridge and take the pick-ups into account. A guy in Seattle did mine. Works wonderfully.

EDIT: Oh, you apparently want one with wider string spacing. Method mentioned above won't work, unless you manage to find a neck that is very wide.
 
#11
Personally, I'd love to get a hollowbody 6-string for some rockabilly stuff, but the cost of a custom would be staggering, and way out of price-range for me )and a lot of other people), since they can't be found as production models. Even buying an existing instrument and making the necessary conversions may not be worth it

Hmmm...a 6-string hollow headless bass?

I knew I should have gone and become a luthier...
 
#13
Here is Alain Caron's ABG, made by Montreal luthier Michel Fournelle. Just beautiful, but I imagine expensive.

http://www.mf.qc.ca/Guitar_Bass_Engl.html

Accbass2.jpg
 
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#14
Short update: I ended up buying one of those Grote 6-string "semi hollows" off ebay--sent it back. I wasn't expecting much for the price (@$150), but it was awful (horrendous fretwork, highly questionable "finish", etc.), and most importantly, it was not actually "semi hollow"--it was a solidbody, like a Les Paul, with a small cavity routed out under the f-hole--no center block, no chambers, etc. Sounded and felt like the low-quality solid body bass it was. So, to anyone thinking of getting one: save your money.
 
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#19
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but if you're still looking for a semi-hollow bass VI, you should look at Link Removed. While it comes strung A-a, it seems perfectly possible to string it E-e, and there are some videos on youtube of it being played, and it doesn't sound half bad for its price.
 

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