Is this a bass guitar?

[dr doofie]

Can you play it with a bow?

Can you play it in the snow?

Do you strum it with your hand?
Do you strum it with a band?

four thick strings... looks bassish right

 

[dr doofie]

I called it a bass fiddle because that was what it was called when it was released. It's what it was called, not necessarily what we would call it today.

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I like that it claims it will take the place of three double basses

 

[dr doofie]

Technically NO because he’s playing too high up the neck.

Is he Thundercat’s grandfather? It looks like a bass. It even shares a familiar shape.

I think he’s tapping out “Eruption”...

 

[kobass]

Man, if that were a fiver I'd be all over it!

 

[dr doofie]

Here's a YouTube video with a guy playing it:

It sounds really cool
I just wish it wasn’t competing volume-wise with the guy’s metronomic foot

 

[Killing Floor]

Dinosaur bone nut width?

 

[Bflat]

its a bass!! EADG, 30.5 scale

 

[dr doofie]

For all practical purposes, yes, it's a bass guitar.

Technically, it was sold as an electric bass fiddle. It can't be bowed. And bass fiddle is another name for an upright.

Nomenclature is weird.

Amen to that
This is known as a stumpf fiddle, devil’s fiddle,etc...
I built one a long time ago
So much fun..

 

[JoshS]

What does it weigh?

Can I use it for metal?

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I like that it claims it will take the place of three double basses

And maybe Paul Tutmarc hoped calling it a "bass fiddle" would stop double bass players of the day thinking they were looking at a banjo... Leo certainly had the edge on design and marketing.

 

[Bflat]

here is a sound clip through an open back 1936 Audiovox 236. sounds great through a SVT.

 

[Bflat]

String diameters G .035, D .045, A .0575, E .0675

 

[juancaminos]

When I was young, long, long ago...I heard basses being referred to as bass fiddles frequently.

 

[Turnaround]

Its last fret is there, so yes it's a bass guitar, and a darned good one.

What do frets have to do with it? This has frets too but it's not a guitar anything.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

What do frets have to do with it? This has frets too but it's not a guitar anything.

Frets have to do with it because a 4-string short-scale fretted bass instrument played sideways is not a bass fiddle, no matter what the maker called it. You could stick it on a pole and call it an orchestral upright bass but it still wouldn't be one. That's a nice viola de gamba btw.

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Fiddle ... never understood why some people want to rename things because they never bothered to learn the real name ... or the real name is too pretentious for some ...

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Frets have to do with it because a 4-string short-scale fretted bass instrument played sideways is not a bass fiddle, no matter what the maker called it. You could stick it on a pole and call it an orchestral upright bass but it still wouldn't be one. That's a nice viola de gamba btw.

Plenty of instruments with frets aren’t related to guitar nor called it that way... so frets isn’t an indication this is a bass guitar

 

[Deleted member 165050]

Plenty of instruments with frets aren’t related to guitar nor called it that way... so frets isn’t an indication this is a bass guitar

Someone had better come up with the definitive definition of what a guitar is then Every one I can find says 6 or 12 strings...

 

[legalbass]

Can you play it in the snow?

Do you strum it with your hand?
Do you strum it with a band?

four thick strings... looks bassish right

Well, now I'm pretty happy I read through the entire post before making my Dr. Seuss joke!

 

[OptimalOptimus]

Someone had better come up with the definitive definition of what a guitar is then Every one I can find says 6 or 12 strings...