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looking for intovative new bass guitar ideas

#21
tkcthulu said:
Wait, if the strings are inside the bass where do you pluck?
Click to expand...

you don't, you just hit the instrument against the floor

my idea: picture a fretless bass, but with an array of miniature LED's under a clear fingerboard. you could program this array to show where the frets would be for alternative tunings, whether you're talking about other equal temperaments or just intonation schemes. perhaps its not such a useful idea for the average bassist, but it would be a great educational tool.
 
#22
Ricky Anderson said:
ok, actually this is my idea that I keep under the bed for a long time...

I always wanted to have a 2 in 1 bridge saddles.
remember jaguar (or jazzmaster?) that has dampeners on the saddles, so the sound is like muted strings?
my concept is like this: you make saddles with dampener installed underneath, and with a flick of a switch, the metal part of those saddles will go lower and the dampeners go up.
so you can go from electric bass sound to acoustic bass sound.

if you can make it, congrats.
I wanna give it a try but am too busy with my multiscale guitar tremolo:hiding:
if you can make it, you can give me at least 5 sets of those bridges and I'll be happy:hyper:

dunno if anybody tried it before, but if nobody tried it before that means this is my original idea.
eventhough somebody will make a copyright for it, at least people on this board know that's my idea;)
Click to expand...

http://www.bassmute.com/

sorry man
 
#25
Super shortscale with piezo pickup and rubber/plastic strings...Opps, Ashbory.

Acoustic version of said shortscale with piezo...Oops, Kala.

IR emitter detector pairs as single string pickups...Oops, that was my engineering project in '86.

Nevermind...
 
#26
Interchangeable fretboards.

Yeah you heard me. Buy one bass and it comes with a rosewood fingerboard, a maple fingerboard, and a fretless fingerboard which are simply interchangeable. Not sure if this could be done with wood due to the need for a truss rod (hard to make the fingerboard curve with the truss rod) but I always wondered why Zon, Modulus, or Steinberger never did this on their graphite necked basses with no need for a truss rod.
 
#27
mmbongo said:
Interchangeable fretboards.

Yeah you heard me. Buy one bass and it comes with a rosewood fingerboard, a maple fingerboard, and a fretless fingerboard which are simply interchangeable. Not sure if this could be done with wood due to the need for a truss rod (hard to make the fingerboard curve with the truss rod) but I always wondered why Zon, Modulus, or Steinberger never did this on their graphite necked basses with no need for a truss rod.
Click to expand...

Kramer did that 20 some years ago :p

http://www.vintagekramer.com/pioneer.htm
 
#28
Ricky Anderson said:
ok, actually this is my idea that I keep under the bed for a long time...

I always wanted to have a 2 in 1 bridge saddles.
remember jaguar (or jazzmaster?) that has dampeners on the saddles, so the sound is like muted strings?
my concept is like this: you make saddles with dampener installed underneath
Click to expand...

Gretsch did something similar years ago. They had a soft foam pad that sat below the strings near the bridge. Then you throw a switch on the body and it raises up to mute the strings.
 
#29
I'd like to have interchangeable pickups from the back of the body. I know Dan Armstrong did movable (and maybe interchangable) pickups but I don't think anyone has done it from a cavity in the back so that the pickguard and strings don't have to be removed.

I think there's room for lots more research on semi hollow bodies - perhaps using different bracing instead of a solid piece down the middle.
 
#31
I think the quick change pup idea is a good one too.
Dan Armstrong's had a radiused front relief st the bottom edge so that the pup could slide out from the front without string removal (as I remember; had one of those basses a very long time ago).

Also liked the sliding pup idea that Gibson and others used with hopefully a long travel
 
#33
Maybe the headstock end of a headless bass, anchoring the ball-ends of the string, which then passes through the nut, onto single string bridges. The strings could be fed string through with machine heads/tuning pegs mounted at the underside of the bottom ala headless mode.

Or shove 3 pairs of rails-styled guitar humbuckers in the 'sweet' spot with some manner of switches/push-pull pots/knob config?
 
#34
You could also make a single coil J-pup that can transform into a humbucking P-pup by moving one half up (or down).

edit: Two slideable pickups, where you move the two halves (E- and A-string, and D- and G-string) independently. Maybe throw a series/parallel switch on there. Golden!
 
#38
Who gives away "never been done" ideas?

*rolls eyes*

(watches carefully....looks up address for patent office....muahahaha)

Mr.Burns%2Bof%2BJapan.png
 

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