Recommended acoustic bass guitar?

[fermata]

Spector Timbre.. long scale. Many of your suggestions are short scale AEBs.

Bass was designed off a Tacoma Thunderchief which is no longer in production, and still regarded as one of the best sounding AEBs out there.

View attachment 3645881

These do seem very nice. How's the playing comfort?

But I'm curious about short scale (30") ABGs, since the first position reach can be pretty significant on a long scale ABG. Of course, the trade-off for the increased comfort is likely less volume, due to the smaller body and lower string tension.

That said, has anyone had a chance to play like the the smaller Timbre Jr. or the [This invalid link has been removed]?

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

These do seem very nice. How's the playing comfort?

But I'm curious about short scale (30") ABGs, since the first position reach can be pretty significant on a long scale ABG. Of course, the trade-off for the increased comfort is likely less volume, due to the smaller body and lower string tension.

That said, has anyone had a chance to play like the the smaller Timbre Jr. or the [This invalid link has been removed]?

Have not had a chance to try the 30" scale. Personally I have no issues with the 34" scale Timbre. With a great set of strings they sound fantastic acoustically.

 

[mikeoso]

These "discussions" always end up with "the ones I've tried" and "what I play". If the ones you've tried don't work for what you play, there you are. If you've actually tried the BEST ones in the uses they're MEANT for, and find them unworkable, fair point. But, if you're playing lower end gear, or expecting it to work for something other than intended, you're just not being realistic. BTW...for an unplugged bass guitar, anything under $1500 is lower end.

Acoustic instruments aren't like slabs. You can't expect to buy cheap and play bigtime. It costs time and money to make something that sounds good without a plug. Likewise, playing an ABG is for certain kinds of things. Complaining that it doesn't work for everything that a slab does is off target. You wouldn't bring a UB to a metal shred either.

Despite the people who feel that ABGs are useless, I've been paying them exclusively for 25 years, and although there are some gigs where I plug in, there are many more where I don't. Last week I sat in a jam circle with two hammer dulcimers, two harmonicas, two guitars, two mandos, and four fiddles...and drove the bassline. Guy on the other side of the circle commented on how well he could hear it. He was playing folk percussion gear. Not your kind of music or venue? Hate large bodies and simple heavy handed lines? Cool, move on. But please stop trying to tell me that what I'm using and how I'm using it don't work.

 

[cavemanbass]

You could grab a new Breedlove Solo or Boulder Creek and have a good chunk of coin left over. And if taken care of, either one will last years. I bought my Takamine G series close to 13 years ago for around $350.00 off ebay, and it's still getting played.

This ^^^ plus labella LTF Strings is a great setup for ABG. The LR Baggs electronics are the best I’ve tried, although full disclosure I spent a lot of time messing with the pickup to balance out string to string volume.
For some reason piezo bass pickups are way more problematic than guitars in that respect. But at least the Baggs pickup lets you make adjustments, I don’t think other types of piezo have that option.
The higher end stuff might have better solutions on that front, I’d be interested to hear from owners of Balor etc if that’s the case. I’ve heard of custom builds with individual volume controls per string for example.

 

[cavemanbass]

I would suggest you get an ABG that has a string through bridge as opposed to a pinned bridge... and if your budget is around $1500 spend 1k or less in the bass ... and get a Tonewood amplifier. They are great for acoustic instruments. I have owned a Tacoma, a Michael Kelly Drogonfly and a Breedlove Atlas and of all of them I like the Breedlove best. The Tacoma had the richest sound but it was a very delicate instrument. The Tonewood amp will help to eliminate some of the issues aßociated with ABGs as far as volume go.

If I were buying one now I would get this Rudy Szarzo with a Tonewood amp...

Love the idea of the tonewood, thanks for sharing! I’ll just have to get one so I can see for myself, but if you have any thoughts regarding tone and volume of that I’d be interested.
Have you tried the Rudy Sarzo bass? Never heard of them but looks nice.

 

[Jim Kernan]

Love the idea of the tonewood, thanks for sharing! I’ll just have to get one so I can see for myself, but if you have any thoughts regarding tone and volume of that I’d be interested.
Have you tried the Rudy Sarzo bass? Never heard of them but looks nice.

I'd like to hear about the Rudy Sarzo also, since they're available lefty.

 

[Sav'nBass]

Love the idea of the tonewood, thanks for sharing! I’ll just have to get one so I can see for myself, but if you have any thoughts regarding tone and volume of that I’d be interested.
Have you tried the Rudy Sarzo bass? Never heard of them but looks nice.

No I haven't ... I just think it looks good... I have found with ABGs that most of them need some kind of amplification. I bought my Roland MicroCube Bass for my ABG .... The Tonewood is great. A friend had one and let me borrow it for a week or so ... It does a great job of amplifying the guitar just enough ..

 

[John Luka]

I would suggest you get an ABG that has a string through bridge as opposed to a pinned bridge... and if your budget is around $1500 spend 1k or less in the bass ... and get a Tonewood amplifier. They are great for acoustic instruments. I have owned a Tacoma, a Michael Kelly Drogonfly and a Breedlove Atlas and of all of them I like the Breedlove best. The Tacoma had the richest sound but it was a very delicate instrument. The Tonewood amp will help to eliminate some of the issues aßociated with ABGs as far as volume go.

If I were buying one now I would get this Rudy Szarzo with a Tonewood amp...

Epiphone makes a nice ABG with a string through bridge. About $1,000.

 

[scottm]

Epiphone makes a nice ABG with a string through bridge. About $1,000.View attachment 3697148

I’ve been really thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these. It looks awesome.

-ScottM

 

[Sav'nBass]

Epiphone makes a nice ABG with a string through bridge. About $1,000.View attachment 3697148

That is a Hollowbody .. not an ABG .. but if that is what is making you drool then go for it.. I don't think the Tonewood will work with that ... I could be wrong..

 

[Jeff Scott]

I have played one of those Epis, and a bunch of ABGs; to me, they are about equivalent in sound/volume, as they all have to be plugged in to an amp to be heard, and have good tone, above, even, a single acoustic guitar.

I'd get the Epi.

 

[bcamp]

#1 Tacoma Thunderchief. I have used one in acoustic picking sessions for 12 years and it always has plenty of volume. Played in a trio with two acoustic blues pickers last week and they loved my Tacoma. Can't buy a new one but $1,500 should get you a very nice Thunderchief.

 

[GretschWretch]

Epiphone makes a nice ABG with a string through bridge. About $1,000.View attachment 3697148

I became so frustrated with the pins popping out of my pin-bridge Deans than I converted them to string through bridges. I just took four rubber plumbing washers and to them siliconed flat metal washers of the appropriate size. When installing strings I drop the washers over the string ends with the metal side toward the ball and slide them down the string. Works great, and the only downside I have found so far is that the strings have to be loaded through the underside of the pin holes. Awkward for a round sound hole bass, impossible for an f-hole bass.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I became so frustrated with the pins popping out of my pin-bridge Deans than I converted them to string through bridges. I just took four rubber plumbing washers and to them siliconed flat metal washers of the appropriate size. When installing strings I drop the washers over the string ends with the metal side toward the ball and slide them down the string. Works great, and the only downside I have found so far is that the strings have to be loaded through the underside of the pin holes. Awkward for a round sound hole bass, impossible for an f-hole bass.

F-hole instruments don't need that done as they have floating tailpieces the strings go through/into. No bridge pins, or any of that, which I am sure you know.

 

[bearfoot]

If your budget is up to $1500 USD, you might be able to score an Earthwood if the stars align properly.

You could get one of the old Guild B30/B50's for that (they've doubled in price over the last 10 years or so).

Tacoma Thunderchief.

You've heard all this by now I'm sure. You could even get a nice upright bass for what you're talkin'.

One ABG no one mentions because it's super rare, is Harptone made a very large one.

The Cort Mark Egan ABG also has an unusual body depth, thus lower resonant frequency of the soundbox, thus sounds "bassier" all the way up the range.

 

[Motley Monkey]

Warwick Alien Standard, 5 string... boom... you won’t regret it

 

[turf3]

When I went down this path, the one with the most acoustic sound output was the el cheapo Dean EABC or whatever its model number is. That's because its body was the biggest of the ones I tried. It will keep up with one acoustic guitar, but not much more than that.

If you think you'll end up plugging in (like you probably will unless you never expect to play with any larger group), the Dean electronics suck; so then you're probably faced with compromising un-amplified performance for amplified performance. Either something like one of the nicer ABGs that actuallly have good electronics but generally have smaller bodies; or make a very serious compromise of acoustic performance (like, none), and get a P bass or equivalent and a wee little practice amp whether battery or AC power (or, both).

If you really want to play bass without an amplifier, you need a 3/4 upright and lessons.

 

[turf3]

These do seem very nice. How's the playing comfort?

But I'm curious about short scale (30") ABGs, since the first position reach can be pretty significant on a long scale ABG. Of course, the trade-off for the increased comfort is likely less volume, due to the smaller body and lower string tension.

That said, has anyone had a chance to play like the the smaller Timbre Jr. or the [This invalid link has been removed]?

To project, I think you need at least a 38" scale and a much bigger body - in other words at least a 1/2 upright bass.

 

[turf3]

These "discussions" always end up with "the ones I've tried" and "what I play". If the ones you've tried don't work for what you play, there you are. If you've actually tried the BEST ones in the uses they're MEANT for, and find them unworkable, fair point. But, if you're playing lower end gear, or expecting it to work for something other than intended, you're just not being realistic. BTW...for an unplugged bass guitar, anything under $1500 is lower end.

Acoustic instruments aren't like slabs. You can't expect to buy cheap and play bigtime. It costs time and money to make something that sounds good without a plug. Likewise, playing an ABG is for certain kinds of things. Complaining that it doesn't work for everything that a slab does is off target. You wouldn't bring a UB to a metal shred either.

Despite the people who feel that ABGs are useless, I've been paying them exclusively for 25 years, and although there are some gigs where I plug in, there are many more where I don't. Last week I sat in a jam circle with two hammer dulcimers, two harmonicas, two guitars, two mandos, and four fiddles...and drove the bassline. Guy on the other side of the circle commented on how well he could hear it. He was playing folk percussion gear. Not your kind of music or venue? Hate large bodies and simple heavy handed lines? Cool, move on. But please stop trying to tell me that what I'm using and how I'm using it don't work.

Sorry to ask for repeated info, but what is it that you're playing?

 

[mellowgerman]

Guild B-30 or B-50 would be my recommendation if you want to really be heard in an acoustic setting