Musiclogic
Commercial User
- Aug 6, 2005
- 6,505
- 73
- 60
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder: HJC Customs USA, The Cool Lute, C G O
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the Bat Bass
- Thread starter James Mobius
- Start date
thank you! it is strange, but then, so am I! I just can't do things the normal way. keeps life interesting though, I am never ever bored. in spite of its flaws it plays and sounds really great, and has done wonders for my general happiness level. I think I've found a new hobby.
Musiclogic
Commercial User
- Aug 6, 2005
- 6,505
- 73
- 60
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder: HJC Customs USA, The Cool Lute, C G O
New hobbies are a beautiful thing, I understand the happiness thing, I am excessively happy by nature. 
There's more than one way to make a pick-up. For instance there is no law that says a pick-up has to be at a right angle to the strings.
My suggestion for your custome three string would to be to wind a separate coil for each string. If you plan on using a blade or dual polepieces just orient each coil in line with its string. By using multiple coils you can also wire them to be hum cancelling.
Of course you could also simply go with individual piezo elements in each string saddle.
thanks for that info Bluesbear, that project is a way's off, but it may yet happen. First I'm gonna spend a while seeing what I can do with 2 strings. the D-tuners are seeming like a better idea, turns out Sandman used quite a few tunings.
I've started doing some transcriptions, and made a page on my site for it for anyone interested, I know there are some Morphine tabs out there, the few I looked at seemed written for 4 string bass, and not necessarily accurate, check out my page here:
Mobiusbandwidth.com Morphine tablature transcriptions
it so far has a tab for a live version of Honey white, with a fairly classic Sandman line, includes the video of the performance, timeline, and lyrics.
this thread ain't over til I get a photo of one of my hot goth girls posing with the bat bass like the mothman bass queen! so stay tuned!
also I'll do another video when I get better at the thing. d:
I have been offline for a bit, I'm happy to report that I got to meet the guys from Morphine at the debut of Cure for Pain in Boston, and that the sign is back up in Mark Sandman Square, I'll get a picture of it asap. 
I love it. I've built a couple 2 stringers as well...lots of fun. Congrats on a cool new build, and finding a liberating new hobby !
blowing the dust of this thread for a reason, Hi guys! sorry I've been offline quite a while, I let my 2 string gather dust for a few months, but finally started actually working with it, transcribing tons of Morphine and Mark Sandman tunes, and I've now written three songs on it. My camera had been stolen, but I just got a new one at last, so I can take more pics, and shoot some video. I will be integrating this instrument into my band (Mojoceratops) and shooting another bat bass video or 2 soon. Also I've been asked about string brand and gauge as well as action, I'll have to get back to you all about that, this will serve as my reminder to myself to do so. I bought the strings up the street, and they didn't have a huge selection of individual flatwounds, so it's not like I tried several brands before settling on the best one. they really leave a lot of nickel dust on my hands after I've played it so I might look around when I'm ready to replace them, but who knows when that will be.
this thing plays like a dream, I have a dry skin issue, after a shower I have to wait an hour or more before playing bass so my fingers aren't soft and won't get shredded up, this thing, you never touch the strings, pick in right hand, slide on left, not to mention flatwounds, I can play it any time which is cool. also I can play it for hours and still not be warmed up for playing my 6 string (I have the same problem with my Chapman Stick, so easy to play)(physically)(not mentally), anyway, I have fallen in love all over with the bat bass and want to thank all who cheered me on through it's construction. I am thinking about another one with heavier strings, or an octaver, my guitarist complained not enough bottom end! d: he does tend to detune a lot which means my low note is the same as his! and he says an octave pedal won't really sound the same, which I'm sure is true, so aside from dropping the current strings as low as I can, I might switch to heavier strings. dunno yet.
studying Sandman's rootsy approach to songwriting, influenced by early/delta blues has really opened my mind up about composing, but I still ended up writing an epic song with 9 parts on it d: and innovating the equivalent of 2 handed slide tapping, and coming up with tricky techniques, which real slide players probably already know about but I haven't studied any other slide players and don't intend to, I could see making a 3 string with a cello-like fingerboard radius so I could hit only one or 2 strings at a time to extend the range. I'm pretty lazy though, and that sounds like a lot of work, but on the other hand I got off my arse and did this so, I will probably do it at some point. Mark famously said "I started with 1 string..." which is true, in his early experiments altering instruments, til he got that solid and decided 2 would probably work. I'm happy with 2 at the moment, but 3 calls to me from the back of my head. guess I'll keep an eye out for another used bass neck...
this thing plays like a dream, I have a dry skin issue, after a shower I have to wait an hour or more before playing bass so my fingers aren't soft and won't get shredded up, this thing, you never touch the strings, pick in right hand, slide on left, not to mention flatwounds, I can play it any time which is cool. also I can play it for hours and still not be warmed up for playing my 6 string (I have the same problem with my Chapman Stick, so easy to play)(physically)(not mentally), anyway, I have fallen in love all over with the bat bass and want to thank all who cheered me on through it's construction. I am thinking about another one with heavier strings, or an octaver, my guitarist complained not enough bottom end! d: he does tend to detune a lot which means my low note is the same as his! and he says an octave pedal won't really sound the same, which I'm sure is true, so aside from dropping the current strings as low as I can, I might switch to heavier strings. dunno yet.
studying Sandman's rootsy approach to songwriting, influenced by early/delta blues has really opened my mind up about composing, but I still ended up writing an epic song with 9 parts on it d: and innovating the equivalent of 2 handed slide tapping, and coming up with tricky techniques, which real slide players probably already know about but I haven't studied any other slide players and don't intend to, I could see making a 3 string with a cello-like fingerboard radius so I could hit only one or 2 strings at a time to extend the range. I'm pretty lazy though, and that sounds like a lot of work, but on the other hand I got off my arse and did this so, I will probably do it at some point. Mark famously said "I started with 1 string..." which is true, in his early experiments altering instruments, til he got that solid and decided 2 would probably work. I'm happy with 2 at the moment, but 3 calls to me from the back of my head. guess I'll keep an eye out for another used bass neck...
New transcription for this axe "In pursuit of Lilah" a one minute long middle-eastern sounding bass melody, effectively solo ( a little violin ambiance in the background). I wasn't planning on making this my next transcription, it just kind of happened. the tune was in my head for days. http://mobiusbandwidth.com/morphine.html
REVELATION:
Just had a D'oh! moment revelation, I had it in the back of my head to make a 3 string version of this, but the radius would have to be like a cello fingerboard in order to be able to play it and hit only 2 of the 3 strings at a time, you could then tilt the angle of the slide to get the other string (as well as the centre string), I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner, the fingerboard can be flat! it's only the nut, and bridge that need the very round cello-like radius, since the strings never even touch the neck! (you'd have to bend the pickups too I spoze.)
sometimes obvious things stare you in the face for a while before you see them. one could even do a 4 string version I suppose. I'd probably work my way up to that.
Just had a D'oh! moment revelation, I had it in the back of my head to make a 3 string version of this, but the radius would have to be like a cello fingerboard in order to be able to play it and hit only 2 of the 3 strings at a time, you could then tilt the angle of the slide to get the other string (as well as the centre string), I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner, the fingerboard can be flat! it's only the nut, and bridge that need the very round cello-like radius, since the strings never even touch the neck! (you'd have to bend the pickups too I spoze.)
sometimes obvious things stare you in the face for a while before you see them. one could even do a 4 string version I suppose. I'd probably work my way up to that.
I'm also a huge Sandman fan. I ended up with a guitar that I've turned into a 2 string bass and I have it wired with a split P pup. I too, am getting a noise until I touch the bridge or strings. Everything is wired correctly, but who knows?
How'd you end up solving that issue?
How'd you end up solving that issue?
I will let you know!
I still have that problem. shielding? I don't really have any. I'm gonna test the bridge for continuity, should be grounded. hope I can solve it. might rewire the whole thing. glad to hear about your project, you got pics somewhere?
Link Removed
so today was 2-string slide bassist Monique Ortiz's 40th birthday, and she returned to Boston for a gig with her band Alien Knife Fight, I got to talk to her quite a bit, let her play the Bat bass, she asked how much! I can't part with it, but she was very interested in having me build her one! @_@ she loved the sound and feel of it. I was pretty floored by that. to think I almost stayed in looking at tumblr and failbook d: pays to get out of the house once in a while.
I should probably add, I've been going out every wednesday night for months now to see Dana Colley of Morphine, playing with the Ever expanding elastic waste band, (at Atwoods in Cambridge) featuring original Morphine drummer Jerome Dupree, (sometimes, he has some hand issues), and Jeremy Lyons, who plays several instruments, including a 2 string bass, formerly a guitar. they know me by name at this point, Dana used a photo I took of his sax to promote a gig. haven't worked up the nerve to ask to sit in on a tune yet, maybe in a few more months... d:
so today was 2-string slide bassist Monique Ortiz's 40th birthday, and she returned to Boston for a gig with her band Alien Knife Fight, I got to talk to her quite a bit, let her play the Bat bass, she asked how much! I can't part with it, but she was very interested in having me build her one! @_@ she loved the sound and feel of it. I was pretty floored by that. to think I almost stayed in looking at tumblr and failbook d: pays to get out of the house once in a while.
I should probably add, I've been going out every wednesday night for months now to see Dana Colley of Morphine, playing with the Ever expanding elastic waste band, (at Atwoods in Cambridge) featuring original Morphine drummer Jerome Dupree, (sometimes, he has some hand issues), and Jeremy Lyons, who plays several instruments, including a 2 string bass, formerly a guitar. they know me by name at this point, Dana used a photo I took of his sax to promote a gig. haven't worked up the nerve to ask to sit in on a tune yet, maybe in a few more months... d:
you can tell I have ADD if you read this whole thread, I mention a page back, that I figured out the neck can be flat as long as the nut and bridge (and pickups) have a cello-like radius if you wanted to make a 3 string suitable for use with a slide, (which would hit no more than 2 strings at a time, ideally) then in a later post I proclaim I just realised that! even tho obviously it had occurred to me earlier, and I completely forgot. d: 
