• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Tutmarc audiovox model 736: where are they?

#101
here's a pic of a working Tutmarc reconstruction 736 bass using parts from a Tutmarc steel.....not finished yet but she plays and sounds good.The plate is brass
1930's grovers
original headstock label
original pickup
original volume control and cord
original bridge
original knob
30 5/16 scale


better pics soon
 

Attachments

  • homemade.jpg
    homemade.jpg
    94.7 KB · Views: 365
#105
Thanks for the support, I thought about a new thread for this bass, but wasn't sure if anyone cared..... I fretted it yesterday and mounted the pickup and volume control yesterday..... I've got to add the 12 screws to the pickguard today or tomorrow, I bought a set of 6 string bass strings so I had .135, .10 .080 .060 .040 .028, started with the .080 as the E string, it was a bit too floppy so I changed back to the .10 and it seems to be better, I still don't like it too much, the pickup starts to fart out around 40hz, could be the volume control resistance I don't know yet. otherwise if you play it carefully it sounds great through my SVT, I put round wounds assuming he used piano strings, let me get the pickguard screwed down and I will add some sound tracks, It still needs an ebony nut, ebony stained finger board, I made this fingerboard out of rosewood and it needs the body finished, thinking about a thick white stain to kind of look like the one in the museum.
 
#107
Bflat-

Congratulations! It looks very authentic to me! It must be nice be able to hold and play what started out as a dream just a little while ago. I, too am very anxious to hear those sound clips. I do hope that this experience will turn into a new thread and a magazine article.

Ya done good work!~
 
#110
Thanks guys this is just the beginning....I made this one myself, I'm not a luthier, it is though a faithful reproduction of the one Moonshine took so many great pics of and the cad dimensions from SilkySmooth and the Tutmarc steel I purchased. It is 37 1/2 inches long and the scale turned out 30 5/16 inches. When this one is finished this weekend, The luthier is putting together one that is identical to the Moonshine one. in Walnut and ebony, although it might take some time he runs on a different clock than me. I am now drawing up plans to reproduce the 936 amp that goes with it. I have less info on it but I think I have enough to make it right. I just bought a 30's Rickenbacher amp with a 12" speaker to go with it until I get a real or repro Audiovox 1930's amp... if anyone has one I will buy it please help. PM me.... I'm having alot of fun doing this..... The bass really sounds good, it farts a little at 40 hz though, I'll have to investigate that, should be fixable.
 
#112
Bflat said:
eldoryder,
This is going to be fun, The walnut one is being built so it can be reproduced, already have templates made for the wings and neck pieces. I've found some great walnut which hopefully is being shaped this weekend. I'm kind of at the mercy of woodworker and luthier on this one.... the other one is being made of alder and made from one piece...I got the wood this weekend and had it planed to 1 3/4 inches, this one I'll do myself, I'm not a luthier, more of a tinkerer, but I can't wait months for the other one. I bought a fretboard with a 34 inch scale and cut off the first two frets which makes it a 30 1/2 inch scale. I have some 1930's grovers for tuners and the guts of the steel for the pickup, volume and cable, also the bridge. I've got the template for the metal pickguard, trying to decide if it will be copper or brass for this one, the dimensions will be pretty accurate, the first bass will be a test bed for the second one which should be as close to perfect as possible. I detuned the steel guitar and plugged it in my SVT and played it like a bass and it sounded clean and real good can't wait to hear the bass will update with pics as I make progress not much to see yet.
also Nacho Banos added some interesting data to the fender 0017 story that I haven't written in the other thread, I guess I should...
later
dave
Click to expand...

Small world. I used to talk with Nacho fairly often about 15 years ago on the Telecaster site. I have a couple of his Telecaster decals, sent from Spain for a project.
 
#114
eldoryder said:
As much as I am excited by these Tutmarcs, want to know everything about them, want to hear them play, and would like to own a reproduction some day, M.R. Ogle still has a point. History is often a fickle guide to truth, and accepted history becomes permanent.

Who first discovered America? Columbus gets a Holiday, Vikings get zippo.

Who was the first in flight? Wright Bros., says the books. Those Europeans? Nada.

So yes, technically first. But NO ONE outside a a few of us will ever know or care. "History" made sure of that.

No rock 'n' roll band ever announced personnel by saying "Blotto on TUTMARC bass!"

Fender Bass. Kleenex. Jello. etc. etc. History, bah!
Click to expand...
And the people who were already living in North America just get reservations.
 
#120
Sartori,
It works pretty much the same way all magnetic pickups work, except tutmarc used a horseshoe magnet which gives you an N and P pole, the key here is that the blades are screwed to the end of the poles making them poles too. He then soldered them together to make a single blade, remember solder is nonmagnetic so he still has 2 pole pieces. one is for the E and A string and one is for the G and D string. There is a coil on each blade, they are soldered in series out of phase to cancel hum. then they are attached to a volume control and a cable, thats it. I got my 30's Rickenbacher amp today and it doesn't have a volume control but has only a tone control, they work together quite nicely, if I could figure out how to record some samples I would put them up. It sounds pretty good with a deep bass and good highs, still looking for an Audiovox amp though, the circuits are similar so they must sound close.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Preventer

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back