Double Bass Upright bass made from a wheelbarrow

[Vicious_Squid]

So here she is, my creation: an upright bass made from a wheelbarrow (for ultimate portability!) - they said I was mad!

This instrument when finished will have a 43" scale length and will wear three weedwacker (rockabilly) strings. The neck is a solid mahogany door-frame that goes right through the body (cigarbox style)

Note about this pic: This is not final positioning of the head-stock, just clamped to get a rough idea.

Full album is available here for your perusal: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jQTKj1hzPv8G117XA

 

[Will_White]

So here she is, my creation: an upright bass made from a wheelbarrow (for ultimate portability!) - they said I was mad!

This instrument when finished will have a 43" scale length and will wear three weedwacker (rockabilly) strings. The neck is a solid mahogany door-frame that goes right through the body (cigarbox style)

Note about this pic: This is not final positioning of the head-stock, just clamped to get a rough idea.

Full album is available here for your perusal: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jQTKj1hzPv8G117XA

That's cool, I've done something similar with a fretted 34" neck, I've been thinking about making a longer scale neck for mine. I'm interested to see how this goes.

 

[chupacerveza]

So here she is, my creation: an upright bass made from a wheelbarrow (for ultimate portability!) - they said I was mad!

This instrument when finished will have a 43" scale length and will wear three weedwacker (rockabilly) strings. The neck is a solid mahogany door-frame that goes right through the body (cigarbox style)

Note about this pic: This is not final positioning of the head-stock, just clamped to get a rough idea.

Full album is available here for your perusal: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jQTKj1hzPv8G117XA

Nice! I’ll show this to my friend who used to make washtub Basses out of oval washtubs. He always used a bass bar and a tone bar... was wondering if you will?

 

[neilG]

Nice. Here's my all time favorite:

 

[Vicious_Squid]

Nice! I’ll show this to my friend who used to make washtub Basses out of oval washtubs. He always used a bass bar and a tone bar... was wondering if you will?

I haven't decided if I'm going to add those things yet. If you look at my gallery link you'll see that she alrady has a sound-peg, and the entire body is metal so I'm still unsure. I'd love any advice you may have.

 

[chupacerveza]

I haven't decided if I'm going to add those things yet. If you look at my gallery link you'll see that she alrady has a sound-peg, and the entire body is metal so I'm still unsure. I'd love any advice you may have.

The bass bar and tone bar counteract the downward pressure of the strings on the bridge, which in turn bows the soundboard inward, but also tend to prevent extraneous rattles and growls or wolf tones. If your build doesn’t need them, let’s say because you have very low string tension, then it doesn’t need them.

 

[Vicious_Squid]

Today I made some hardwood ribs to add stability and provide an anchor point for the face-plate whilst also stopping it from contacting with the centre bar (resonant gap)

 

[chupacerveza]

Just for your amusement, here's Bill's #4 WashTub bass (#4 being the size of the washtub):
http://107.140.98.106/bentones/public_html/pictures/WashTubBass.jpg

He wouldn't have played it in the stand, he was just posing for the photo at the campsite several years back. You may be able to see some figuring in the laminated 1"x4" maple boards he shaped for the neck. The f-holes were proportional to the volume of the bass, that is, proportional to a Kay upright that he had.

 

[Vicious_Squid]

http://107.140.98.106/bentones/public_html/pictures/WashTubBass.jpg

Oh I love that!!

 

[chupacerveza]

I always thought the turnbuckle (visible at the back of the neck where it meets the tub) was a brilliant solution for a truss rod substitute (for adjusting the action). Of course Bill would use it liberally whenever the weather changed! If all the strings were flat he'd turn it one way and vice versa.

 

[Vicious_Squid]

Update!

 

[Vicious_Squid]

Update: IT'S FINISHED!

Technical specifications:
* 67 inches tall (1.7 metres)
* 3 strings (weedwackers) tuning: EAD
* scale length 41 inches (104.14cm)
* action 0.5"
* 1.75" diameter body-coloured foam bumpers
* bridge piezo pickup (not pictured)

Video: https://youtu.be/sYVip9Yxt9w

 

[Will_White]

Update: IT'S FINISHED!

Technical specifications:
* 67 inches tall (1.7 metres)
* 3 strings (weedwackers) tuning: EAD
* scale length 41 inches (104.14cm)
* action 0.5"
* 1.75" diameter body-coloured foam bumpers
* bridge piezo pickup (not pictured)

Video: https://youtu.be/sYVip9Yxt9w

Hows it sound?

 

[Vicious_Squid]

Hows it sound?

there's a video link in the description in my last post

 

[Don Hergert]

Interesting, is it as heavy as a person would imagine a wheelbarrow being? If so, how do you wheel it somewhere with no handles?

Also, is that some sort of padding between the top table and the wheelbarrow rim? What does it do?

Did you use hot hide glue for the braces and bass bar? (JK)

The big question is as mentioned, how does it sound?

 

[Vicious_Squid]

The 'bumpers' are purely aesthetic. I bent the lip of the metal wheelbarrow up and over the face and it looked ugly, like a gigantic takeaway meal container, so I used pipe insulation to hide the ugly (and sharp) edges.


Video: https://youtu.be/sYVip9Yxt9w
Build album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jQTKj1hzPv8G117XA