I am looking for scale length and guide for fret positions. how many strings, which strings to use,tuning and any thing else of use. Bottom line is I messed up a build and the scale length is about 28 inch + or - so instead of scraping the whole build I think I think I can turn it into a bass. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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I have a 27" scale strumstick. Strung with B, G, D (4, 3, 2) acoustic strings. Sort of a baritone size. Sounds pretty good, has a kind of mellow tone. One day will have to try a bit heavier strings but I'm not sure the tuners will take it, they were recycled from an old kids guitar. Dulcimer spaced frets are a long way apart at that scale though and it makes chording a bit tricky. I need to work on that anyway.
Try it out with all kinds of setups, I think the tension needed for regular strings will require a pretty solid neck, so bass strings might be the way to go first. The strumstick has an Eastern Maple neck almost an inch thick and just shy of 1 1/2" wide.
You could always try the weed whacker line route as well. Might sound kind of cool on a reso....
Number of strings, string choice-depends. Whats your neck width allow and whats your goal? If I was to be the one doing the choosing, and limited by width to 3 strings for example, I would consider using the bottom three (higher pitched) strings and tuning from a bass set, or maybe creating a "hybrid" set from an e-string from a standard guitar and the remaining lower strings from a bass set to build a guitar somewhere between a bass and standard. Maybe. On the other hand you could go for the lower pitched end of the range. Tuning would be a consideration of the above decision.
JMO, theres many choices. Dont scrap it! Make something unusual and share it with us!
Replies
I have a 27" scale strumstick. Strung with B, G, D (4, 3, 2) acoustic strings. Sort of a baritone size. Sounds pretty good, has a kind of mellow tone. One day will have to try a bit heavier strings but I'm not sure the tuners will take it, they were recycled from an old kids guitar. Dulcimer spaced frets are a long way apart at that scale though and it makes chording a bit tricky. I need to work on that anyway.
Try it out with all kinds of setups, I think the tension needed for regular strings will require a pretty solid neck, so bass strings might be the way to go first. The strumstick has an Eastern Maple neck almost an inch thick and just shy of 1 1/2" wide.
You could always try the weed whacker line route as well. Might sound kind of cool on a reso....
it will definatley be a hybrid as it started out being a reso so now it will be a reso bass I'm not sure I've seen one yet
Well, as far as scale length-standard basses are commonly 33-34". Fender built some "short scale" basses at 30".
Fret positions, calculated as any other build. One calculator- http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator
Number of strings, string choice-depends. Whats your neck width allow and whats your goal? If I was to be the one doing the choosing, and limited by width to 3 strings for example, I would consider using the bottom three (higher pitched) strings and tuning from a bass set, or maybe creating a "hybrid" set from an e-string from a standard guitar and the remaining lower strings from a bass set to build a guitar somewhere between a bass and standard. Maybe. On the other hand you could go for the lower pitched end of the range. Tuning would be a consideration of the above decision.
JMO, theres many choices. Dont scrap it! Make something unusual and share it with us!