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Comment by Road Rash Roy on July 20, 2019 at 11:14am

Okay, we're on our way:  I just used a guitar tuner and marked some dots on the side of the neck for the chromatic scale.  Started watching some videos to learn some root/5 progressions.  Probably not all that interested in learning good technique...

Comment by Poorness Studios on July 20, 2019 at 9:33am

Nice. I always like homemade basses, particularly upright basses.

Comment by Road Rash Roy on July 20, 2019 at 5:46am

Thanks Dave and Uncle John!  

I'll swing by the pawn shop on the way home today and see if they got a real, real, real cheap little bass practice amp.  And I'll check out the StewMac fret calculator.

This is probably more of a distraction than anything; I don't really wanna play the bass.  It's just another cool homemade instrument lying around in case a random bass player might drop by.

Comment by Uncle John on July 20, 2019 at 2:40am

It sounds good and low bassy.  Looks like it would play okay.  I don't know how to play bass either.   I would kind of like to build one.  Whatever scale length you choose, you can go to the online stew mac fret calculator and get measurements for fret position.  I used to play with a couple guys who had uprights and they both marked a few positions.

Comment by Dave Lynas on July 19, 2019 at 11:55pm

Oh, definitely use a bass amp. You may blow your speakers if you use your guitar amp. On low volume you can use your regular amp but get a cheap bass amp for serious plucking.

Comment by Dave Lynas on July 19, 2019 at 11:51pm

Scale length is critical.. especially when it comes to bridge position. Using a “real” fretboard as reference works fine. Just copy it accurately with the bridge position of the copy marked carefully. I have copied scale lengths from prototype vintage instruments many times with good sounding results. Wish I could view your video but my iPad won’t show it. :*(

Comment by Road Rash Roy on July 19, 2019 at 2:05pm

So, all my fretless cbg builds were planned and built based on a scale length and I marked "frets" with a sharpie on the fretboard using a "real" guitar for reference. I randomly placed the bridge on this one at about 45.5 inches, but I was clueless and it's ovbviously adjustble. Since I have never played bass and have no bass for reference points, can anybody point me in the direction of a "fret location calculator" or something else to begin with? Doing it by ear is my last resort since the "tuners" have to be moved with a ratchet wrench.