Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on August 27, 2011 at 1:34am

Bass runs anywhere from 30" for shortscale to 35.5" for a extralong.

My preference in 34".

Or you could go upright scale which is 40"

 

 

But i would go for 34"

 

 

AFKAM

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on August 27, 2011 at 5:20am

Gary,

Hop on over to the Group, "Cigar Box Basses" here on CBN. Matt has given you a good scale bass length, and the builders over at the bass group should have plenty of advice and tips for your bass build.

Oily

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gary Williams on August 27, 2011 at 8:33am

Excuse my ignorance is that 34 from the nut to the bridge?

Artist Formerly Known as Matt said:

Bass runs anywhere from 30" for shortscale to 35.5" for a extralong.

My preference in 34".

Or you could go upright scale which is 40"

 

 

But i would go for 34"

 

 

AFKAM

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on August 27, 2011 at 11:02pm

Gary,

Yep, Matt means 34" from the front of the nut to the front of the bridge.

Oily

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ponkster on August 27, 2011 at 11:08pm

34" is a good scale  for a fretless - it gives you a bit of space to slide in to a note and 34" string bargins are about but you will pay through the nose for short scale strings.

String length ( and scale length) is critical with basses as there is a thinner section at the end of the strings to go round the tunners unlike with guitars , this means in real terms if you plan to use proper bass strings you dont have too much flexabillity with the scale lengnth.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gary Williams on August 28, 2011 at 1:05am

So if I make a 34in what strings am I looking to buy

Ponkster said:

34" is a good scale  for a fretless - it gives you a bit of space to slide in to a note and 34" string bargins are about but you will pay through the nose for short scale strings.

String length ( and scale length) is critical with basses as there is a thinner section at the end of the strings to go round the tunners unlike with guitars , this means in real terms if you plan to use proper bass strings you dont have too much flexabillity with the scale lengnth.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gary Williams on August 28, 2011 at 1:06am

Thanks Oily

Oily "Strat-O'-Nine-Tales" Fool said:

Gary,

Yep, Matt means 34" from the front of the nut to the front of the bridge.

Oily

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ponkster on August 28, 2011 at 4:30am

standard bass strings

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on August 28, 2011 at 5:16am

Could heavy guitar strings be used for a 3 string bass instead of real bass strings? Or would that be some kind of in between instrument? say 30" or 32" scale

 

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Seaman Jay on August 28, 2011 at 8:11am

well, a guitaron (a.k.a. the frakking best acoustic bass guitar ever) scale is 26" but it uses 0.033-0.108 range of strings. Maybe you could use a heavy low E guitar string as your bass' high G string, tho'

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Ben on August 28, 2011 at 9:00am

Michael, that would be more along the lines of a baritone guitar...typically 28-30"ish. Great way to add a bit of depth though!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tyler Higdon on August 30, 2011 at 4:44pm

Baritone guitar strings can be tuned to standard bass notes with a 34 in. scale.

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page