Electric upright bass

[funkytwang]

hi - recently finished a 3/4 size electric upright bass for my son. Specs are:
- 1051mm scale length
- tas myrtle body (kind of hollowed) with a vic ash cap.
- neck is vic ash with a jarrah strip
- fingerboard and tailpiece are grey ironbark
- bridge is vic ash
- tuners from stewmac
- 2 piezo discs on the tailpiece side of the bridge -> volume, tone and blender controls -> homemade tillman preamp http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/
Got the idea of the piezos from here viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3371&p=41066&hilit= ... scs#p41059

Many thanks to Bill Paulin for your help and great construction pics on the ozbassforum http://www.ozbassforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1484 Spent lots of time examining those pics.

Don't have sound clip yet as I need to replace one the strings that got damaged. But here's some pics for now.

Paul

[Nick]

Nice.....I like the lines of this, well done Paul, I'm sure your son loves it!

[Dekka]

A thing of beauty, Paul.
Re: Tillman preamp....Where did you get hold of a J201 FET? I've been using a modified design with a more common MPF102 transistor. It's not directly interchangeable but with the mods it works a treat.
Your boy will be stoked.

Derek

[Taffy Evans]

Hi, I like that, looks like a fun build. I built one for a mate some years ago and enjoyed the challenge of treading new ground, it was a five string.

[P Bill]

Very nice Paul,

I like your body rest solution and introducing a curve to the body. Hard to do on a long narrow shape. Most try for a recurve and the body isn't wide enough for that to work.

[P Bill]

Hi, I like that, looks like a fun build. I built one for a mate some years ago and enjoyed the challenge of treading new ground, it was a five string.

Taffy,
What scale length and did you get much out put from the B string? I built one as well and wasn't happy with the B.

[Taffy Evans]

Hi Bill, the bass had a good even response from all strings, possible due to the modified electric bass bridge I used, see pic.

P2070021 (Small).JPG (48.13 KiB) Viewed 14739 times

[Taffy Evans]

oops, sorry 34" scale length.

[funkytwang]

A thing of beauty, Paul.
Re: Tillman preamp....Where did you get hold of a J201 FET? I've been using a modified design with a more common MPF102 transistor. It's not directly interchangeable but with the mods it works a treat.
Your boy will be stoked.

Derek

hi - the j201 came from Element14 http://au.element14.com/ (part no 1017715).

Thanks for the comments everyone. My son does like it.

And feel free to use that body shape Bill. Send you a template if you want one.

Paul.

[P Bill]

Thanks for the offer Paul. I have a couple of early attempts still kicking around the workshop I look at from time to time.