Acoustic bass guitar build

[charangohabsburg]

It looks great Jeff! Thanks for sharing the building process which I enjoyed following.

[Trevor Gore]

Nice, Jeff. Certainly looks the part.

[kiwigeo]

French polishing with Hard Shellac
Into the home stretch

Jeff,

If you dont mind.... what is your session schedule for FPing with the Hard Shellac and how much do you cut the neat shellac?

Cheers and thanks Martin

[jeffhigh]

I'm cutting 1:1
No exact schedule probably half a dozen short sessions during the day for a couple of days then cut back and another day of sessions.

[jeffhigh]

A quick sound demo
Please excuse the standard of playing
http://youtu.be/13FmItdlIY8

[kiwigeo]

I'm cutting 1:1
No exact schedule probably half a dozen short sessions during the day for a couple of days then cut back and another day of sessions.

Thanks Jeff

[colburge]

A quick sound demo
Please excuse the standard of playing
http://youtu.be/13FmItdlIY8

funky! I like it.

cheers

Col

[Nick]

A quick sound demo
Please excuse the standard of playing
http://youtu.be/13FmItdlIY8

Nice job with the whole build Jeff it's got a nice clean, even response on all strings and that nice low end rumble you want from a bass. I'd call this experiment a success
Have you played around with tuning the tornovoz to different lengths or is that the "ideal" for this body volume?

[jeffhigh]

I don't really know what is optimum
I was getting 62Hz initially but that was very close to the back braces, which I thought was too restrictive so I took about 15mm off and ended up midway between B and C and decided to live with that.
I'm sure I could get lower with a larger body, but the aim with this was too see what I could do with a relatively compact size body and this is just 12mm wider than my classical outline with dreadnaught depth.

[P Bill]

Well done Jeff, you must be very chuffed! That would probably work well with one guitar. Call me a heathen but I'd like to hear it thru an amp as well.

[charangohabsburg]

Nice sounding bass Jeff! As far as I can judge from the video it is pretty loud for an acoustic bass, and also remarkably bright sounding, which I like and which I believe is an advantage when playing in a not amplified group (helps "cut through").

Regarding the idea of making the box bigger, other than of course bringing down the air resonances (with all its consequences) I think that this also implies the disadvantage to have more "material" (enclosed air, wood) that tends to "eat up" string energy. Moving the soundhole more north or/and taper the body depth more towards the heel or/and decrease the upper bout width and increase at the same time the lower bout width, or/and making a more flexible back would also drop the air resonance. But for this bass here: If I didn't miss something your tornavoz is cylindrical, right? So why not make a tube that fits exactly into the existing tornavoz in order to obtain a telecope-tornavoz which you can extend more towards the bottom, or remove it again completely if you don't like the result.

[jeffhigh]

Well done Jeff, you must be very chuffed! That would probably work well with one guitar. Call me a heathen but I'd like to hear it thru an amp as well.

I'll see what I can do on that Bill
I am actually really happy with the amplified sound and can get quite decent levels through the PA setup in my studio before feedback

[jeffhigh]

Nice sounding bass Jeff! As far as I can judge from the video it is pretty loud for an acoustic bass, and also remarkably bright sounding, which I like and which I believe is an advantage when playing in a not amplified group (helps "cut through").

Regarding the idea of making the box bigger, other than of course bringing down the air resonances (with all its consequences) I think that this also implies the disadvantage to have more "material" (enclosed air, wood) that tends to "eat up" string energy. Moving the soundhole more north or/and taper the body depth more towards the heel or/and decrease the upper bout width and increase at the same time the lower bout width, or/and making a more flexible back would also drop the air resonance. But for this bass here: If I didn't miss something your tornavoz is cylindrical, right? So why not make a tube that fits exactly into the existing tornavoz in order to obtain a telecope-tornavoz which you can extend more towards the bottom, or remove it again completely if you don't like the result.

It's all a bit of a balancing act Markus
The video sounds a bit brighter than the player impression, probably losing some low end through recording and the compression of a youtube video etc.
I would call the sound rounded. I was looking to avoid the situation where the lowest frequencies are absent and just "filled in" by the listeners mind.

I'm with you on a lot of your suggestions, a bigger box does have acoustic consequences as well as ergonomic.
I do have about 12mm taper on body depth.
The tornavoz is cylindrical, pvc pipe but with the outside ground down for most of the length to reduce the wall thickness for mass reduction.
I started off with it longer with it coming to about 25mm from the back so I don't really want to extend it again
I'm a bit reluctant to soften the back anymore for fear of feedback when amplified,

[DarwinStrings]

Nice one Jeff, thanks for the listen. As far as I can remember this is a first at the ANZLF, very inspiring.

Jim

[charangohabsburg]

It's all a bit of a balancing act Markus

Yes, of course .

The video sounds a bit brighter than the player impression, probably losing some low end through recording and the compression of a youtube video etc.

As I already said I like the recording. If it is less bright than that I would probably just leave it as it is. But in any case it helps judging the sound having it played by someone else, solo and, if possible together with other guitars or instruments of your choice.

I'm a bit reluctant to soften the back anymore for fear of feedback when amplified,

Good point! Plus, making the back (or its braces) thinner is not reversible, hence my idea of making a removable telecope-insert for the tornavoz, just to see what happens with the air resonance a tiny little bit lower.

Cheers,

[Trevor Gore]

Sounds good, Jeff. Gotta be happy with that!

[ozwood]

Had a visit from Jeff today, we catch up fairly regularly , he Brought his acoustic Bass along , not that I have heard a lot of accoustic bass guitars , But this ones super responsive , has fantastic projection and plenty of volume , Jeffs design is a winner . I think Jeffs finally cracked the acoustic bass paradigm.


Cheers,