DFW

Hey, I had the five string bass a while back, and I've had some issues. Mostly the string spacing is way to close for me to play comfortably, probably since it shares the 4 string chassis, just with an added saddle. Also the hook for the B string is too narrow for a .125 string, just wondering if widening it weakens the part. Maybe 5 string trems should come on either a 4 or 6 string chassis depending on the application.

Alex DeGrassi is a close friend of Fred's and just finished recording a few tracks on the New Dream guitar. He also has some stuff on Fred's older sympitars. Here's some info on those: http://www.beyondthetrees.com/disc.htm

Not sure if you figured this out yet, but I'd recommend checking out Fred Carlson's stuff (www.beyondthetrees.com). His Harp-Sympitars sound amazing, with 12 sympathetic strings running inside the neck and under the top. They tune at the main headstock and anchor at the bridge, with a little jiwari (sitar-esque buzzing bridge) mounted on the inside of the soundboard. The only place you see the sympathetic strings is through the soundhole, and you need a trapdoor in the back of the guitar to access them. The guitars sound crazy, like a band of angels buzzing inside. Hope this helps.

Well, I was leaning toward the tailpiece style bridge setup, and was thinking that if the bass strings had an easier time of moving the soundboard, and with longer fannish braces moved more of it. With a pin bridge I can see this not being much of an issue, but with sound being made by pushing at different pressures and frequencies I could see the asymmetrical board being advantageous.

I'm just going to throw in something I've been tossing around. I was looking at a few things, specifically Ribbeke's Halfling, The Kasha/Schneider, Lattice style, and Fred Carlson's DreadNautilus and kinda got thinking this: How about an asymmetrically domed top (12' on treble and 25' on bass perhaps) braced with fanned lattice (tighter on the treble side and wider on the bass)? I'd use Carlson's leaf-bracing technique to handle the whole odd dish situation. Does that make sense? Is it straight kooky? Alls I know is I want to try it.

I have very little idea what I'm doing, this instrument is basically wallking through a cave, my night vision just starting to work, and a lot of guessing as to where I should go. I know it'll be a bolt on neck and there'll be a trap door out back to get at the bolts. This one goes to my girlfriend, it's an experiment we're doing trying to figure out how to build her dream instrument. The harp bass is in the back seat for some time. So I threadjacked meself.

Oh yea, I finished the bass and the acoustic is due this friday so it should be done by then.

Now it looks like this: Also got the Mandolele approved, trying to get together materials and such for that.

Shot laquer and pore filled bass. The soundbox fell from four feet and the trble upper bout binding got compressed, the top cracked and popped off the body. To repair I cut the top seperate from the binding with a razor and dumped a bunch of superglue in there, clamped close for 15 minutes, then spread the crack and stuck some titebond down in there, then clamped it closed for 45 minutes. It's all good, only sign of damage is the flat part of the binding, which isn't too noticable.

Heh, well I'm just doing what I've been taight and experienced. Maybe all of the teachers build instruments that do somethin special.

Which is tighter if the overall length is longer. The string doesn't stop at the nut, it stops at the tuning machine. The endpoint for tension is the anchor, not the pivots. The ferrule, not the saddle, the tuning machine, not the nut.

I disagree. Think about it for a second. I disagree. We aren't talking about the frequency. Take a 6 inch string with 50 pounds of tension on it and with a pivot 1 inch from the edge and it will feel like a 6 inch string, but the pitch will be higher, and the circle of rotation tighter. It's like having a 38 inch scale length with a capo at the third fret or so. The tension will be higher.

The entire string length is what matters. Hence the reverse headstock, why Hendrix could bend his ass off on the upside down strats, etc.

Yes, but it would also up the tension on Fatty Slappy B String quite a bit, and with mine being a C that extra tension is mega improtant

The B string goes to the tuner furthest from the nut, as in the Fodera Extended B setup: I also got in trouble for cutting out that horn, apperently it;s going to be tough to finish. I don't mind doing extra work, and if anyone hsa any advice on spraying or sanding it that would be much appreciated. Thanks.