acoustic bass

[schiven]

anyone heard of any books on acoustic basses??

[truerussian558]

Its not that popular of an instrument since it was the predescor to the electric bass in the early 50-40's until it became to queit so they made it electric.

based on what ive seen on them , i would recomend making a larger body (much larger) and the scale lenght of normal bass guitars today (by normal i mean electric) and evlve from there.

You might be able to find something on the baritone guitar which might have some advice on what to do with longer necks on acoustics (the strain increases dramatically since the lever is longer). but other then that there is nothing that is well known or most likely even at all. Also a good bet is to find a luthiorer in your are and he/she might have made some acoustic basses, but its your best bet information wise.

[erikbojerik]

I've been pondering this myself, thinking of making an acoustic/electric archtop bass. I've found the Musical Instrument Makers Forum (MIMF) to be an excellent source of info on all things acoustic.

MIMF

The forum site is quite clumsy compared to PG (thanks to Brian, Wes and the rest!). You must register (free) before you can search their library, but there's lots of good info there, including plans (not free) for a flat-top 4-string acoustic bass.

I think, in general, that you need a really large and deep body to project (acoustically) the frequencies you expect from a bass; pretty soon you're in upright double-bass territory. For my money, I'd shoot for an acoustic/electric with a body similar to a large jazz-box type guitar; it probably wouldn't project that well, but when amplified you could still get that "woody" sounding thing going (faux double-bass sound).

[Hoser Rob]

That's true about the size. Have you ever seen those mariachi bands, like in movies (the only way you're going to see them up here)? The basses they play are so big they look like you've strapped on a cello. Unfortunately, that's the only way you're going to get a 40Hz fundamental on an instrument that you can hear in an ensemble setting. I think that's why those basses largely disappeared - you still have to plug them in.

They still sound good though.