Ol Grey Bear

Hi Cameron 👋 Welcome back

Photo here: Thank you for wishing me well on bass. I've seen folk playing a bass thingy on that there TV thingy, so I reckon I should be good 👍 😄 🤣

Ahh. That's understandable. I'll refer to you mentally as Mr EZ. 😊 😀 Though, I am slightly worried now that learning bass may not be as easy as I'd hoped.

Thanks, Geek99. One of the reasons I started to build my own instruments, and stopped buying "factory made", was because the butt of everything available (butt below the waist I mean) was always so counterintuitive to use in a wheelchair with armrests. I've been building so-called "guitars" (I use "guitar builder" in the loosest sense possible 😄 🤣) for around 8 years and I've been a wheelchair user for almost 20 years now. The saddest part of this story however, violins at the ready, is that I now have a different wheelchair. With flip-up armrests 🤦‍♂️. Still, part of my argument that covers up being too cheap to buy an instrument may be gone but I enjoy the building so I'll persist 😉

Thank you for the warm welcome, friend! Here's me hoping that I do find bass "EZ"! Haha. Thanks again, Bear/Dani

Thank you for the info, Richard. I'll certainly be sure to check out StudyBass.com ! My first pointer of a learning platform and your friendly, generous sharing of this is very much appreciated. Thanks again, Bear/Dani

Good morning, my Siberian friend! Wishing you a wonderful day with plenty of opportunities to play that delightful bass guitar! Bear/Dani

Welcome, Watty. Keep us updated with how you get on with the learning. Any pointers to decent lessons always appreciated by this fellow new learner too!

Welcome, welcome, Meany. NE coast of Scotland here. I love Wales though. Broke the duck on mountain climbing up pig track and down miners on Snowden so I'll always have a soft spot for Wales.

Welcome Teesee. Cheap guitars? I own one and I just got done making it outta an old box. Half baritone, half short scale, all madness. Yours look gorgeous, though to be honest I wouldn't know much of the differences between one and another. Just learning bass. Or, I'll start learning bass on Saturday when my strings get delivered.

Welcome, welcome friend! How's Texas treating you? Well, I hope?!

Hi Lyle 👋

That's comforting to know, Richard. I am indeed brand new to bass guifar playing and building. The most I know is to never annoy the drummer or the bass guitar player. They're the time keepers and can make a solid guitarist sound pants if they're annoyed enough 😄 🤣 I'd assumed that some sounded great, some sounded mediocre, and others sounded awful, or worse. I'm glad to know that most won't know the best from some others. All the best, Bear/Dani

Thanks for the welcome, MSB, and the flatwounds suggestion. I'll be sure to look out for them. Hi Paul, The scale length is a long baritone/short scale bass of 30". I have strung up the baritone skinny strings now and they're tuned to GDg. The bass strings will be tuned to, you might have already guessed, GD. I'll be using the middle two strings from a short scale, regular-to-light gauge 4 string set. I just need to wait until the 23rd to buy some. Everyone is drawing purse strings tight right now, and that's us too. I can get some, I just need to wait. Thanks for your interest in the instrument I did done made 😁

I love your use of alternative tunings. I find unusual tunings really make me think about the music in a different way. For instance, if I'm tuning open C I'd rather go for the alternate C, G, C, g, c, D# so that I can get an open minor triad for slide playing on the higher register. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I play lots of slide but I'll play a steady, maybe alternating, bass in the background. The scale length is a straight 30 inches. Top of the baritone range, bottom of the bass range. I'm hoping to find a new happy place therein. All the best, Bear/Dani

I'm nothing if not odd 😅 😂 🤣 Those single saddle bridges are truly heaven-sent for the mad meddler. Thank you for your welcome and hi 👋 Bear/Dani

I myself have been described in much the same way, though without the added suffix of "in a great way". Literally "Properly weird" 😄 🤣 😂 Thank you.

Here's the offending/offensive build itself. The reason I jojned BC and why I'm going to need advice on bass strings (2 bass strings 🤦‍♂️)

Dead thread resurrected 11 years later 😒 🤔 Newest build, finished yesterday, not even strung yet. In fact, I still need to buy the bass strings! So, it's a baritone/bass combo (2 bass strings above 3 baritone strings. Strung, or will be, with the A & D bass strings, and the A, D & F# strings from a baritone string set. However, despite the strings used, it'll be tuned G, D, G, d, g. Here's the wee beastie...

Welcome BMIB. Good to see someone else who builds their own instruments, and I found this post within an hour of joining BC. Very encouraging indeed. All the best, Bear/Dani

Welcome G. I just joined tonight and am also a full-time wheelchair user like yourself. All the best. Bear/Dani

The header says everything really. I'm new to bass guitar and need to learn quickly because I just finished building my combination part baritone guitar come short scale bass guitar last night. Then I suddenly realised that I haven't got a clue what bass strings I want for blues music on a combo self build other than short scale and regular light gauge, or lighter still. Are there even specific strings for blues music? I guess there must be since I see packs of Swing Bass and Jazz Bass strings. I just don't know which ones would suit me best according to my bass combo instrument, budget, and intended musical genre specific. Anyway. I'm 52, married to my beautiful angel of a wife for a couple of wonderful years, and I live in a small fishing village a couple of villages over from the boundary of the Northern Scottish Highlands. I'm keen to learn about all things bass, I'm not going to argue with your advice because I reckon everyone on this platform knows more about the bass guitar subject than me, and I've been considered a fast learner by most for most of my life. Of tiny significance to my membership on this platform (but since I'm introducing myself), I've been a full-time wheelchair user for the past 20 years, my condition is degenerative, but nothing ever stops me from reaching the goals I set for myself. There's not much I can't do, other than walk, run etc, I'll just do many things in a different way to accomplish the end result.