Alfie Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 As roughly half of my band's gigs are acoustic I decided I wanted a bass specifically for these sets. I don't especially like double bass, nor do I have the room for one and I've always found acoustic basses to be a bit dull, so I commissioned a cigar-box style bass from [url="http://www.chickenbonejohn.com/index.htm"]Chickenbone John[/url]. I wanted an instrument that looked like it had been cobbled together from odds and ends, different knobs and tuners, that sort of thing. I also wanted it to be normal scale and 3 string (because the only G-string I like is between my buttocks). John rustled up a rough sawn box and I provided a label that appealed to my Italian heritage and the American slant of the band. The end result I am very happy with. Obviously there is the neck pickup, which is nice and beefy, there is also a piezo pickup. Acoustically the bass is loud enough for around the camp fire put needs to be amplified for gigs. I have gigged it a few times now and it always arouses comment, people are also surprised by how bassy it is. The downsides are that intonation is a bugger and the neck is like a tree trunk with an action so high that the strings need warning lights to alert low-flying aircraft. Therefore I have to keep things simple when playing (suits me) and not go too far from whichever fret I decide to have in tune. Since getting this bass I have ironically started writing more bass lines that involve the G string, leading to a very confused variety of bass-face during gigs. I have also decided that I also fundamentally dislike the D string, so next up a two-string bass. Quote
Clarky Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 I really like the concept! Not sure I would like playing it, given your description about intonation and action, but its cool as .... Quote
EdwardHimself Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 You decedant capitalist pig! lol jk. Looks gr8. Seen a few of these before, a guy built a load of them. Mostly tenor guitars. Quote
Alfie Posted October 24, 2011 Author Posted October 24, 2011 Yeah, playing it can be a challenge, especially walking bass lines. I have got used to the idiosyncratic tuning, I just play louder to drown everyone else out. Being in tune is also decadent. Photographers absolutely love it. I was playing a charity gig in the summer and a photographer from the Oxford Times beckoned me over to stand next to a guy in a wheelchair for a publicity shot, on the other side was a man holding a burnt sausage on a stick. That is probably the closest I will get to being famous. Quote
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