Crazy Bass Innovations!

[paul h]

if you are like me, (and i sincerely hope you are not, for your own sake) the you spend a fair amount of time daydreaming about possible and possibly ridiculous ways to improve those things we refer to as "bassii".

this is my latest crazy scheme....

a floating fretboard!

setting up a bass is hard. even the most skillfull of truss rod tweaks can leave problems with the 6 or so frets firmly held in place in the neck pocket.

so my solution is to have the fretboard attached to the neck by a series of grub screws that can be adjusted to raise and lower problem areas of the board to eliminate buzz and dead spots etc. we're not talking about large amounts of travel, but just enough to stop problem frets buzzing. the main adjustments would still be done with the truss rod and the bridge saddles but the floating fretboard idea would just give that extra tweak.

how many times have you got the action just as you like it only to find a couple of frets rattling away?

i am the first to admit this is an impossibly impractical solution of sledgehammer/nut proportions.

anyone else got anything better?

paul.

[R,5,R,5...]

The problem I see with this is that ideally you would want as solid a mass as possible in order to facilitate the transmission of vibrations. So the surface that transmits vibration would be drastically reduced if there were only 2-4 small contact points between board and neck. But I may be wrong.

[SJA]

a few companies in the US have a "floating neck" concept- Treker, Bunker guitars, PBC-

the headstock is attached to the neck heel by a steel bar, carrying all the string tension.
the neck has a conventional trussrod to adjust it, but isn't connected to the headstock, it just supports the frets/fingerboard.

so the floating fretboard idea isn't that far-fetched.

you might end up being driven mad by odd rattling from loose adjustment screws though.....

[Paul_C]

it certainly strikes me as an answer in search of a problem


a decent set up shouldn't take that much effort, and having a potentially wavy fingerboard strikes me as a nightmare waiting to happen, once humidity starts moving things around

[paul h]

i did say it was crazy!

[Muppet]

[quote name='paul h' post='23903' date='Jun 27 2007, 09:45 AM']those things we refer to as "bassii".[/quote]


Nope - pretty sure you're in a minority of one there! "Basses" would be my guess

as far as innovations go, I'd like to be able to recall preprogrammed preamp settings, though I'm sure someone's though of that already.

[paul h]

you can't beat a powered knob!

[Lfalex v1.1]

Whilst I recall someone (Binky?) giving Born2Rock Aluminium (Sorry, Aluminum) Tubular basses a pasting recently, it is worthwhile noting that their string tension is carried by the "spar" above the fret board, and that the neck really does "float", being held in place by the strings' collective tension.

Trekker (as previously mentioned) spring to mind also, in addition to the Basslab L-Bow (perhaps) and Vigier Passion/ Arpege instruments. These are all variations on the same theme; Taking the pressure off of the neck itself.

Crazy innovations?

Anything with moveable pick-ups, such as the Westone "rail" , Viper Bass etc. (there's a motorised one out there somewhere with a recall facility for the pick up positions.)

The aforementioned B2R tubular instruments.

Bizzare EQ options;

Vigier's Quasi-parametric system; you can change [i]f[/i] but not Q or bandwidth... (shame about the Q, but Patrice Vigier did mail me back with a modification!)

Warwick's Fortress and Streamer "Pro M". Stick a Twin Jazz Pick-up half-way between the bridge and neck and apply a separate 2 band EQ to each coil.
Bet it worked, but where is it now? (I'd like to try it!)

That's all I can think of right now..

Edited June 27, 2007 by Lfalex v1.1

[Kiwi]

[quote name='Muppet' post='23917' date='Jun 27 2007, 10:30 AM']as far as innovations go, I'd like to be able to recall preprogrammed preamp settings, though I'm sure someone's though of that already.[/quote]

Yes, Vigier offered it on their basses in the late 80's while we were all still in love with technology

I've got a few ideas for a nifty neck system but I'd like to get it patented at some point.

There's an old Alembic Series 2 called the "Dragon Bass" which has movable pickups mounted on brass rails. I really like the idea of movable pickups and wish someone would invent a system that is relatively easy to install.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='23945' date='Jun 27 2007, 11:54 AM']Warwick's Fortress and Streamer "Pro M". Stick a Twin Jazz Pick-up half-way between the bridge and neck and apply a separate 2 band EQ to each coil.
Bet it worked, but where is it now? (I'd like to try it!)[/quote]
Tobias had that kind of idea with their Growler bass, basically a separate eq per coil.

My favoruite whacky bass is this - I have gas for it.

Believe it or not, you can adjust the top bout angle to get a body width you're comfortable with. He also had a prototype with moveable pickups but I've not seen that on a production bass yet.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='Muppet' post='23917' date='Jun 27 2007, 10:30 AM']Nope - pretty sure you're in a minority of one there! "Basses" would be my guess

as far as innovations go, I'd like to be able to recall preprogrammed preamp settings, though I'm sure someone's though of that already.[/quote]

And as well as the Vigier Nautilus system (on the bass), there's the programmable Trace Pre-amps (separate from the instrument). A couple of folks on here have them. I forget the official designation....

[lowhand_mike]

[quote name='Muppet' post='23917' date='Jun 27 2007, 10:30 AM']Nope - pretty sure you're in a minority of one there! "Basses" would be my guess

as far as innovations go, I'd like to be able to recall preprogrammed preamp settings, though I'm sure someone's though of that already.[/quote]

seems to go down the route of alan partridge's term "lexi" (more than one lexus) is that an association we want to make?

[Dood]

I would add to the list.. and it's not that crazy actually.. a decent 'adjustable nut' solution, that doesnt fall to pieces in 5 seconds of using it! I have only seen fairly weedy ones attached to basses. Something bigger and chunkier, like the Floyd Rose locking nuts (but obviously different!)

[stevebasshead]

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='23947' date='Jun 27 2007, 11:58 AM']And as well as the Vigier Nautilus system (on the bass), there's the programmable Trace Pre-amps (separate from the instrument). A couple of folks on here have them. I forget the official designation....[/quote]

Sansamp's PSA-1 preamp is programmable too, but with an all analogue signal path. Marketed more at guitarists but works perfectly for bass too.

[wizbat]

Here,s an idea!!! the guys in the band said "that,s crazy" so I guess this is where this idea belongs.
I,ve been on a quest to get a antonio tsai inlaid 7 string bass into a playable condition and after many hours of fret stoning it now plays a treat but I still had the problem of the fact it is neck heavy due to the fact that the top horn is not long enough so...


I had this made :-)

[Happy Jack]

Did you talk to Archimedes about principles of leverage before installing that?

If the upper horn is just wood, then you could be applying some pretty serious forces there.

I'm not what you'd call an engineer so I'm probably way off target, but that was the first thing that crossed my mind.

[Alpha-Dave]

[quote name='wizbat' post='24053' date='Jun 27 2007, 04:51 PM']Here,s an idea!!! the guys in the band said "that,s crazy" so I guess this is where this idea belongs.
I,ve been on a quest to get a antonio tsai inlaid 7 string bass into a playable condition and after many hours of fret stoning it now plays a treat but I still had the problem of the fact it is neck heavy due to the fact that the top horn is not long enough so...
I had this made :-)[/quote]


Excellent, personally I would have chopped the headstock off, but that's a good idea. I'm sure I've seen a horn extension somewhere before too, but I can't remember.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Alpha-Dave' post='24081' date='Jun 27 2007, 05:49 PM']Excellent, personally I would have chopped the headstock off, but that's a good idea. I'm sure I've seen a horn extension somewhere before too, but I can't remember.[/quote]
The clue's in your proposed weight distribution solution! The recent Steinberger Synapse has a weird hooky thing for the strap:

[url="http://www.steinberger.com/synapsebass.aspx"]http://www.steinberger.com/synapsebass.aspx[/url]

Jon.

[wizbat]

There is a thick 100mm screw going into the body so i don,t think I,ll have any probs with weight/leverage etc , if anything it,s probably a little over engineered, still if it does snap I,ll let you all know so you can have a good giggle!!

Hi dave!! I did think about lopping off the headstock but I like the inlaid rose too much!!!!

Edited June 27, 2007 by wizbat

[Mottlefeeder]

[quote name='wizbat' post='24053' date='Jun 27 2007, 04:51 PM']Here,s an idea!!! the guys in the band said "that,s crazy" so I guess this is where this idea belongs.
I,ve been on a quest to get a antonio tsai inlaid 7 string bass into a playable condition and after many hours of fret stoning it now plays a treat but I still had the problem of the fact it is neck heavy due to the fact that the top horn is not long enough so...
I had this made :-)[/quote]
Interesting - I've just done the same thing on a Warwick Corvette 5 string. The alternative was to hang a pound of lead, in a padded phone case, on the strap at the bridge-end of the bass - it worked, but it was a pain to have such a heavy bass.

I installed a threaded bush (wood screw on the outside, 6mm metric thread on the inside) in the end of the horn, with a 6mm diameter hole behind it, so there is 1.5 inches of 6mm steel inside the horn. My mock-up with pine showed that I did not have the strength to break the pine, which is weaker, so I am confident that it is strong enough.

I filed the end of a piece of 6mm studding down to about 3mm, so that I could put a standard strap button onto it and splay it out (rivet?) it to hold the button on. I covered the exposed screw thread with black heat-shrink sleeving. I have a wide black strap, and a dark stained bass, and while it is obvious if you look for it, most people don't even see it. And it works.

Screwfix do a threaded bush, but it has a flange on it which makes for a tidy installation, but is bigger than the end of a strap button, so it will be visible if you go back to a 'standard' arrangement. Also, it is about 1/2 inches long, and about 40% of that is taken up with the hex socket recess for the key with which you screw it in. Woodfit do a better one that has no flange, and is threaded right through. It has a screw-driver slot at one end to help you screw it in. With that bush, I can fix the original strap button to a 6mm screw, and there will be no holes/flanges showing when I put that back on.

If anyone needs more detail, please PM me.

[paul, the]

The guitar bass:

[url="http://www.microphoneheaven.com/guitarbass/"]http://www.microphoneheaven.com/guitarbass/[/url]


The balloon bass:

[url="http://www.shoutfile.com/v/3FCF6jsR/How_To_Make_A_Balloon_Bass_Guitar"]http://www.shoutfile.com/v/3FCF6jsR/How_To...oon_Bass_Guitar[/url]

How did he go about figuring that one out?