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Double neck bass/guitar


Ou7shined
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[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1393576723' post='2381998']
Come on ! You've got to give us more than that.
[/quote]

Haha fair doos. :D
The build is inspired by project myself and a drummer have started.
These are the definites so far. I play my bass pretty low so the guitar part has to be over the bass part. The body will be Ash. I'm put off by the huge bodies I've seen in other examples so I am going to try and keep mine as small as comfortably possible while hopefully keeping it aesthetically pleasing - ie. no Steinberger lookylikeys. My initial sketches are based around a traditional P bass design but I'm open to more "unique" suggestions.
I won't be building guitar neck from scratch. I have found a very nice acoustic Yamaha LL neck which I will set into the body. I'm undecided about what to do for the bass neck just now. My gut feeling was to go with a 2+2 headstock but my initial mockup had a Fender style neck and it seems to work well with the Yammy neck... at this stage at least.
This bass/guitar will be used for dark riff based rock so I'm going with a single neck humbucker on each. At the moment I plan on a simple vol tone control system with a bass>both>guitar selector switch. Although the bass circuit will be passive (for now), I plan on integrating a switchable onboard fuzz/dist for the guitar output. I may go for a dual output option too so I can drive 2 different amps simultaneously.

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Alright! Yes! Ace! Heres a page of ideas for you. Ive been wanting to build a twin neck myself, as so have been collecting images for inspiration. Heres a collection of them, though admittedly half are twin basses, but screw them!

http://trichards.co.uk/gallery.php?load=images/gallery/Doublenecks/

Also, consider making them splittable, ala the genesis. Guy built a tribute, and the method he used to keep them together was good. Heres his build diary.

http://www.grubersaberhagen.co.uk/Grubersaberhagen/Genesis_Build/Entries/2009/6/27_Genesis_Build_Part_1.html


Good luck with it.

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Here's one I made earlier.

[URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/mrs.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/mrs.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Just fitting necks, donated from Westone Spectrum
[URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/Necksjustfiited.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/Necksjustfiited.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

At the Cardiff Bass Bash. Not me playing it.
[URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/DSCF0005_zps6bccc808.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/DSCF0005_zps6bccc808.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1393586395' post='2382202']
I played a twin neck for a couple of years , I came to the conclusion that the only way to get the weight down was to go Steinberger!
I did plan a second attempt but the cost was going to be astronomical (you are building two basses)
[/quote]

Hopefully with this being half bass and half guitar it won't be too bad. The guitar neck does feel very manageable compared to what I'm used to from basses.

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[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1393590650' post='2382281']
Alright! Yes! Ace! Heres a page of ideas for you. Ive been wanting to build a twin neck myself, as so have been collecting images for inspiration. Heres a collection of them, though admittedly half are twin basses, but screw them!

[url="http://trichards.co.uk/gallery.php?load=images/gallery/Doublenecks/"]http://trichards.co....ry/Doublenecks/[/url]

Also, consider making them splittable, ala the genesis. Guy built a tribute, and the method he used to keep them together was good. Heres his build diary.

[url="http://www.grubersaberhagen.co.uk/Grubersaberhagen/Genesis_Build/Entries/2009/6/27_Genesis_Build_Part_1.html"]http://www.grubersab...ild_Part_1.html[/url]


Good luck with it.
[/quote]

Wow. Cheers for the link bud.
It would appear that with the exception of one or two they all have to follow a certain similar formula. Mine I think will resemble the Hayman/Shergold job held by the happy dude. :D

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[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1393603802' post='2382503']
Here's one I made earlier

At the Cardiff Bass Bash. Not me playing it.
[url="http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/DSCF0005_zps6bccc808.jpg.html"][/url]
[/quote]

Nice design mate. I like how you offset the necks so that they lined up vertically in the playing possition.

Edited by Ou7shined
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[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1393626014' post='2382869']


[/quote]

Ah yes. I remember when you built this. I remember too how much I admired it.
I take it the switch in the middle selects between fretted and fretless. Something I'm worried about, is there any "pop" as you switch guitars?

Funnily enough I was just going over my design in photoshop and I added the upper fret access for my guitar neck in exactly the same way as you have for your fretless. Previously I had envisaged the body just connecting straight up between the two neck pockets. I wasn't comfortable with my new look cut out though. However having seen your pictures I see how it actually looks a lot better in real life than it does in 2d. It will stay. Cheers for that. :)

If there was anything you could do again what would it be?

I'm not really a fret watcher but I do look down now and again if I'm making a large jump between frets or I loose concentration. I'm considering making one neck maybe a cm deeper set than the other so I can see the lower one without obstruction. Daft idea?

Edited by Ou7shined
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There was no pop when switching.
Setting the necks at different depths is something I considered, it could also allow you to get the necks closer together without compromising access to the machine heads..
If I did it again I would go Steinberger, I'd be able to get the necks closer together and drastically reduce the weight. Being able to change necks even on occasion mid song was great but to keep costs down I couldn't build the bass I really wanted.

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[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1393661946' post='2383020']
There was no pop when switching.
Setting the necks at different depths is something I considered, it could also allow you to get the necks closer together without compromising access to the machine heads..
If I did it again I would go Steinberger, I'd be able to get the necks closer together and drastically reduce the weight. Being able to change necks even on occasion mid song was great but to keep costs down I couldn't build the bass I really wanted.
[/quote]
Cheers Dom.
I guess the weight/mass aspect could actually be more of an issue than I gave serious thought to. Your design looks very neat and yet you'd still prefer less body. Very interesting.
Getting the necks closer together isn't as much of a problem for a guitar/bass as the guitar can nuzzle alongside the bass without the machineheads even being close (especially if you don't make the necks parallel). In fact I'm bothered that I could[size=4] place them too close in my effort to save space. What do you think would be an optimal distance apart?[/size]
Does a double necker balance the same as a normal one? I'm considering a shorter top horn than standard for my design ... which has now drastically changed overnight due to a bit of late night "inspiration". If things come together as I hope then my new design will make it a world first. :D

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I put them as close together as possible but still allowing access to the machunes. A problem with twins is that optimum playing position can be compromised (get the top neck in the right place and the bottom neck is uncomfortable and vice versa) getting them close reduces the level of compromise.
As for balance I think it had some neck dive but not too bad with a thick strap (I recycled the parts ages ago) If I remember rightly the body was only 30mm thick and weighed about the same as a standard bass body, the weight built up once the hardware and necks went on (two lots of necks , bridges, tuners etc weighs a hell of a lot)
In total it weighed[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] 6.25Kg / 14lb [/font][/color]

Edited by Dom in Somerset
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[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1393677225' post='2383216']
This one is quite compact, and i agree with the idea of angling the necks away from eachother to make it a bit lighter.


[/quote]

Wow a real "parts box" job that one eh.... where do you find these :)
Using an existing body seems like the idea practical[size=4] solution (and I considered it) but the cost to the aesthetics is too much for me. The trick is finding the balance. I fear that my newest design may be placing more emphasis on looks that it does on practicality. Hopefully I'll be able to tweak this a bit more once I have the timber glued and have something physical to work with.[/size]

[size=4]I guess I should get some concept pics up soon. :D[/size]

Edited by Ou7shined
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