Owen Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I have spent 8 hours of my life travelling to and from Music Live today. While on the road I started thinking about ERBs. I have no desire to play rich chordal passages. I have no desire to have 3 octaves available without moving my hand. Other people love that stuff, but it is not for me. I would like to have a genuinely useful bottom F sharp. I know all about scale length giving better tension for the strings that can moonlight as towing cables. I am also a Double Bass player. So I was thinking - how about an upright fretted 41" scale six string strung F sharp to G? I know Barker in the US make an upright sort of thing but it is only 34" scale ( [url="http://www.barkerbass.com/"]http://www.barkerbass.com/[/url] ). I am thinking more in line of an EUB with frets. The fingerboard can have a normal Bass Guitar radius on it. I will never need to bow it. It can essentialy be a plank because I will not need a body to make it look groovy. Has anyone done one of these? NS Design seem to be doing a 34" scale one [url="http://www.nedsteinberger.com/instruments/omnibass.php"]http://www.nedsteinberger.com/instruments/omnibass.php[/url] but I cannot find a 41" one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 The scale length isn't the limiting factor nearly as much as the amplification. You just want a ridiculously long scale bass so you can have a really low tuning? Think making an upright style bass is overcomplicating things really. The was a thread on this fairly recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Skip's the man for ultra-long scale: [url="http://www.knuckleguitarworks.com/instruments/index.html"]http://www.knuckleguitarworks.com/instruments/index.html[/url] For a rig think big and have a steep high pass filter just below the cab's tuning frequency. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) I followed the recent F0 thread and it was probably that which got me thinking about scale length again. It would not be a ridiculously long scale bass. It would be the same as the Double Bass I have been playing for the last 27 years. My left and right hand techniques are ready to go. The amplification is not an issue because it would be used with PA support. I'm certainly not going to be hefting fridges around with me. One of my questions would be are there going to be obvious intonation issues with a fretted instrument with a mahoosive scale length? knuckleguitarworks seem to have it going on. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='647820' date='Nov 7 2009, 01:06 AM']The scale length isn't the limiting factor nearly as much as the amplification. You just want a ridiculously long scale bass so you can have a really low tuning? Think making an upright style bass is overcomplicating things really. The was a thread on this fairly recently.[/quote] Edited November 7, 2009 by owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRev Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 (edited) Chris Larkin does a six string, fretted version of his Blen EUB [url="http://www.chrislarkinguitars.com/blen.htm"]Super Blen[/url] Edited November 7, 2009 by TheRev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velvetkevorkian Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 That's awesome- looks like a Klingon EUB! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevans09 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 [quote name='TheRev' post='647899' date='Nov 7 2009, 10:09 AM']Chris Larkin does a six string, fretted version of his Blen EUB [url="http://http://www.chrislarkinguitars.com/blen.htm"]Super Blen[/url][/quote] Broken link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Foxen Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 [quote name='ashevans09' post='648161' date='Nov 7 2009, 03:58 PM']Broken link?[/quote] Lose one of the [url="http://s"]http://s[/url]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRev Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 [quote name='ashevans09' post='648161' date='Nov 7 2009, 03:58 PM']Broken link?[/quote] Sorry - fixed now. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 [quote name='owen' post='647857' date='Nov 7 2009, 08:13 AM']One of my questions would be are there going to be obvious intonation issues with a fretted instrument with a mahoosive scale length?[/quote] No, intonation should be a bit better if anything. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevans09 Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 [quote name='TheRev' post='648253' date='Nov 7 2009, 05:47 PM']Sorry - fixed now. Dave[/quote] Awesome! Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted November 8, 2009 Author Share Posted November 8, 2009 [quote name='TheRev' post='647899' date='Nov 7 2009, 10:09 AM']Chris Larkin does a six string, fretted version of his Blen EUB [url="http://www.chrislarkinguitars.com/blen.htm"]Super Blen[/url][/quote] Thanks. Crazy stuff. Aesthetically a lot too busy for what I had in mind, but comforting in the fact that I am not totally alone in this concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knuckle_head Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 [quote name='owen' post='647742' date='Nov 6 2009, 03:40 PM']I have spent 8 hours of my life travelling to and from Music Live today. While on the road I started thinking about ERBs. I have no desire to play rich chordal passages. I have no desire to have 3 octaves available without moving my hand. Other people love that stuff, but it is not for me. I would like to have a genuinely useful bottom F sharp. I know all about scale length giving better tension for the strings that can moonlight as towing cables. I am also a Double Bass player. So I was thinking - how about an upright fretted 41" scale six string strung F sharp to G? I know Barker in the US make an upright sort of thing but it is only 34" scale ( [url="http://www.barkerbass.com/"]http://www.barkerbass.com/[/url] ). I am thinking more in line of an EUB with frets. The fingerboard can have a normal Bass Guitar radius on it. I will never need to bow it. It can essentialy be a plank because I will not need a body to make it look groovy. Has anyone done one of these? NS Design seem to be doing a 34" scale one [url="http://www.nedsteinberger.com/instruments/omnibass.php"]http://www.nedsteinberger.com/instruments/omnibass.php[/url] but I cannot find a 41" one.[/quote] Hiya.... It's kinda funny that you should be query-ing - Lee Barker and me are putting out a bastard child between us. My scale length on his platform - it'll even fit into one of his gig bags. I'll have it with me at NAMM it's looking like. I thought certain that NS Designs has a 3/4 variant on at least one of their eub's. Maybe a past model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevans09 Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Mr. Foxen... your avatar...Oh my god! :wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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