# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > CBOM >  Bass conversion

## John Hill

I had an Oscar Schmidt acoustic bass lying around & wondered about tuning it as a mandocello, ended up breaking a string. So I went to FQMS today & picked up some J-78's (mandocello strings) and set forth on the experiment.

Found that the C-G-D tuned up pretty well but the A string couldn't handle the tension required (thankfully had the extra string) so I dropped back and tried G-D-A-E...so I now have a, er, uh...I don't know what to call it. A double-octave mandolin? Non-traditional Mandobass? Whatever it is it's a pretty cool toy to play around with. The Bach Prelude in D is a stretch I'll say that & O'Carolan tunes sound good but real different. If anything it'll help with finger strength!

John in the 'Ville

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## groveland

I did a similar experiment today on a tele body with Steinberger hardware and neck (very strong, can handle lots of tension). I now have a 6 strings tuned in 5ths. Vibrato and whole-step bends with tuning in 5ths and a whammy bar - If you can handle the stretch, it's the guitar of the future.

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## EdSherry

Groveland: #what you call "the guitar of the future" (six strings, tuned in 5ths) has been around for many years. #Some of the old tenor banjo players transferred that tuning over to guitar. #(If I recall correctly, Carl Kress used it extensively with George Barnes.)

Whammy bars, on the other hand, were NOT traditional!

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## Shana Aisenberg

Robert Fripp's new standard tuning is CGDAEG all fifths except minor third on top. I have an LP of Kress in a duo with another guitarist, I seem to remember his tuning in fifths but starting lower, maybe around Bb, I'll have to dig out the LPs to confirm. 

Seth

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