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Thread: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

  1. #1
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    For anyone that ever wanted to enter the word of building bass fiddles take a look at this.

    https://www.instructables.com/Build-...7JQUDlDKvq5HEA

    No mandolin content.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  3. #2

    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Where is James Condino? He will be amused.

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    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    That would be a polite way to express my feelings.....very polite....

    In no way do I want to discredit the efforts that the person shown above put into this project; they put in a good amount of time and have a valid finished product.

    I actually find building a well done F5 to be much more complicated and sometimes more time consuming than building a proper double bass. Carving the giant spruce top is probably my favorite aspect of anything I do in lutherie; it is much easier than binding a scroll in curly maple...

    If anyone here has an interest in building a nice full size upright bass, feel free to call the shop and I'll gladly get you on the right track to build a beautiful traditional instrument that you can be proud of and will stand the test of time. In addition to my other lutherie work, I teach bass building and restoration to folks from all over the world.

    I've said it hundreds of times: Building mandolins is a fun endeavor; my family has had continuous mandolin players for over 100 years. We don't just play it, we helped invent the instrument. The village of Condino is a short bicycle ride from Cremona. I love the mandolin. I've built 131 of them; it is in my DNA... but....

    Building and restoring upright basses will likely change your life. It pays far far far better than any mandolin or guitar work I can think of and, more importantly, as a whole, bass players tend to be wonderful, very easy going customers who always have a pocket full of money because they are gigging all of the time, while many of mandolin customers often are as high strung as the little instrument!

    I was having a conversation today, laughing with a friend. In 43 years of building instruments, I cannot ever once remember a mandolin player tipping me, yet almost every single bass customer since the day I started does it....
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    Last edited by j. condino; Feb-06-2021 at 1:17am.
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Bass is my main instrument and James is a valuable resource for bass players trying to maintain there instruments which are far more prone to problems than mandolins. I would love to build a bass but given my space and tool limitiation, a mandolin is more practical.

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  9. #5
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Somewhere I have a copy of this book, Making a Simple Violin and Viola by Ronald Roberts. It came with plans and instructions for basic trapezoid-shaped box fiddles, even less complicated than this bass. https://www.amazon.com/Making-Simple.../dp/0715369644

    I kind of find the bass appealing ... it's somewhere between a traditional bass and a Kalamazoo mandobass. Not all instruments have to look alike.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    roger hargrave has a whole article on meastronet , you would have to do a search

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    Registered User mingusb1's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    If you haven't seen Fred Rogers visit a bass violin maker before it's really cool:

    https://www.misterrogers.org/episode...with-yo-yo-ma/

    Z
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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    With apologies to anyone who's delicate sensibilities are in a twist because it's a banjo, I've always admired Jake Wildwood's banjo basses as well. One is here and there's a link to the second on that same page. What fun!

    OK, the link didn't work from his page so here is the other banjo bass he built.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  14. #9
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    With apologies to anyone who's delicate sensibilities are in a twist because it's a banjo, I've always admired Jake Wildwood's banjo basses as well. One is here and there's a link to the second on that same page. What fun!

    OK, the link didn't work from his page so here is the other banjo bass he built.
    My brother and I were up at Jake Wildwood's this week. My brother is a bass player and asked Jake about banjo basses. Jake wasn't too interested in pursuing any more of them, he said it was a less than ideal solution, and he hadn't been fully happy with any of them. He suggested my brother buy a used cello off craigslist and bring it up for him to convert.

    They do look pretty cool, though, and it seems like he liked them well enough when he first built them.
    Last edited by Sue Rieter; Feb-06-2021 at 10:57am. Reason: Additional thought

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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    I'm more impressed by the fact that he even built them. I own a Fender bass and I own a Kala U-Bass. They aren't my primary instruments and honestly I don't think I could drag a full sized bass fiddle around if it was. It's just the size of things but music is supposed to be fun and I enjoy the fun things people do while appreciating the finer instruments people create. I could play a cigar box mandolin but I have my F5G. Recently I've picked up on a great little 159.00 semi-hollow body electric guitar that I can beat the crap out of and modify to my hearts delight without breaking the bank. It's all in what you do. The player that enjoys a Jake Wildwood type bass banjo isn't necessarily going to buy an expensive handmade full-sized bass fiddle. If he already has the fiddle he might buy the banjo bass as a goof. It's just the way things are. I would love to own a Gibson Mandobass but I recognize it isn't anywhere near an optimal instrument but it has a certain amount of cool.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  16. #11
    Registered User j. condino's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    It is all about tone & voice. I've never played one of those compromise type instruments, including a mandobass, that compared to a traditional 3/4 size upright bass.

    Only non bass players see their size as a disadvantage. For me, every time I take the bass out of the house, I know I'm getting at least $100 in my pocket, a full belly of good eats & drinks, and I'll be having a great time with my buddies and a room full of fun people dancing and laughing....

    In the last 6 years, I've made $15,000 playing upright bass gigs, only had two rehearsals, and never drove more than 6 miles from my house!
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  17. #12
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    It seems like the bass in the original post is similar to one on this page from GAL, the Savart-Style Upright Bass:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    And there is this Low-Cost Bass Viol:
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    I loved playing bass and agree with James that it is one way to make money as a musician. At the height of my bass-playing career I was in five bands. I had to sell my Kay since it started to fall apart in the high NYC heating systems.

    Also I did own a Gibson mandobass and agree 100% that they don't measure up to a standard 3/4 upright in volume or tone.
    Jim

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  19. #13
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Quote Originally Posted by j. condino View Post
    It is all about tone & voice. I've never played one of those compromise type instruments, including a mandobass, that compared to a traditional 3/4 size upright bass.
    And you probably never will but people just keep buying those bass guitars. If I was looking to do this for a living or a portion of my livelihood I'd play nothing but bass. Unfortunately where I live you don't even have to be a good bass player to get gigs.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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    Registered User Tom Haywood's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    I look at all those DIY bass plans when they come up, and often think it would be fun to build one. But I started playing bass a few years ago, and although I like my uBass, I have to agree that the 3/4 bass is the way to go playing acoustic music. This one looks to have an advantage that if it doesn't sound too good it might make a good fishing boat. Maybe the shortcut would be to find a fishing boat and put a top and neck on it...
    Tom

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  21. #15

    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Haywood View Post
    This one looks to have an advantage that if it doesn't sound too good it might make a good fishing boat. Maybe the shortcut would be to find a fishing boat and put a top and neck on it...
    You could get one from Bass Pro Shop.

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  23. #16

    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    I can’t find it with Google, but I remember, from, I think, Our Gang on 50’s TV before we noticed some issues with the content, a scene of several Rascals navigating a stream inside of a busted-up bass viol.

  24. #17

    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    Any of those oddball homemade basses would probably need an amp for proper polyethnic cajun slamgrass accompaniment. My bassment tool rack includes a WTF? minstrel banjarron from a 22" bass drum, X braced redwood top painted white, real hooks and chrome duck tape tension hoop, autographed by nearly every folk musician in new mexistan(will hit you up when I see you, Don Grieser!). Unplugged still sounds like somebody beating a small trash can with a pool noodle. Solidbody Engelmann banjo bass with tree of banjo jokes fretboard inlay, painted flange and pbass pickup, for putting the folkfunk in the theme from Deliverance. Current working bass is a little spicier, for regular outdoor BBQ joint gig in the chile capital of the world, where even now the sun is strong enough to delaminate an old Kay upright....
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  25. #18
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    That one in the middle looks pretty hot.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  27. #19
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    Default Re: For those that want to build a bass fiddle (NMC)

    And for those of us too lazy to bother with more than one bass string, here's one that sounds pretty darn good for what it is. I'm not talking trash: better than any washtub I've bathed in... Click image for larger version. 

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