Hey, I found a crappy guitar in my mom's basement, could I just fit four bass strings on it and use it as a bass, or do you need an actual bass frame?
Thanks.
"Like the coldest winter chill. Heaven beside you. Hell within." -Jerry Cantrell
I think bass guitars usually have longer necks, so i'm not sure if that would work well.
Steve-0
Actually, that's what Brian Ritchie (of the Violent Femmes) did originally.
From Bass Player Magazine:
"I was undisciplined. I was just too rebellious to do things the proper way, which is really the only way to play upright bass. Plus, if you want to play upright, you are truly screwed if you don't have a vehicle, and I didn't.
So I took an acoustic guitar and changed the nut, carved a new bridge, and used bass strings. That worked pretty well for a while. It didn't have very much output and the strings were kind of flabby, but at least I had the concept happening."
A short scale bass is 30" from nut to bridge. The most this guitar of yours will have is 24 3/4" to 25 1/2". So you may would have a super short scale. You could probably get a .070 for the E. That's from the thickest set I've seen a Zack Wylde GHS set. Then .056 for the A. Maybe .044 for the D. Then it would be pushing it to get a .030 in the G. You might not have to file the nut too much, but you would most likely be adjusting the neck relief. You can order single D'Addario strings from http://www.bassemporium.com/index.php Not those guages I came up with, but they have similar guages.
Your best bet is to save some money and go to Rondomusic.net and get one of their SX basses for $100. That would be a lot less work for someone with little or no experience messing around with modifying instruments
It is a small world for metal fanatics. I welcome you fellow musicians, especially the metalheads!
Rat's, well I guess that answers that question. I guess I'll just open it and turn it into a summer science project.
"Like the coldest winter chill. Heaven beside you. Hell within." -Jerry Cantrell
