Electric upright bass

[gronk]

I'd be very interested in building something like the Ned Steinberger upright. The sell for over 2k, but there doesn't look like there is too much to them. I always wanted a double bass but the size and price makes it impossible.

Is anyone else interested in such a beast?

[Simon Barden]

Shipping would be costly - certainly outside Australia and even PBG might have to add in extra cost to cover the increased shipping within Australia. The scale length of even a 3/4 sized double bass is 41.3"/105cm, so the neck plus headstock would be very long and pretty heavy. A friend has one of the affordable Stagg EUBs and that certainly isn't light. http://www.staggmusic.com/en/product...ctric.html?p=1. Looking at that EUB's construction, you'd need two chunky body/neck parts that would each be around 1m long. You are also then dealing with a piezo bridge and it's associated pre-amp electronics, so almost everything about it would be non-standard.

With the latest CITES changes placing all rosewoods and similar woods on the Appendix II endangered list, finding a decent fretboard material (unless it's a composite) is now going to be a lot harder, and the extra paperwork is also going to push up wood costs.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but it wouldn't be a cheap kit at all. There's not a lot of body to customise, so it probably wouldn't appeal to that many kit builders. Plus even the strings are expensive, from around A$100 to A$180 a set, and I have no idea if cheap Chinese sets exist to accompany the kit. I doubt if PBG could afford to throw in a free set of decent strings - so again the price goes up.

[gronk]

Ahhh, I see.

Looks like I'll have to improvise with old pallets.

Cheers!

[adam]

Hey gronk, we did consider this and for the reasons Simon has mentioned, plus others, it was just not viable.

[gronk]

Thanks Adam. When I read Simon's response I realised that I had overlooked the viability. I had received an ad for the Steinberger and thought there wasn't much to it, and I am keen to have a crack at some sort of double bass.

I do appreciate the opportunity to offer suggestions though!

cheers