Memphis 5-String Acoustic/Electric Bass guitar.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey Everyone!!

Look at what I recently scored myself, it's a Memphis branded 5-string acoustic-electric bass guitar, I'm going to be buying a new set of strings for it soon cause it only has 4 strings on it and missing the low B-string, should prove to be quite useful once it's all sorted though.

Here's a pic of it:




Seems to be in pretty good condition too, the fretboard could do with a clean and condition though.

Here's a question for you, what type and brand of strings would you recommend buying to put on the guitar?, it looks like it has roundwounds on it.

[PJSprog]

I have a Dean acoustic/electric 4-string bass I played for several years in an acoustic rock trio. I used D'Addario Acoustic Bass Phosphor Bronze strings. They sounded and played quite nice.

A word of warning, though; Don't be surprised if you find the overall volume of the instrument to be underwhelming. They are generally fine by themselves. However, my experience has been that they get swamped in the presence of two acoustic guitars. Mine was fine in a PA at gigs, but at rehearsals in one of the guitar players' living room it was just lost.

I still have mine hanging on the wall in my studio, but haven't played it in several years. I keep waffling back and forth over keeping it or selling it. I always seem to convince myself that I'll want it for something as soon as I sell it, though. So for now, it remains.

[fender3x]

PJSprog maybe downplays it a bit. These are really acoustic in name only.. You need an amp even to sit in with a steel string dreadnaught. Bad enough with a 4 string, but an open B...

When all instruments were acoustic, the Contrabass was made gigantic and played with a bow to be heard in the orchestra. These days when I see a stand up bass with a jazz or bluegrass band it's a 3/4 size and has a pickup with an old 400RB or 800RB amp to be heard. In Miami I only hear Mexican mariachi bands playing truly acoustic. To keep up with with a trumpet, violin and a chorus of Mexican guitars you need a "guitarrón". I have tried to play a couple of these... very high action and it feels like you have a Volkswagen sitting on your lap.



I've never heard one, but it seems that the Russians have also not solved the size problem.



In both cases the lowest note corresponds to a low E string on a bass guitar.

(I would love to find a cheap contrabass balalaika, which is tuned like the 3 lowest strings on a bass guitar... I have given up on the guitarrón as ridiculously hard to play...but have huge respect for the guys who still do.)

The only fully acoustic basses that I know of that go lower are full-sized contrabasses with an extended 5th string which is usually tuned to C but occasionally to B.

But so much for answering the question you didn't ask! I would be tempted to try steel flatwounds, which is what you find on most uprights ;-)

[DrNomis_44]

I have a Dean acoustic/electric 4-string bass I played for several years in an acoustic rock trio. I used D'Addario Acoustic Bass Phosphor Bronze strings. They sounded and played quite nice.

A word of warning, though; Don't be surprised if you find the overall volume of the instrument to be underwhelming. They are generally fine by themselves. However, my experience has been that they get swamped in the presence of two acoustic guitars. Mine was fine in a PA at gigs, but at rehearsals in one of the guitar players' living room it was just lost.

I still have mine hanging on the wall in my studio, but haven't played it in several years. I keep waffling back and forth over keeping it or selling it. I always seem to convince myself that I'll want it for something as soon as I sell it, though. So for now, it remains.

Yeah, it is on the "pretty quiet" side with regards to volume I can just hear the E-string when played acoustically, it does have an output-jack and an onboard preamp that's powered by a 9V battery, so it's obvious that there's a piezoelectric pickup under the plastic bridge saddle.

[DrNomis_44]

PJSprog maybe downplays it a bit. These are really acoustic in name only.. You need an amp even to sit in with a steel string dreadnaught. Bad enough with a 4 string, but an open B...

When all instruments were acoustic, the Contrabass was made gigantic and played with a bow to be heard in the orchestra. These days when I see a stand up bass with a jazz or bluegrass band it's a 3/4 size and has a pickup with an old 400RB or 800RB amp to be heard. In Miami I only hear Mexican mariachi bands playing truly acoustic. To keep up with with a trumpet, violin and a chorus of Mexican guitars you need a "guitarrón". I have tried to play a couple of these... very high action and it feels like you have a Volkswagen sitting on your lap.



I've never heard one, but it seems that the Russians have also not solved the size problem.



In both cases the lowest note corresponds to a low E string on a bass guitar.

(I would love to find a cheap contrabass balalaika, which is tuned like the 3 lowest strings on a bass guitar... I have given up on the guitarrón as ridiculously hard to play...but have huge respect for the guys who still do.)

The only fully acoustic basses that I know of that go lower are full-sized contrabasses with an extended 5th string which is usually tuned to C but occasionally to B.

But so much for answering the question you didn't ask! I would be tempted to try steel flatwounds, which is what you find on most uprights ;-)

I was thinking of trying it through my Fender Super Twin amp once I get my Peavey 410 TX bass cab sorted-out with some new speakers.

The guitar does have an output-jack and an onboard preamp installed in it so it's obvious that there's a piezoelectric pickup under the plastic bridge saddle, it also does have an adjustable truss-rod with the adjustment at the heel-end of the guitar neck inside the body.

[fender3x]

That's good. A lot of them have a built in pre-amp to boost the signal from the piezzo... but I am guessing you know that ;-)

[DrNomis_44]

That's good. A lot of them have a built in pre-amp to boost the signal from the piezzo... but I am guessing you know that ;-)

My main concern is that if I put the wrong type of strings on it, I'll end-up ripping the bridge off the soundboard when I tune the strings up to pitch, I read in an online forum that you can put regular electric bass strings on an acoustic bass, but I'm a bit wary of that, what strings would you recommend?

[fender3x]

We should maybe wait for someone who has already done it to chime in. I would probably have just tried regular bass strings, but snce you bring it up, now I am wondering... FWIW I have not heard of the bridge coming off. I have heard of folks dislodging the piezo pickup, though...

[impala59]

I would agree with the above regarding the acoustic bass getting lost when playing with other instruments, I believe that they are probably best used when practicing alone (and as the actions are usually quite awful, when you pick up a regular bass it will feel like silk!)
However, a few years ago I played a few events with an acoustic combo and borrowed a Hohner acoustic fretless bass which sounded lovely and zingy with Ernie Ball slinky bass strings on, to boost the volume in the mix, I simply used my trusty battery Pignose on a strap so I could move around with the guitar, fiddle, snare and banjo players. It was very like a mariachi set-up but playing country, blues and folk stuff. Great fun at the time but I never felt the urge to actually buy an acoustic bass, with a battery amp I could have used a regular bass but the events demanded acoustic instruments.
Good luck with it, it actually looks like a nice instrument, have you considered E as your low string and either B or C as a fifth high string? Could be good for melody and will cut through if playing ensemble

[DrNomis_44]

I would agree with the above regarding the acoustic bass getting lost when playing with other instruments, I believe that they are probably best used when practicing alone (and as the actions are usually quite awful, when you pick up a regular bass it will feel like silk!)
However, a few years ago I played a few events with an acoustic combo and borrowed a Hohner acoustic fretless bass which sounded lovely and zingy with Ernie Ball slinky bass strings on, to boost the volume in the mix, I simply used my trusty battery Pignose on a strap so I could move around with the guitar, fiddle, snare and banjo players. It was very like a mariachi set-up but playing country, blues and folk stuff. Great fun at the time but I never felt the urge to actually buy an acoustic bass, with a battery amp I could have used a regular bass but the events demanded acoustic instruments.
Good luck with it, it actually looks like a nice instrument, have you considered E as your low string and either B or C as a fifth high string? Could be good for melody and will cut through if playing ensemble

Nah, never really considered tuning the 5th string to E, I was going to go with the more standard B, E, A, D, G tuning, since I'm used to playing a 4-string Electric bass, although I can't see why I couldn't give tuning it to E, A, D, G, B a try, I reckon it's a pretty decent instrument but then-again I have little experience with these things, I did notice that the soundboard has warped a bit near the bridge due to string-tension, but it doesn't look too serious, the nut seems fine, I did notice that some of the tuners need new white plastic washers but I think I've got some spares, the fretboard looks like it could do with a bit of a clean and some conditioning, but other than that it looks in pretty good condition.

I think the scale-length is about the same as say for a Fender P-Bass, I'll have to measure it to be sure.

My usual gauge of bass strings is .105 to .050, which I'm currently using on my Squire P-Bass.


Update:

I just measured the scale-length and it is indeed same as for a Fender P-Bass.

Out of curiosity, I got out my trusty Digital Vernier-Caliper and used it to measure the gauge of the remaining 4 strings, and I measured the width of the nut-slot for the missing 5th string, it looks like the following gauges of strings was used on the guitar:

Lowest to highest (Gauge in thousandths of an inch):

5, .119 (possibly .120?)

4, .100

3, .080

2, .065

1, .045