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I was recently working on a musical project in my studio that needed and acoustic bass sound so I went looking for something that would work. As I am not in the habit f using software instruments I decided I needed something like the real thing. I found this washtub upright and decided to make one of my own. Here are some pics, a video and a link to the guy who designed it. It is neither difficult nor expensive to build and a whole lot of fun. And it sound reasonably like an upright bass at least to my ear and suits me just fine. It records pretty well and should work with live instruments as long as they are not too loud. It could be easily amplified as well.
Please take a look.
First, here is the link to the original - http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena/db.htm
And some pictures of mine

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John: Sounds super to me ...! Nice going,keep up the good work.

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

That is great sounding John!
I'm going to have to build one to play with. Did you go with a plywood top plate! And what did you use for strings? I see you used a tailpiece, with that reduction in length were you able to use guitar type acoustic bass strings? Scale length? So many questions.

Thanks for posting this,
Joe

The strings were the most expensive part of the whole with the tuners a close second. I got real bass strings for it but if you follow the lonk, the designer talks quite a bit about finding suitable weed wacker line sizes that work pretty well. The tuners came from stew mack but go to a repair shop and see if you can scrounge a used set. The top is 1/4" plywood with a spruce tone bar and sound post. I made my neck and fingerboard of sycamore. The plan showed a scale length of 40" but I think I made mine about 39". Of course your free to move the bridge a little to suit your self but don't forget to move the sound post with it, the sound post sits about a 1/2" behind the treble side bridge foot.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I like it John, it's cool, you play well too.

Cool bass from Cool!

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Way Cool!!!
Thats awsome

Very cool John! Taking that baby on the road would be fun. You might want to start in the Kootenay Mtns. here in British Columbia. Gig'n with The Padma! Oh Ya. I'll bring my washboard.

It looks like your studio is above your shop? And you appear to be having fun!

Cheers,
Danny

Double cool bass!!

John,

Dude - that is so cool

Even cooler is Dennis Havlena's website and the instruments he's made and shows you how to build there. I'm off to make a fiddle-hurdygurdy.

Thanks for posting this!!

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Very cool John. There is a band named Split Lip Rayfield and the bass players bass is an old truck gas tank. Wish I had half the imagination of people including yourself! Great job!

Hi John, I made a similar one also. But mines from a 55 gal drum. Sound pretty good for what it is.

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Mike

I see a trend! John's post so intrigued me that I have started collecting the parts and hope to have one up and slappin' by New Year's.

Found this link for strings: http://www.traditionmusic.com/main.html

A little psycho-billy from the OLF?

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

That pretty cool too but I bet it's heavier than mine. Did you cut it off some? It doesn't look like it's as big as a 55 gal drum in the picture.

Jim, I'll watch for you pics too. Pretty soon were gonna need an acoustic bass page here on the forum!!

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John, yeah it's heavier than I really wanted it to end up, but I didn't want to make it too skimpy and cave in.
I cut the barrel off at the first ring. I used 1/4" luan for the soundboard, what did you use? I made the neck some heavier too, well maybe a lot heavier.
I need to put an end pin on it yet, I had an adjustable aluminum rod I had thought of using, but ended up thinking it might buzz so I left it out.
I originally was just going to make a washtub single string, but I when I tried it I realized it wasn't the sound I wanted. This is my first one, I call it the prototype. If I make another one it will be much lighter, I may also look into real wood top, and a better paint job.
Here's a couple more pics.





Mike

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Mike

I followed the link in the first post - I want to make a whale drum !

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Very nice! I always enjoy seeing folks try something new...that is how ideas go from experimental to reality!

The electric upright I did recently would fit nicely into an acoustic bass page as well...hollow body allows for unplugged play.

Nice bass John! I like the sound a lot.

Your bridge is nice and thin, that contributes to the volumeand woody tone quite a bit, good work on that. The top half of the bridge has to be thin to get the sound, otherwise it is like putting a mute on the bridge.

I don't know if you followed that plan exactly but if you did I would suggest to anyone else to tilt the neck back more. That way the downward pressure on the top will increase, resulting in more oomph.

It has a nice long neck for those high notes too.

A cool instrument.

What kind of strings on that?

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Ken

nice idea and fannnnnny

Sorry John I missed this somehow. That is one cool instrument, and it sounds really fine. Looks like someting I could play left handed too, now you've got me thinking.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.