Rubberband Bamboo Bass

The Rubber Bamboo Bass is one of those..."Huh, that sounds pretty good" sort of things that just happens. Of course, instruments like the Ashbory Bass and Black Bear Bass Uke have been around for awhile. And, fellow luthier Wichita Sam is known for his Weedwhacker Bass. So, it's not an entirely new concept for anyone who has ever twanged a rubber band. I just got lucky with the inspiration when I picked up this rubber band, stretched it to my ear and listened to the deep tone. I looked around for a stick and found this bit of bamboo. It was ideal since the node on one end acts as the nut.

The secret of the bass's deep tone is the freely vibrating bridge and piezo. I tried taping the disc and bridge securely to the main stick, and it ruined the tone. Now the bridge is taped to the center top of the main stick, and allowed to vibrate otherwise. The result is the crazy deep tone you usually only get from synth bass.

Not bad for 10 minutes of head scratchin' and another 15 minutes of work...LOL :)

Eric

PS...that noise in the background is an air purifier...the amp and bass were silent except for the handling noise.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Rubber
• band
• Bass
• bamboo
• guitar
• ashbory
• minibass
• Eric
• Butler
• cigar
• box

[WeCamefortheDead]

If you ever want to troll the bass community, record with a band using that if you can. Watch people saying "NO! He's using a Fender Jazz with tapewounds!" "No! You don't know what you're talking about! It's a Warwick he's using!"

Sounds amazing!

[chainduck]

@WeCamefortheDead Thanks! It was really just because I made the connection that bass sounds like those from a rubberband, don't have to be audible to anything but the pickup. Normally we think in those terms with magnetic pups, but always think of using piezos on already acoustic instruments. This approach is simply leaving out the normal soundboard and just using the piezo...the same as modern modeling guitars.

[DavidHSierra1]

outstanding! please publish some plans, or at least some dimensions, I want one ;-)

[chainduck]

@DavidHSierra1 Really the replies that I have made about the bass are all there is to it. Getcha a stick or a bit of bamboo from a yard torch, tape a piezo to a smaller stick and solder the leads to a jack. Then cut a couple of notches at either end of the longer stick and stretch a big rubber band across it. The square bands will sound best as the flat shaped bands won't vibrate as evenly. :)

[o00o0o0o0o0o]

I fucking love you hahahahaha

wtf, I really love that piezo pickup!! piezos are only 2 or 3 bucks are radio shack seriously? hahaha wow man. And u just have to attach the piezo to the bridge and sodder it to a jack? nice I love you

[chainduck]

@o00o0o0o0o0o Yep, that's all there is to it... :)

[lordvader146]

Cool how it's made ?

[lordvader146]

cool how its made ?

[gtabrasil0net]

How do you lock the "strings" in the bamboo stick? Can you tune them?

[tmo7734]

Great job! Thanks. You've proven ANYTHING is possible. Best wishes.

[toobsockproductions]

doesn't sound that bad either

[CheezeWolf]

also what king of piezo disc?