The Bassolian - Travel size resophonic bass!!

Small body but big tone!!! Short scale resonator bass, a note cannon, hehe!
I figured my Highway 49 tenor guitar could be modified into the perfect travel size bass and it sure did! :-)
I couldn't decide on 3 or 4 strings but my bass playing buddies told me that 4 strings actually worked despite the narrow string spacing.. At the nut it's slightly wider than a standard Fender Jazz bass but at the end of the fretboard it's the same width, haha..
But it works just fine after some thought!!!
It sure takes some adaptation like when you play the travel sized Republic reso, Highway 61 compared to a standard full scale reso..

But hey, this little one barks loud with a surprisingly fat acoustic tone!!!
I've also installed a pickup on this one, will be useful on stage..
Not to mention acoustic street performances or small gigs..

Category:

Music

Tags:

• blues
• bottleneck
• john
• republic
• resonator
• guitar
• tenor
• bass
• reso-bass
• resophonic
• reso-phonic
• duolian
• resolian
• miniolian
• bassolian
• highway
• 61
• 49
• brass
• short
• scale
• travel
• size
• backpacker
• modified
• tenorguitar
• bassguitar
• acoustic
• dobro
• national
• triolian
• style
• U-bass
• Ubass
• ozark
• texas
• parlor
• parlour
• parlorsize
• parlorguitar
• kala
• travelsize
• gmb
• mini
• beavercreek

[Fredrockroll]

any tenor guitar neck can handle the tension of the bass strings, or just the resonator?

[BottleneckJohn]

@Fredrockroll

I'd say that any modern day produced tenor will fix it but I can't say anything about old vintage tenor guitars. This one has no problems at all, been a year now and it's just getting better!!

[SuburbanBehemoth]

Hey John, that's a Republic Tenor Resonator guitar? Very cool. Are you on Facebook?

[BottleneckJohn]

@SuburbanBehemoth

Yes it is! Very cool indeed, thanks! I'm on FB..

[tallercaller]

The depth of the sound, considering the size is amazing! Now is this truly made for bass playing or is it the tenor guitar you've featured with heavier guage strings on it?

[12Radius]

COOL

[BottleneckJohn]

@BottleneckJohn

And now I have a pickup on it as well, so it can be plugged in when playing in bigger venues.. The acoustic tone is cool for smaller café gigs and such.

[BottleneckJohn]

@tallercaller

I totally agree regarding the sound it brings despite the small size! But this is typical for a resonator construction..

My first thought was: This is staggering! :-)

It actually is the tenor guitar modified with regular bass strings and work done on the nut, saddle and tuners(drilled up the holes, haha).. That's all there's to it..

(I suggested to Frank over at Republic that he should do these modifications to offer people a really cool travel size resonator bass!!!?)

[BottleneckJohn]

@Rabiatov

I sure will, stay tuned!

[Rabiatov]

@BottleneckJohn Cool, please post some vids from your gigs using it!