Update – 2021 – This project, started almost five years ago, sadly didn’t survive the move to our new (old) home. I plan to salvage the back and sides and make a new top, but it will have to wait.
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I run a traditional music jam twice a month and depending on the attendance, we seem to get mostly guitar players. Nothing wrong with that, but you know, a mandolin, fiddle or bass really helps the overall sound when you have eight or ten people playing together. We meet in the choir room at my church, and Bass players attend very infrequently – probably due to portability issues. If we had a bass there, someone would play it. Soooo what to do?
This dilemma has given me the excuse to build an acoustic bass guitar (or ABG) that 1) isn’t a problem to transport like a stand-up bass fiddle, 2) doesn’t need an amp (another luggability issue), and 3) will give enough of a bottom-end to round out the sound.
Most commercial ABG’s are really just normal guitar bodies with a longer scale neck. They sound like a normal guitar too, without amplification, because the bodies just aren’t big enough to differentiate from a guitar.
I did some research and have come up with a plan that includes two significant differences from commercial ABG’s: 1) a larger body – 17″ wide at the lower bout and 5 1/2″ thick, and 2) a tuned sound port. This second idea will use the Planet Waves O-Port, a commercially-available aftermarket product that is reported to add substantial bass response to guitars. At $20 bucks from Sweetwater, it’s a cheap addition that’s worth giving a shot.
As I go along, I’ll post some comments about the progress during the build.
Update: Here’s the top and bracing pattern glued up on the work board:
Woodsong Strings 