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Posts tagged piezo
Bailey custom one string bass-7/7- assembly and set up
Apr 20th
…’One is more not four’…
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- The one string wonder…
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- Maple neck and mahogany body
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- Recessed neck anchor screws
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- Two output jacks for piezo and midi
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- Just the one tuner…
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- Simple but beautiful and a lot of fun!
The One string wonder is packed up and ready to be sent out today so Andy will receive it tomorrow, all being well. It came out pretty good just a few minor niggles which got ironed out along the way:
When first plugged in it sounded distorted. This was easily remedied: the ‘one’ piezo saddle was connected to the wrong pin on the ‘Ghost’ preamp. It was connected to the pin for the g string which is a lot thinner. The preamp must be balanced to the gauge of each individual string, so the thinner ones sound the same volume as the thicker ones. The higher gain was causing the distortion, once I corrected this it sounded great.
There was some minor fret buzz. I had cut the nut too low, known in the trade as ‘blowing the nut’. I made another one but there was still a little fret buzz. It was slightly difficult to level the frets as there is no truss rod fitted to adjust the neck. In the end I levelled the fretboard with the string on and tuned to pitch. Easy enough, as there was just the one string I could work around it and very accurately remove the high spots. After this it played great too!
It has been great fun to build something so completely different to anything else I have done, I have grown quite fond of it, just looking at it makes me smile and I will miss it being around. Back to Part 1
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Update 16:08GMT
The courier just came- One stringed wonder is winging its way there now!
Bailey custom one string bass-6/7- making the body
Apr 7th
…and stringing it up for a test…
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- The body is marked out
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- neck-slot
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- Rear cavity and battery box
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- Neck mounting screw holes
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- Recessed neck anchor washers
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- The neck is screwed on for the first time
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- Marking out the output jacks
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- ‘Stitch drilling’ for the midi jack
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- A 22mm hole is drilled for both outputs
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- The rest of the waste is removed with a chisel
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- Tools used to fit the output jacks
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- Test fitting the jack sockets
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- The finished holes for the output jacks
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- A small sanding block was used for cleaning up the square hole
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- Marking out the individual string saddle
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- A slot is made for the piezo wire
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- A hole is drilled through into the control cavity
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- The drill pops out in the control cavity
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- The nut is fitted
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- Strung up and tested
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- Carving the body
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- Sanded and sprayed with sealer
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- The front of the body
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- The neck and body are hanging to dry
The bass will get another coat tomorrow then hang for a while to dry. We are still waiting for the acoustiphonic volume control. It is expected in about 10 days so we will have to wait till then to find out what it really sounds like.
Meanwhile I strung it up ‘in the white’ to check all is OK and it looked great. If you remember: There is no truss rod in this neck- I was pretty sure it would be OK as there is only the one string but I wanted to make sure it didn’t bend too much under string tension. As it turned out it hardly moved at all. Result…
Next time I write about the ‘one string wonder’ it will be finished!..Part 7
Bailey custom one string bass-5/7- making the neck
Apr 1st
One trick pony- April fools! No its not…
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- The neck is ready and frets have been cut
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- Hammering in the frets
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- Snipping the fret ends to length
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- Filing the fret ends flush
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- Filing an angle onto the ends of the frets
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- Close up of the frets
I hammered the frets in and then ran a bead of super glue under the end of each one. This locks the frets in position. If the ends are locked in place the fret cannot move. After nipping to length, the ends of the frets are filed flush to the wood, then an angle is filed onto the ends and finally smoothed over with a sanding block.
Although it will only have one string this certainly will not be a ‘one trick pony’. Its going to be full of them. It will sound like an acoustic bass but also have to capability to control any MIDI instrument or computer and use whatever sounds they contain. Pretty cool. Next week I’ll be working on the body and stringing it up (shouldn’t take long) for a test. Then it will be ready for a finish…Part 6
Bailey custom one string bass-3/7- making the neck-2
Mar 17th
…Work continues on the one string wonder…
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- Planing a rough radius onto the fretboard
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- Perfecting the shape with a 12″ radius block
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- Checking the shape with a 12″ radius gauge
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- Carving the neck
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- The neck is now ready for inlays and frets
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- Individual string saddle with piezo pickup, acoustic preamp, and midi circuit
The neck is almost finished after completing the headstock, radiusing the board and carving the neck- It feels great and its a lot of fun to make. I’m starting to really like this.
Although there is only one string right down the middle, the tuner is not located centrally to the neck as you might expect. To work out the position it is offset by half the width of the tuner post plus half the thickness off the string. This way the string will go straight through the nut to the tuner. This is sometimes called ‘straight string pull’
I drilled the tuner hole and checked that it fits ok. At this point all I have left to do is put the inlays and frets in and make and fit the nut. Then I can put a string on it and check how it reacts. I have not put a truss rod in this neck as there will be a lot less tension than the usual four, five, or six stringers. It is a very high quality piece of quartersawn maple and very stiff so i’m not worried but I’ll test it out anyway…Part 4
Bailey custom one string bass-2/7- making the neck-1
Mar 14th
…Do not adjust your set…
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- Tracing the headstock
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- Here are the neck and body blank sitting on the drawing
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- The fret slots are done and the neck cut out
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- The headstock has been cut out and thicknessed
Finally managed to slot this one in to the schedule. You may remember the design day when Andy visited to work out the spec….
The neck is now ready for fretting, inlays and carving, the body blank has been thicknessed so it is ready to work on.
There will be no magnetic pickup on this instrument – just a piezo built into the (one!) individual saddle/bridge which will sound like an acoustic bass and also have midi capability. The parts have all been ordered and should be with us in the next few days. I will post some pics when they arrive.
I thought this was going to be a really quick and easy build, obviously it is compared to some, but it has still had me scratching my head a few times, mainly with elements of the design.
How wide and thick is a one string bass neck? Will it need a truss rod? Are my eyes going funny?
Only one way to find out…watch this space…Part 3
