[ dan zimmerman minibass ]

um, aren't basses supposed to be big?

the minibass was built for a couple of reasons. i like to build things, i like to play bass, and people kept telling me that i should bring a bass with me wherever i go. now, i like a good challenge, but stashing a 35" scale Dean 5-string on my bike is a little hard.

at some point i broke an o-ring at work, and plucked it and it was bass! so i made a prototype. this was a friday. the following monday and tuesday, i improved it to this. click on the pictures to view a larger image.

the scale length of the fretless minibass is 8 3/8 inches. The strings are tuned to D and G, the same as the highest pitched strings on a 4 string bass. They're made of cut rubber o-rings, so they're really elastic, and can be tuned to low pitch. The bass is made mostly of aluminum. the neck/body was straight out of the scrap heap. The headstock is made from 1/2" thick aluminum plate, milled, drilled and tapped to attach it to the neck, and drilled with two 3/8" holes to accept guitar tuning machines. The tuners were purchased from Atomic Music for $2.50 apiece used, and drilled a bit to accept the thick strings. The headstock is slotted near the neck to accept the nut, machined from 1/4" acrylic.

moving to the other end of the strings, the bridge rides directly on the instrument side of a Dean Markley "Artist" Transducer**. The transducer pickup is basically held in place by the string tension, though a cradle was machined to position the pickup. The prototype didn't have a cradle and the pickup and bridge would slide about a bit while playing, altering the pitch. The strings are held at the bottom end of the bass by a couple of metal clamps tightened with a thumbscrew. To add a bit of style to the bass a suggestion of a body was added in thin aluminum sheet. most of the aluminum was sandblasted to give it a matte finish, with the exception of the fingerboard which was masked and left smooth.

the sound is unique. there's a pretty percussive attack and a quick decay. sounds pretty good for an 8" bass though, especially through a good bass amp. some compression helps give it some extra sustain. i like using it as a synth trigger too, with my Boss bass synth pedal.

more concisely, it sounds like this: minibass.mp3

this is straight through a Behringer mixer into my soundcard with some low end boost, but otherwise virgin.

so there it is. there will be future developments. i'd like it to have onboard electronics (preamp, EQ, compressor?). i'm also going to experiment with different pickups and strings. i like the Dean Markley transducer sound, but i think i'd like a jack instead of the cord i have to wind up and stow, so i may pick up another one, cut the cord short and install a jack in the curvy body strip.

** minibass upgrades: i've made my own pickup, basically the same as the dean markley pickup, but out of a radio shack piezo element, a lead weight, and some copper tubing. since it's not epoxy potted, it's got a rather higher output. the sound quality is about the same, and makes the bass entirely homemade, which i like. i've replaced the black string clips at the bottom with a milled aluminum clamp for easier string changes.