Homemade Upright Washtub Bass.

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As a compliment to yesterdays post with the homemade upright bass-banjo I thought I'd share this take on the washtub bass.

The design and construction are simple yet ideal and I feel that its not the builder's first time making an instrument.

R.W. Haller

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Homemade Upright Bass-Banjo. Awesomely unique instrument.

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I'd love to hear how this Bass-Banjo sounds. I think it's a great idea and I had one of those " how have I not thought of this" moments. This particular bass looks like it was made quite cheaply It makes me wonder if it's a viable concept to make a higher end version.

Has anyone seen something like this before?

R.W. Haller


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Could this be the earliest production model acoustic bass guitar?

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I have on this blog previously queried what might have been the earliest production model acoustic bass guitar. Surely this Regal Bassoguitar circa 1937 must take the prize, even if it does look as if it was designed to be played upright like a traditional double bass. Note that it has a double bass style bridge and gut strings. Also in keeping with the double bass, the fingerboard is fretless, albeit with lined fret position markers.

It's quite a huge beast of an instrument and was apparently advertised in Regal's own catalogue as being "the biggest guitar in the world". However I suspect that the guy in the illustration opposite (possibly from the Regal catalogue?) is a boy or small adult, making the bass look all the bigger.

This example is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of US $3,999.


G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Bassix Jazza - yet another eccentric electric upright bass

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No, it's isn't a giant wooden spoon, it's another eccentric upright bass design from UK-based upright bass specialists Bassix. This model is called the Bassix Jazza, and again it appears to feature a bass-guitar friendly 34" scale length.

Unlike the last Bassix EUB we looked at, this particular model does not fold in half. Neither does its body serve as its own carry case.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a starting bid of £200.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Bassix bizarre one-off foldable headless upright bass

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I think the photos say it all here! I've never seen anything quite like this allegedly unique Bassix foldable headless upright bass before. It's actually quite a clever way of making an upright bass portable, however, looking at the bridge position I can't believe that is the usual 42" scale length you'd expect on an upright. It looks more like a bass guitar's 34". Which begs the question, why not just use a fretless bass which would be even more portable than this?

Currently listed on eBay UK with a £0.99 starting bid.

G L Wilson

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Please read our photo and content policy.

Now that's one heck of a big ol' bass!

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Pictured next to a Fender Jaguar Bass (which I believe has a 34" scale length), I'm guessing that this extremely long fretless electric bass is intended to be played as an upright. It probably wouldn't be great as a double bass replacement as the fingerboard does not have the necessary radius nor are the strings high enough from the top of the body to allow playing with a bow. But as a fretless electric upright bass played finger-style, I'm sure it'd work fine. It does sort of look like a giant bass guitar what with the P-Bass pickup, the fingerboard position markers giving the impression of frets, and the Fender-esque 4-in-a-row headstock. There must be an awful temptation to try to play this horizontally as if it was a bass guitar. Imagine how crazy that would appear on-stage.

I am reminded of Mark Rubel's Giant Jazz Bass, built to the scale length of a double bass, and which we featured in the Guitarz Calendar for 2012 (long sold out, but then it was last year's calendar). I was going to let all the calendar pictures remain as exclusives, but if enough of you want it, I'm tempted to show the Giant Jazz Bass pics here. (Vote NOW in the comments below!)

Anyway (I went a bit off-tangent there), the pictured electric upright bass, which I'm sure must be a one-off creation, is currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £499.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.