Turning 6/12 string acoustic into an acoustic bass?

[jshowyin]

Hello Everyone,

Anyone ever tried converting a 6 or 12 string acoustic into an acoustic bass? I started thinking about it the other day when I came across some guits on the bay with snapped headstocks and/or needing neck resets. If I ever decided to pursue it, it would be for the purpose of playing it acoustically at home and possibly adding a bass line eventually when I much around recording some tunes. Due to the labour costs, not sure if it would be worth doing.

Couldn't find much info on the net about such a conversion. My newbie thinking was that:

* a 12 string might be a good candidate due to the heavier bracing of the top
* a jumbo body style for the larger body volume would probably be desirable

Any advice would be most appreciated.

Also, on a slightly different topic, can anyone recommend a cheap, but decent, acoustic bass to keep an eye out for? Same intended application as above.

TIA, Jared

[Michael T]

Rather than spend a couple 3 or 4 hundred on a frankenguitar why not buy a inexpensive new one and put a hundred dollar pickup in it. You can mess with the tone etc thru your soundcard or recording program when recording with it or use a preamp to tweak it when plugged in. Unless you" want" to reinvent a broken or cheap used, but I think you might get less and spend more. Just my .02

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/acoustic-bass/fretted-acoustic-bass

[unclrob]

I use to have a Johnson acoustic bass until my nephew barrowed.Decent enough for what you want to do.Converting a 6/12 to a bass just isn't a good idea,I promise you it will not withstand the tension.Plus you will need to fill or tha tuner hole's then redrill for bass tuners,fill the pin slots and redrill for string spacing.There are all sorts of acoustic bass's imported.

[jshowyin]

Thanks for the replies Michael and Rob. Much appreciated. I am starting to lean strongly in the direction you both suggested. And it's not like I really need another guitar, bass or otherwise, at this point.

N.B. Original thought was to look out for a jumbo six string with a broken neck, or in need of a neck reset, then replace the neck with a bass neck - wasn't sure if that was even possible.

On a different, but related note, two questions:

* have seen some older Japanese/Korean made electric bass, with non-famous names, go for pretty cheap on the bay in the last 24 hours. Can anyone recommend a 'decent' electric bass for under $200 used? I am in absolutely no hurry, so feel free to suggest anything slightly more expensive that would be worth looking out for.
* I intend to buy an acoustic amp in the next 3-6 months (leaning towards a used Roland AC-60 or Fishman Loudbox 100). Any issues playing an electric bass, or amp'd acoustic bass, through one of those?

Thanks again. 

[Corky]

Some of the SX basses at Rondo are plenty good for what you want to do  Check them about.  You can get going for a bit over $100.

[unclrob]

Corky is right on with the SX stuff.Get a good setup and your in business.Do buy a small bass amp most acoustic amps can't handle that type of low end.Theres lots of Fender/Squire stuff thats pretty good from Japan/Korea.Even the Squires made in Indonesia isn't band.This is one of those adventure things,if you can get out and play a bunch of stuff you'll find what you want.

[rockstar_not]

  to the SX bass suggestion.  I wanted an electric bass about 5-6 years ago, just for recording at home.  Didn't want to spend more than $300.  Did lots of research and came across Rondomusic.com and SX basses.  Simply the best bass for the money for your purposes (which look to be about the same as what mine are).

I got one that was sort of a copy of a '62 P-Bass custom (both P-bass split humbucker and a Jazz-bass single coil pickup at the bridge position.  Cost about $120 if I remember right.  I did my own intonation and setup and have been very happy and received many compliments on it from proper bass-playing folks.  You will need to do an intonation setup because the axe is shipped with the strings slack and they certainly didn't set the saddle pieces correctly.  A bass guitar is a great thing to learn how to do a setup on anyways - bigger pieces/screws, and less finicky than an electric guitar (adjustments are a smaller percentage of overall string length and diameter)

Build quality was better than my Made-in-Mexico Fender Strat.

Don't buy them through e-Bay, go right to www.rondomusic.com   You'll pay the same price but it gives Kurt at Rondo a little more for his sale.  This one is basically the same model as the one I bought - headstock shape has changed a little and mine has a  white-black-white pickguard rather than black-white-black as shown.

http://www.rondomusic.com/spj623ts.html

The back of my neck even has some decent curly-maple type figuring in it, believe it or not.

One downside, the pickups are pretty microphonic.  One of these days, I'll do a swapout.  It's a great playing bass.