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Post by hushnel on Nov 9, 2021 14:05:33 GMT -5
The first one I came cross was at a guitar boutique when I took the family to Disneyworld camping for a week, this was back in the 90s. I was impressed with its acoustic sound and decent volume, it’s fairly huge and they wanted big bucks for it. A bunch of years later I found a guy in Georgia, through the UMGF who had 1980 B50 fretless, I paid fairly good money for it. Some clown installed a pickup in it, that was long gone, leaving a phone plug hole drilled into the E string side of the lower side. The side wood is Brazilian Rose wood. It’s time I fix it. I have two smallish boards of Brazilian Rosewood I’ve just been hanging on to. Enough for a couple fingerboards.
Chances are pretty slim I’ll be able to match the grain and color perfectly, I’d like to make it totally invisible but chances are a perfect match would be impossible. The bass is nearly the size of a Guitarrón, not as much depth though.
A couple of years back I came across a Ibanez PNB14E-OPN, I was impressed with it’s acoustic sound quality. The electronics have a decent EG and range, utilizing an under saddle transducer. The kick around acoustic volume is decent and very ergonomic with it’s 24.75" scale. I can play it around a camp fire with a guitar or two and it’ll be clearly heard. It’s louder acoustically than the Guild B50. I did add three transducers to the guild B50, not utilizing the hole pre-drilled into the side, I did the more traditional drill through the strap button end block with a strap button phone plug output. The sound whole is fairly large so I made a custom hole plug that’s held in with oversized neoprene foam. It has a very usable sound to it.
The Ibanez is always in reach in the living room, I’ve been playing a lot of classical guitar lately as well. I have cultivated a decent set of right hand fingernails for classical finger picking, though often use a thumb pick as well. Some of the classical finger style works well on the bass and helps to keeps my fingers limber. When I have the opportunity to. I’ll use the battery powered Phill Jones two by four with both of these ABG. This little amp, though expensive, has a great sound to it.
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Post by Taildragger on Nov 10, 2021 22:57:09 GMT -5
So, what strings do you use on this Ibanez?
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Post by hushnel on Nov 11, 2021 12:54:26 GMT -5
D'Addario® XTPBB190GS string gauge .037/.050/.062/.090. I’m still using the strings that it came with,. I got the string information from the Ibanez web site. I’m happy with the volume from this smallish bass. I may stay with these round wounds, a set of flats might be interesting though, I would sacrifice a bit of volume for a better balanced bass tone. I’ll stick with the string gauge.
These strings are a lower tension 23.5” scale length with a nylon core. I don’t know if strings have a tension rating, and ofcourse that tension would be variable at different scale lengths.
I’m glad you asked the question, you got me thinking about options I may have, the longer strings used on standard bass “scale lengths tensions” would be less at the 23.5” scale but I wonder by how much. This bass is very close to the size of a standard classical guitar.
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Post by Taildragger on Nov 11, 2021 16:09:02 GMT -5
Your thread kinda caught my eye since the main guitar I play anymore is an old, beater, no-name gut string "classical" guitar. Our older daughter rescued it from a dumpster years ago and had planned to use it as the basis of an "art project", but never got around to it. So I "brought it back to life" (shaved the bridge and shimmed the nut) for use in its originally-intended capacity and started playing it.
Your Ibanez PNB14E-OPN sounds like a good candidate for a complimentary "couch bass" to park next to that guitar. Also sounds like it would make a good "travel bass". I had a cheap little mini-P bass with up-graded pups that I used to use for that purpose but it got stolen about a year ago.
BTW: I seem to recall that D'Addario posts tension figures for all their strings someplace on their website. I wish all string makers would do that.
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Post by hushnel on Nov 11, 2021 17:46:55 GMT -5
I’m in the same place, a convenient bass to play and a grab-able classical within reach. That’s my old Kremona, for now. I’m in negotiations to acquire a used Cordoba C9 Parlor. It should be a closed deal by tomorrow. I’ve seen nothing but good reviews of this guitar. The smaller body makes it even easier to play.
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Post by Taildragger on Nov 11, 2021 19:20:12 GMT -5
Here are the body dimensions Ibanez provides on their website:  If you have time, could you measure the width of the upper bout and the overall length of the bass from end pin/strap button to tip of headstock? Thanks. |
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Post by LTB on Nov 11, 2021 20:31:31 GMT -5
E string side? That is pretty weird. I would think the G string side in the Large portion of the bottom side where they usually put them would have been a better choice,
Anyway, nice acoustic bass
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Post by hushnel on Nov 12, 2021 16:31:15 GMT -5
The upper bout width is 10”, depth 3 3/4 at upper bout, over all length 38 3/4”.
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Post by Taildragger on Nov 12, 2021 18:53:46 GMT -5
Thank you, sir!
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