Post 18: Well then, let's work on a one string bass, and in parrallel, at the one string bass-gurdy

       The concept is very simple, a stick, a tuner, a tail, a bridge, a string, and a pickup, just like the 2 string stick I am already playing with. Except that this one has to be somehow glorified and perceived as a "work of Art"..., whatever THAT is!

     There are two bass guitar on the market that are really unique, both made of stainless steel but with different looks that I consider also true works of Art. One is the Stash, which is soon going to be available fretless:

     The other is the minimalistic Gittler:

    Both are truly extraordinary designs, unique, and very beautiful functional objects. They definitely are more than guitars, they are true works of Art. They certainly inspire me, probably will influence me, but I need to come up at least with my own interpretation as a One-String Double-Bass, within my means, preferably with what I already have around, and using aluminum and brass.

       Doing some research, collecting info, looking at what is available around the studio, the workshop, the attic, even Rachel's shed, I started putting a few things together, just to see:

     Close up of the first concept at the center, in a short mockup using a brake lever that came out of a motorcycle as the pin, various disks as the body, and a single tuner head I just made out of a 1/4" thick scrap of aluminum, attached at the end of a single one-inch aluminum tube. The bridge is made of a 1" brass ball attached to a 1/2" aluminum rod. The angular tail-piece could be cut either out of 1/8"aluminum, or maybe some 1/4" brass I have, and shaped with a curve.

      I also found some stainless steel rods and tubes left over from building the house, so I polished them up and started playing with them too, coming up with two rough very minimalistic mockups. The first one is for one string "triple bass", the other could be a long stainless steel rods bass guitar with small brass rods for frets:

            Detail of the bridge and tail:

      I am not sure I can weld the stainless steel rods together well, but I will try, because I like the utter simplicity of this design very much. The solid stainless steel rods are 1/2", there is a plain 3/8" thick brass bar at each end acting as nut and hardtail, and the bridge is a stainless rod on top of a piece of 1" brass tubing. The pick up is a plain black rectangle, and the only decorative elements are the 3 black bakelite balls from old machine levers. It's probably too heavy to be hand held, but it could make an interesting lap guitar, fretted with sections of 1/8" brass rod soldered across the stainless rods making the neck. 

      The tuners would be at the tail and look something like this:

     Drawing inspiration from various images and sources, amalgamating them, stirring up the pot, a little brainstorming, and voila!