Official Luthiers Forum!

I have been looking into building a bass for a long time but since I don't play bass, I keep putting it off. I need it to be small (portable) and minimal electronics. Mottola has an acoustic design with 18 inch strings but it is larger than I would like. The Kala U-bass requires an amplifier.Note the shape of the heads on all of the rubber-string basses, the lowest string requires the extra length to not be floppy.
The newest entrant is the Aquila short bass one. The scale length is 600-670 mm (23-26"). The body is roughly guitar-size and uses new, copper-filled, strings for a reasonable bass sound. They appear to be available in Europe at present.
Does anyone have any dimensions for the body or neck-length. A friend has a Kala U-bass but would prefer not to use an amplifier. It looks similar to the Motolla but smaller.

Bob

Bob I was looking at peter howlett/s uke site and he is selling an electric bass uke. Perhaps he might have a plan??

Ernie:
I was over Pete's site and it does not appear that he has any plans for sale.The bass that he is selling is a full size electric bass.
I want to build a smaller acoustic bass to play in smaller groups (jams) of five to ten people. Once you give somebody an amplifier, they think that they are a rock star. Hawaii was full of bass players who are trying to be "front men". Luckily, our Friday morning jam has a bass player who is good enough that he doesn't have to prove anything. He is just part of the group.
The heart on the short bass is the new strings by Aquilla and I have not seen them listed in North America yet. I will talk to my string guy in Florida as he talks to Italy.

Bob

Got it, bob hard to tell from peters pics . I asked him if he was selling plans for a tenor harp uke? I just got a big shipment of beautiful black walnut 5 ft tree from my local saw mill.There are about 10possible harp uke sets in there including the horn. Keep on playin /rockin