Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I am toying with an idea ... I have a 2030 4-2-5 bass that I want to string with octave strings ... something like .020, .030, .040, .050, .060, and tune it BEADG but an octave higher than a normal 5 string bass ... usually a piccolo bass is a 4 string bass tuned ADGC ...

Then the next step is to go out and jam with some musicians and see how it fits in ...

Homeland Security has just issued an Original Thought alert....

Brian Crisman had his Red Laredo strung with the octave strings from an 8-string set. He brought it to the MARC in April. Somebody was noodling around on it, and it sounded pretty neat!

That WAS a nice-sounding setup! I also liked noodling around on John's Rick Piccolo Bass with Jeffrey Scott out behind POTR that day, a cool prototype with the tulip body late 50s I guess, looked like a Combo sorta. It was an incredibly short scale for any bass, and really small gauge strings....

well I am going to do it ... I have plenty of basses and I ordered some strings ...

I am not sure what I will do with it but should be cool ...

...also liked noodling around on John's Rick Piccolo Bass with Jeffrey Scott out behind POTR that day, a cool prototype with the tulip body late 50s I guess, looked like a Combo sorta. It was an incredibly short scale for any bass, and really small gauge strings....

One off, too, although in reality it is not a piccolo bass, just a bass that got zapped with some cosmic rays from Pluto while John was eating at St Alphonso's.

"... usually a piccolo bass is a 4 string bass tuned ADGC"

Normally a piccolo bass is one octave above a normal bass - EADG, like a guitar's bottom 4 strings, but with a long scale (34") that gives the instrument a unique sound unlike a guitar (although tuned to the same pitch).

Baritone is usually tuned A-A or B-B.

The "piccolo" part in a piccolo bass isn't the scale, it's the pitch.

The guitar posted above isn't a piccolo bass. It looks like a tenor guitar.

So Ilan, if one takes the 4 fat strings off an 8 string do you have a piccolo bass, sort of? When Stanley Clarke did all that piccolo stuff back in the 80's was it a 34" scale bass? It sounded like something with a much shorter scale, I might try do a search for some photos. Interesting thread...

Yes, John Simmons' "tulip" four-stringer is indeed a tenor guitar. A one-off, as I understand it.

I'm told that there were one or two other Tenor Guitars, but different body styles and from different eras. This one was a custom order from February 1961, and it's closest relative in my estimation would be a Combo 950. It's all original except for the clear top coat that was applied to it by a previous owner.

Paul is correct....I used a set of octave strings I had from a Ken Smith 8 string pack I had laying around. I had some problems with a BEAD string set that I had and the piccolo setup was a fun idea I had so the Laredo would be functioning at MARF II. It does have a great tone and is easy to play REALLY fast. Chords sound especially nice. I restrung it to BEAD for my last remaining gigs then swapped it back to the piccolo set that is on it now.....it just makes it fun and interesting to play. It gives a different perspective on things and has opened me up to some new ideas. It's a keeper for sure.

In my band setting with some overdrive and an octave pedal it added a unique character and filled out the backround nicely. I don't know if I'd want it to be my only bass but it is certainly nice to have in the arsenal.

Bob, yes, if you string your bass with just the octave strings from an 8-string set, (and maybe adjust the intonation) you get a piccolo bass. I think Stanley Clarke used an 30" bass but I'm not sure. His signature Alembic is 30" scale. But he did own several long-scale Alembics IIRC.

Many confuse short-scale basses with piccolo, but they are in fact opposites.

I remember when our friend Marc S has strung his Ibanez SDGR bass with octave strings some 17 years ago, it sounded awesome, same pitch as a guitar but much deeper tone. Then he tuned it in fifths just for fun. I was lost but he could still play it.

Stanley did use a 30" scale I believe.

I'd buy an Alembic personally.

The problem with Alembic is that they DEpreciate, whereas Rics have been Appreciating like mad these days. Never played an Alembic though . . . I bet if I did, I'd want one too.

I always wanted to make a piccolo bass with the body of a Les Paul double-cut guitar. I never really liked the Les Paul regular shape, but the doublecut I think looks fantastic. Dunno how it would look with a 30" or 32" scale neck, though.

An good used Alembic represents the best value of any bass instrument out there.

It's subjective, but nothing comes close for around $1500-2000.