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I'm a bass player first, and a guitarist second. I have been disappointed with the volume of every acoustic bass that I have played, including my Taylor AB-1. I recently was at a Mexican resturant that had a mariachi group playing. The bassist had a Guitarrone, and it was loud and clear even with a trumpet in the group.
Has anyone had any experience building a guitarrone, or does anyone know of a website that would show details of their construction?
Do any of our sponsors supply wood in large enough peices for the back, top, and sides?
I can see some really big molds,and a mega-side bender in my future.

Al

Yes i know. However, Ive played some upright basses with not too bad actions that projected quite well. I think it's worth an experiment. If anyone has any construction info I'm still interested.

Al

I'm posting to move this up so that someone may see it.

Al

I've thought the same when I've tried acoustic basses. Could it be that they require heavier bracing and therefore suffer in the area of volume? ( He asks having no experience building )

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DES - Farwell, MI

I can't help you, AL, but I'm interested in this myself. I, too, have been very impressed with the power of the guitarron. It blows away any acoustic bass guitar I've ever heard (although Jay Hargreaves makes acoustic basses that are pretty amazing). I'd like to study the instrument more and try to gain some understanding of what makes it work so well (we sould get Al Carruth on this ). Maybe some sort of hybrid could be dreamt up...

I wish you luck in your pursuit and would love to be in touch with you about it if you build any guitarrons.

As for woods, many suppliers will custom cut pieces for odd-sized instruments, so I don't think you'll have a problem with that.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Todd: I've been thinking the same thing. Guitarrone body, 30" scale and short neck, with frets, tuned to E as a bass guiar. I'm thinking the short neck will force the instrument to be played near the nut across the fretboard instead of up. This would allow a higher action with a minimum nut height to improve volume while maintaining playability.

any comments?      Al

Al, your thinking makes sense to me. Do you know what a typical guitarron scale length is? I have no idea. It looks short, but that may be somewhat of an illusion caused by the huge body and the shortness of the neck beyond the body. I haven't done much searching for guitarron plans yet.

I only play bass occasionally, and haven't compared fretted and fretless acoustic basses enough to say, but I wonder if a fretless bass (or, in this case, guitarron) might tend to be louder by virtue of the slight buzz of the string on the fingerboard. Do you follow me? A string that buzzes will sound lounder, but have less sustain, and stopping the string with your finger on the board, rather than on a fret, makes it buzz a bit against the board. Maybe that plays some role in the perceived volume of a guitarron. Guitarrons, like upright basses, have very little sustain - at least that's what I recall from hearing them. A thumpy, tubby, BWAHNNG sort of sound, amazingly loud for something that's much smaller than an upright bass.

Now, when I think of a hybrid, I'm actually thinking of something that would have a body shape and size more like a large-ish acoustic bass guitar, maybe 6" deep, rather than the monstrous guitarron. The obvious question, then, is to what extent the powerful sound of the guitarron results from the size and shape of its body. It probably has A LOT to do with it, but I wonder if there are other aspects of its design that also contribute to the volume, things that could be incorporated into an instrument that isn't quite so unwieldly to hold.

Todd Rose38768.9385648148

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

Tod and Al, here is Cumpiano's take on acoustic bass and Guitarron. You might want to check it out and some of the links. I have never played one but have been told that you need big strong hands. You might also try Google on Guitarron instead of Guitarrone. Hope this helps.
   Guitarron/Acoustic Bass

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Don, thanks. Bill's thoughts make a great, and informative, read.

I've often been surprised to see how many "acoustic bass guitars" there are whose bodies are no bigger, or scarcely bigger, than a jumbo guitar, and I've noted how they are mostly pretty useless, as Bill put it, in terms of actually functioning as an acoustic bass instrument. The only real exceptions I've seen (there are probably others out there I'm not aware of) are Jay Hargreaves' basses. They're bigger, designed better, have Kasha-inspired bracing (I'm not saying I'm sold on Kasha, but it seems to work very well on Jay's basses), and they sound really good - much louder than the typical acoustic bass guitar. They're pretty nice to hold and to play, too.

I figure I'll study Jay's design more, and study the mexican guitarron more, and see what I come up with. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking of something just a bit bigger than Jay's basses, maybe 6" deep (Jay's max is 5"), with a radically domed or wedged body to make it more comfortable to hold (not so wide under the arm), fretless... as for scale length and neck length, I'll have to study the guitarron more to get some ideas, and try to figure out what might work... maybe a fairly short neck, so it's not a real neck-heavy instrument.

Anyway, it would be great to keep bouncing ideas around with anyone who shares an interest in this kind of thing.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I believe the guiterrone has about a 27" scale, and is actually a baritone guitar with a bodaceous body. I am guessing that the volume comes from two features.
1 The large air mass of the body.
2 The high action which allows a strong attack without buzzing.

The short neck, would allow the action at the nut to be low with a rapid increase in action height up the neck. By making the instrument a 6 string you can play across the neck instead of up the neck.
I guess that what I'm looking at is a slightly longer scale guitarrone tuned to an E instead of an A, and fretted for convenience.
I would probably use Thomastik Acousticore strings (Phosphor bronze over nylon core) or something similar.

I guess it's time for less talk and more action. I'll keep you all posted.

Al

Don
Cumpiano is pretty funny. I enjoyed his rant, and couldn't disagree with most of what he said. I know my Taylor AB-1 is huge compared to most ABG's and it still doesn't cut it without amplification, although it is a really neat looking bass guitar and plays well also.
I'm going to experiment. I'll keep you posted.

Al

I think there are (at least) two separate issues with ABGs. The first is volume - on that score I have found that using a resonator cone gives enough of that to be heard in jams of up to half a dozen guitars and mandolins (banjos are a different matter).

However, the other issue is the frequency response of the instrument, and you're just not going to get those sub-bass frequencies unless you use a big bodied instrument that can move a lot of air.

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Pete
http://www.petewoodmanguitars.com