I bought this 2nd hand semi-fake cigar box bass (tuned E, A, D, so I’m claiming it is a tiny piccolo bass) at Denio’s big flea market in Roseville, Placer County, California. My Afgani used music seller pal must have ‘seen me coming’.

I think he buys junky 4-string things with me in mind to sell it to. At $30, I bought it as an example for my own cigar box bass-like project, and as a possible source of parts, with my proven bad fretless talent. The pickup sounds OK though, and it has zero hum, which saved the ugly thing from instant discorporation with extreme prejustice for the valuable component parts.

I broke two cheap Chinese Alice brand guitar strings trying to get an E, an A, and a D all in a row at first, a cigar box tuning that is very rare. But I have plenty more guitar strings, my music man sold me three sets for $15, one a nice Yamaha, and another Alice.

So to get the rare E, A, D CG box tuning, I installed the Alice guitar string marked ‘2nd, B string’, in the CG box bass’s middle position, tuning it to A.

The string marked ‘1st, E string’ I installed on the bottom location, the highest note position, and tuned it to D.

I randomly found a mystery guitar string in a junk drawer, and I’m hoping it’s a G string, for the topmost location- the lowest note. I tuned it to E.

And it sort of worked out, in that it tunes up, and intonates pretty well at the 12 fret. But maybe not that close in between. Finger placement varies quite a bit between strings. Playable or not I don’t know yet because playing fretless demands practice and a good ear, which I ain’t got.

So my plan to bust it up for the piezo pickup, input jack, and neck has changed. Because it sounds pretty good and the fretless playing of it is baroque but fun to try. So I’m keeping it together as an ax but ripping off the peeling plastic fake cigar box cover ASAP, like peeling off an ugly sunburn. Replacing it with…? I’m thinking decoupage. Another project just when I have so many. But big fun. Let the ripping begin.

Meanwhile I’ll keep the clip-on tuner clipped on to the tiny headstock when I play it to see how close I’m getting to the note I need playing sans frets.

All images were taken, and the blog post written and posted, by my new Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ tablet, large and fast, with big storage. But the camera verdict: Not sharp enough compared to my Samsung cell phone camera, or my Nikon underwater shockproof travel camera.

Unless noted, all text and images by todgermanica.com.