I just swapped in a new bridge and D’Addario roundwound piccolo bass strings on my princely purple, $90, flea market, Ibanez Mikro short-scale bass.

The online, aftermarket, Allparts chrome bridge was $45, because I could not get the stock Ibanez labeled bridge to intonate correctly.

Above, walking bass line from my bass guitar textbook Progressive Bass, by Turner and Gary.

This one I dialed in Studio Clean, no effects.

As is usual with me I misaligned the bridge and ended up drilling more holes and then screwing it down again. Luckily the bigger bridge than the Ibanez factory one hides the holes.

Below is the Chorus effect. Sadly, my phone rang while I was recording and cut off the last few notes. Tone should have been dialed down to cut the clang. Roland Bass Cube Funk drum track.

In my experience converting a bass to the thinner, guitar octave piccolo bass strings does not require a new nut.

Though you’ll probably need a complete new setup for correct intonation, string height, etc.

Tremolo sound effect below. Again, high tone should have been cut to lessen the twangy clang. Played too staccato, too. And I should have padded my tapping foot, distracting. Like two drummers, one slightly off.

I’m calling this last sample Tinnitus Blues. Because my right ear is howling, probably got water in it bathing. I’ll hear better tomorrow.

The piccolo bass, somewhat weirdly named since it makes guitar octave sounds, is in its own tonal niche, halfway between the two. I’ll post more samples as I fine-tune the sound.

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