Double Chin

I was sicker than I thought. But now it has broken and I'm full of vim...and tempted by far too many things.

Like...I've been thinking about picking up a cheap violin, swapping my octave strings to it and making that the chin cello, and reverting my first violin to, well, violin. Or more importantly, to silent violin so I can get some more practice in!

But here's the crazy idea. I have a short-scale bass -- it is a baritone ukulele with extra-dense strings that plays in the same pitches as an electric bass. And the electric bass and the orchestral double bass share the same pitches (and octave.) And I've seen people use a violin bow on a guitar.

Well, it works. I can actually bow my u-bass. But only sort of, as it lacks the cutaway and the curved bridge. That's the bow from my chin cello, which means it is carbon-fibre and has bass rosin on it already.

So...why not hang those Kala strings on an electric violin and make a chin bass?

Right. First problem is the scale length. The scale length on my u-bass is 21". Scale length on a violin is under 13". Ah, but viola goes up to 17".

Next experiment. Held the fourth fret (roughly 17" from the bridge) and retuned to the open string pitch. And yes, it still plays. And it still bows.

Past that, I really can't tell. The next problem is those strings are just too massive for standard pegs, so have to redesign the peg box. But it is probably do-able. It wouldn't sound great, I imagine, but it would be a heck of a cool thing to build.