Knotafish - Interesting Instruments

Got Milk? (made for Vocal Trash in Fort Worth TX.)

The "Got Milk?" bass is made from a six inch golf cart rim that acts as the bridge and tail piece. The neck is supported with two pieces of angle iron and the whole thing sets on top of an old milk can.

Vocal Trash contacted me about building a bass for their stage show. After tossing around some ideas we came up with this. The milk can basically acts as a stand so the top part can be removed. This allows for the bass to fit in a case as well as giving the player the option to play sitting down.

Normally I don't build cases, however Vocal Trash needed them due to the amount of touring they do. The cases turned out so nice and made shipping easier, I may have to do it for all my stuff.

I forgot to put fingering marks on the side, so I sent them the stuff to do it themselves. I made a little video to show how to do it. Check out the video here.

Jerry Can Guitar ( made for Vocal Trash in Fort Worth TX.)

This has got to be the favorite of all my creations. It is made from an official US Army "Jerry Can", and sports magnetic and piezo pickups. The neck is mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard and birdseye maple overlay on the headstock.

Cecil's EUB (made for Cecil Conley in Washington D.C.)

My friend Cecil asked me to make him an electric upright bass which turned out to be quite a challenge. You see, when you normally start out with a trash can or a beer keg there aren't any rules to follow. Apparently there are when you make something more traditional.

The neck is a pre-fab made from maple that I bought from www.engelhardt-link.com. The ebony fingerboard and tailpiece were pieces that Cecil had given me to work with. The body is maple with a rosewood bridge (yeah, I think I broke a rule or two with the rosewood bridge). The tailpiece really serves no purpose since the strings are thru-body but I put it on cause it looked good and so the angle behind the bridge would be a simular angle as that between the nut and bridge (another one of those pesky rules).

The thing that looks like a chair leg coming off the bridge is what I call a tone rod. I found that the piezo pickup I put on it sounded very thin. Noticing that when I lay a piece of rosewood on the bridge it had a richer tone, I turned some scrap rosewood on the lathe and attached it to the bridge. The problem now was that it wanted to feedback and it sounded kind of mushy. I solved both problems by sticking cork between the tone rod and the body of the bass. Then I was happy with the sound. It still doesn't sound like an acoustic upright, but like I always say, " If you want something that sounds like a double bass go out and buy you a double bass".

3/4 Dual Trash Can Upright Bass (custom made for Nathan Hancock in Albuquerque, NM)

Here is an upgrade on Bones' Bass pictured below.

Nathan asked me to build something simular to Bone's Bass but 3/4 and with 4 strings. Here is what we came up with. As you can see it is made from two 15 gal. galvanized steel trash cans put together end to end. The neck is maple with an ebony fingerboard and the bridge is maple with a piezo pickup built in.

I am counting on Nate to tear up the scene in Albuquerque with this one.

Click on the images below to see nates bass being built

Carved Archtop Dreadnought Electric (custom made for Jamie Edgerton in Raleigh, NC)

Now this is the strangest instrument I have made so far. No trashcan, No Beer Keg, No Gas Tank. That is just wierd.

The guitar actually turned out pretty cool. Jamie wanted a hollow body, but he also wanted the serial number 0001. He ended up with a Neck thru semi-hollow body dreadnought shaped archtop electric.

The sides and neck are mahogany. The headstock has a rosewood overlay with ebony sides. The top is quilted maple with mahogany down the middle. The back is a combination of maple, mahogany, and rosewood to make the stripes.

The hardware consist of the new Grover locking tuners (that are pretty cool if you ask me), A Bigsby type tremelo, and the stock pickups out of a buddies Richenbacker (recycle or die).

Gas Tank Bass (custom made for Jonathan Wilson in Los Angeles, CA)

This bass was custom made for Jonathan from a Nissan gas tank. As you can see on the right the peghead has the traditional carved scroll with geared tuners. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard.

The narrow shape does allow for bowing and Jonathan says, " it sounds killer bowed as well!! ".

The pickup consist of two piezos mounted in a maple bridge with an active pre-amp build in.

Be sure to check out Jonathan Wilson when your on the west coast and see him play his Knotafish Gas Tank Bass.

Keg Bass (custom made for Chris Waters in Chapel Hill, NC)

Chris is the drummer for a country band called Eight Second Ride (8SR). He decided he wanted to learn how to play bass and what better way to learn on than a Knotafish Keg Bass.

The Keg Bass is a 1/2 scale 4 string. Half scale is similar to an electric bass so I encourage people who normally play electric bass to use that scale. The neck is made from poplar and the fingerboard oak. I know oak is not normally used for instrument making but neither are kegs for that matter. The body is a 15.5 Gal barrel keg that is beat to hell and has what look like a couple bullet holes. Talk about character, this is a real conversation piece. There are two pickups, one magnetic and the other piezo. The magnetic pickup is made from a "Cold Beer to Go" magnet I found and the piezo is embedded into the bridge. A stereo jack allows this bass to run each pickup to a different amp or channel in a mixer. The possibilities are endless. It's not viable in the picture, but there is a bolt mounted to the top of the headstock that allows Chris to attach a tap handle to the top.

Click here to hear the song "Twin Flames" by "The Dustmen" recorded with a Keg Bass

Soon to be named (custom made for Michael Miller "Bones" in Baton Rouge, LA)
"I love it. It is beautiful. I can see the love and the price was so nice.
You rock, Bones"

Bones plays bass and sings for in three bands, Bones, Liquidrone, and The Myrtles. The bands play around New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. Check out The Myrtles' website www.themyrtles.com.

Bones contacted me wanting to make a 3 string bass that he could dance with. Originally this was going to be made from a tractor's gas tank but the damn thing was just too damn heavy. Just as I was tearing my hair out, I stumbled across these neat old metal buckets at a flea market and ran the idea by Bones. He said go for it.

The buckets are riveted together end to end to create the chamber. I cut half an f hole in each bucket and painted it black in between. The neck is actually made from a special pine called "Tube Eye Fore" with a poplar fingerboard painted with several coats of black lacquer. The pickup consist of two piezos embedded in the bridge.

Bones is thinking long and hard about the name so we will keep you updated.

"Fat Boy Tub" Bass (created as a prototype and sold on ebay)

This was fun to build and I really wanted to keep it for myself, but I'm married (married guys know what I'm talking about).

This tub is 1/2 scale with position markers on the side. The neck is made of special "Tube Eye Fore" pine with a poplar fingerboard. I tend to use materials I have laying around the shop for prototypes. It has two sound post made from threaded rod (as you can see from the back view) and an end pin also made from a threaded rod. The only problem with using a threaded rod for an end pin is it takes forever to screw down. The pickup consist of two piezos embedded in the bridge with the input jack in the tail piece and yes, the tail piece is a door handle.

I really suggest this model for anyone who is looking for an upright bass that is a little different and/or more affordable than a standard double bass.

Hear what the "Fat Boy Tub" sounds like.

"Trashcan Bass" (This is how it all began)

This is what got me started in the whole instrument making thing. The story goes like this. My friend Jack and I started a little duo (The Dustmen) and I wanted to play something more interesting than just a regular electric bass. I tried a standard washtub bass, but you only have a handful of notes and it was difficult to play in tune. I thought if I could make something that I could actually finger the notes it would work better and the Trashcan Bass was born.

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