BS: got a crazy idea?

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 12:01 PM

Susan, I picture it as a belt strung about with pockets that hang about, kind of like a hula skirt. :)

A carpenters toolbelt is heavier and more rigid than I would like. Something like cloth that hugs the body without adding appreciable weight or heat, perhaps.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 10:13 AM

Uh, Eb, is that an APRON? :~) Or a fanny pack?


My fave line at that Elderly page was: "Exact appearance of new instruments may vary."

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 08:01 AM

If the front is MDF or chipboard then the box on the back can be replaced.

Presumably the sound box is the container for the kit. Just don't post it, I say.

Come to think of it - Why not a cardboard bodhran. When disbelievers ask me if I can play (eg at work) I usually pick up a narrow box and beat out a tune (in the broadest sense).

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,nail...
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 11:21 PM

dangg.. that nail idea was genius!
i wonder if poeple actually bouth it without seeing a photo?
sometimes it seems that todays world is an improvement of older days.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Beer
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 06:41 PM

I had this idea a number of years back but I read in a New York paper that it had already been invented and the fellow was arrested.   He was selling a universal hanger for $1.00 When you sent your dollar to P.O. Box such and such he would send you a 3 inch nail. I thought it was a great idea.
On a more serious note someone besides me should come up with a small gadget so women could put in their purse and when they go to a public washroom they can take it out and it would have a suction cup on it then placed at a convenient spot on the washroom wall so they could hang their purse on it. I'm told that women do not like to hang their purses on door hooks in stalls as they are to close to the top and someone can easily reach over and grab it an run.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,Bogdon
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 06:17 PM

i dont think the WC Fields quote fits the box bass, i think the value is shown by the editor of Bass Player magazine June 2007 on page 15 and Elderly Music Store... the resonating body of the cardboard box bass has a sound that undenably matches ANY upright bass made at any cost. The combination of resonance and air within a body is what creates sound, and the included transducer matches any transducer at any cost... please understand that the box bass is not a replacement for expensive woods and fine luthier craftsmanship, but rather it's a novelty that's fun to see, hear, and play.
It's crazy but true.

I have 230+ Ebay purchasers that gave positive feedback describing the box bass. ((then again, maybe Barry Finn was talking about the upright bassists that pay $thousands?)) ***smiles***

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Barry Finn
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 02:20 AM

Ebbie try modifing a tool belt.

Cardboard's recycleable, so it make's it as a PC instrument, as long as the neck's not make from an exotic rare wood.

W.C.Fields said something a being born suckers, what was that?

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 01:58 AM

Thanks, bogdon. I figure that even if I never try to market the idea I can get a lot of good out of it. I can buy velcro by the yard, locally, and cut it to fit. If I decide on canvas for the pockets themselves I don't know about acquiring it but there are a couple of tent makers here and one of them is a friend of mine. Might start there.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,bogdon
Date: 09 Sep 07 - 04:12 PM

Ebbie, thats a GREAT IDEA!!!!!

as for my box bass case, i'm searching for a very large zip-lock bag.
i think that bag would add to the absurd bass itself, and maybe no handle(?)

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 11:09 PM

I"ve got one I've been mulling about for a few months. It's something I might call 'Summer Pockets'.

See, most women don't have decent pockets in their clothing, certainly not large enough pockets for the purposes I have in mind.

In Juneau I wear jackets practically year 'round- and that means I have pockets. Pockets to hold my empty coffee mug, pockets for keys and tissues and dog doo doo bags and a half dozen other things.

But in those rare days and months that the sky is brilliant and it's warm and ya just-gotta-get-outside, guess what: We don't have pockets.

So I'm working on a beltlike contraption on which I can hang pockets with fold-over flaps that will all have velcro closures. Pockets of different sizes for different uses, uses such as my ubiquitous mornig mug of java, pockets big enough and small enough to hold a sketch pad and a couple of pencils, respectively. Pockets that will lie flat in a stack at home, pockets that already ;have velcro fasteners stitched on them, just ready to whip them onto the belt.

I haven't decided yet what material the pockets should consist of. Maybe canvas?

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 09:17 PM

Lots of 'em!

Hahahahahaha!

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 05:09 PM

but my box bass hasn't gone outta tune for almost a year.

So a variant on the old joke - "it was in tune when I built it".

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 09:25 AM

"i need to find a gig bag to make it complete, something made outta that house wrap stuff."

House wrap sounds like something that would be hard to buy in small amounts. Why don't you go to fabric or hardware store and buy lightweight vinyl, which can be sewn into a waterproof bag? You'll want to rig up a handle as well.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 09:16 AM

Ah, the box is replaceable. That is a good idea. I'm impressed with a stringed instrument that stays in tune for a year.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: bogdon
Date: 08 Sep 07 - 07:22 AM

THANK YOU for the half bakery link... it looks like fun.
the cardboard box upright bass is somewhat of a pet-rock, with the addition of being able to serve a reasonable function. The box ressosnating is actually where the sound comes from, it wont last forever but the box itself is replaceable. I'm very proud of my machine head tuners that are nutz-n-boltz with washers. You need a small wrench to tune it, but my box bass hasn't gone outta tune for almost a year. (no kidding)... i need to find a gig bag to make it complete, something made outta that house wrap stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 06:58 PM

Looks a lot like a version of the tea chest bass of skiffle days. But with a cardboard box - I share GUEST,leeneia's doubts as to how long it could stand up to use. But then it's supposed to be a crazy idea.

Here's a site where people come up with all kinds of crazy ideas and other people tear them to pieces (a bit like the Mudcat really): halfbakery

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,ed
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 05:48 PM

A home for unwed fathers

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 03:11 PM

I don't think you want to get it wet.............But congrats on it anyway!!!!(:<))

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 01:44 PM

Congratulations. Once in a while there's a breakthrough...

I do wonder how long the instrument will last, however.

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:27 PM

Are there any prewar vintage models available?

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Amos
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 12:02 PM

Aha! With a couple of those and a couple of catspaw's 2x4 dulci-lesses, and maybe a thunderjug, you could get a real happening Jug Band into play.


A

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: curmudgeon
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 11:02 AM

Here it is!

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Amos
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 10:58 AM

Well, I would like to know, for one, what it is and promise not to accuse you of spam if you explain.


A

Subject: RE: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: Peace
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 10:56 AM

Try striking a match on a soggy marshmallow.

(Congrats, btw.)

Subject: BS: got a crazy idea?
From: bogdon
Date: 07 Sep 07 - 10:42 AM

This is proof positive that anything and everything is possible in the good ol USA. it's fun to do the impossible.

At risk of being accused of spamming (again) i wont say exactly what it is, but after a year of making an absurd instument I've accomplished to get Elderly Instruments to sell it in their store and catalog. Also, a music store in Mexico City called Premier Guitar sells it, Birdland Music of New York and a store in Texas called Guitar Tex does too. It's been featured in Bass Player Magazine, Fox News, major news papers... and of course i've been banned from most of the instrument forums all over the web.

The cool thing is that i get to show my kids that even though people tell me that my idea wont work, cant work, is stoopid, and impossible, the risk of trying out weighs the nay sayers. And even some nay sayers changed their minds.

I've sold 300+ all over the world, the purchasers all gave me positive feedback and music stores still tell me that "no ones gonna buy that trash..."

I firmly belive that EVERYTHING in possible!