Acoustic Bass Guitars

In the late 1980’s and early 90’s, MTV’s “Unplugged” program created a demand for acoustic Bass Guitars. First made commercially by Guild in the 1970’s, bassists soon sought acoustic instruments that would allow them to play with acoustic instruments but could still be plugged into an amp or D.I. box for a P.A. system or for recording. This required R&D development of better piezoelectric pickup systems to cleanly reproduce bass sounds, as well as changes in acoustic guitar design to accommodate the low frequency requirements of an acoustic Bass Guitar. Other than Guild’s version, the nearest acoustic Bass Guitar type instruments available at the time were those used in Mexican Mariachi bands or bass balalaikas, such as used by Jack Casady.

Taylor Guitars made some breakthroughs in acoustic Bass Guitar engineering and Ovation’s pioneering work in piezoelectric pickup systems, graphite reinforced necks and acoustically tuned, carbon fiber tops paved the way for their popular Lyrachord round backed models.

A number of other manufacturers, such as Ibanez, Dean, Ovation, Breedlove, Fender, Takamine, Washburn and Godin now also offer acoustic Bass Guitars. While the more budget priced models sport laminated wood construction and electronics, the more expensive models have features that rival their acoustic guitar counterparts in terms of craftsmanship, solid wood quality, electronics and inlay cosmetics.