I would like to know if it would be possible to make a bass sound like the low notes on a piano...
 
Other words : If a piano has strings, would it be possible to get those rich lows with that natural equal sound?
 
Scale, strings, other stuff I don't know about bass making... WHAT could give this sound?
 
After all, both instruments have strings...
 
Hope to finally get some answers, cause it would be great to have a piano sounding bass for slap and chords.  
 
Thx Alembiciens, I hope to be one some day too.
 
Olivier

I used to use a piano string design string by Rotosound. I don't think they make them anymore. I believe they did provide the overtones similar to a piano for about a week. It will be hard to replicate the sound with the physics involved.

Thx for that answer, but what exactly would those physics be? (I know that strings get fret burns, but I have used the same strings for about 6 months now, no wash, and that sound fuller then new strings on a demo in a store)
 
Mica, could you tell me what would bring the future europa to a similay sound then piano?
 
Olivier

I looked at those Rotosound strings, you are right, they use the core end consept like the piano.
 
Alembic says theye electronic give a greater natural sound.
 
The thing is, I hear that Stanley C. uses those same strings, but I do no want that sound (I really want lots of tones, and a vibrating sound)
 
I was going for a medium or a long scale, but if 36 inches could help me get a rich, bright, sustained sound, with no buzz, BUT STILL HAVE A EXTREME LOW ACTION... (I like the action to be unbelivably low, but hate what big string nazal sound.)
 
Hope I finaly found that dream sound...
 
Still hope to get a Pro's opinion. After all, YOU will make that bass.

I think first you should look at how a piano strikes the strings and a bass plucks/picks the strings.
 
I have tried this in years past. I would flick my finger to strike the string with the nail side of my finger, as in a piano striking the string. It does sound similar, but I can gaarauntee your fingers won't like you much

Or, you could try Tony Levin's Funk Fingers and hammer on the strings to your heart's content.

It will be impossible to get the sound of a piano string on a bass string. You'll have better luck with a harp. Thats something that has been overlooked by popular music.

Ya... after all, a bass isn't a piano. But still, it would be great to sound like a left hand on piano, specially with chords and slap.
 
I hope alembic has a sound rich enough to make piano players envy my bass sound

Absolutely. I have had the idea of that for a while.. You can get close but never will you have a sound that rivials a 5 foot bass string vibrating freely.

Having been a piano player all of my life, and a bass guitarist for the last 25, I can tell you this:
 
With the right gear and NEW strings, a bass can approach the sound of a piano.  But, NO BASS will ever sound like the deep end of a 7' Steinway or Yamaha.  I guess you could MIDI with a bass/synth rig to sampled grands, but that's a LOT of aggravation.
 
The physics of the two instruments are just too different.  But I understand wanting that sound.  I remember playing a Bosendorfer grand years ago like it was yesterday.  I remember great grand pianos I've played vividly.  

Hey Oil, If your looking for a piano sound from a bass you might look at Neuser basses. They actually make a bass with piano hammers built in to the body  between the pickups that you activate by pressing some sort of levers in the body just below the G string.To quote Frank Z....Bizzare!!!! but it just might get the sound your looking for. Look on Harmony Central for their web address. Mike

Thx for that... looks pretty kool, but there is no way I can get my hands on one to try it...