Handmade Guitars by Bob Gramann

• Handmade Guitars
    by Bob Gramann
  • Design Statement
  • Woods
  • History
  • Why Handmade?
  • Warranty
• The Instruments
  • Rappahannock
  • York
  • Maury
  • Deep Run
  • Rapidan
  • James
  • Chesapeake Bass
  • Classical
  • Banjo
• Pickups
• Special Orders, Instruction, and Repairs
• Home

The Chesapeake Bass These guys are big!  And loud (for an acoustic bass guitar)!  The Chesapeake Bass I body is 19 3/4" long and 16 3/4" wide at the lower bout. The Chesapeake Bass II body is 21 3/4" long. With a 34" scale length, you can easily sweep the other players off the stage when they stand too close. Acoustic Bass Guitars have a reputation for being not so loud.  I built the first one of these as an experiment to see if I could get around that reputation.  Since the body of a guitar can't be big enough to effectively amplify the lowest of the bass notes, I designed this bass to accentuate the second harmonic.  In the case of the low E string, that means I accentuate the 82 Hz instead of the fundamental at 41 Hz. There is a psycho-acoustic effect where our brain fills in the missing fundamental when it hears the overall shape of the note, so the bottom E sounds loud even though it is really the second harmonic of that note that gets to your ear.  A body this size can amplify 82 Hz quite well, so this instrument can be heard when playing with an acoustic group.  Using computer analysis (a Fast Fourier Transform), this instrument shows about the same power as my acoustic upright bass although the distribution of the peaks is different. In practical terms, that means it sounds quite loud to someone standing in front, but the deepest bass notes don't fill the room all around like the upright bass does.  There is plenty of headroom in these basses, so when you really want it loud, you can play with a pick for much more volume.  Each has a K&K Pure Bass Pickup installed for when you do want to plug in. I don't have any of these in stock but I can build one for you if you want one.  The price will depend on market values at the time.  In 2026, you can expect a quote around $4900 depending on any extra features you might want.

			The Chesapeake Bass I and II
			122- Fretless, 34" scale, 1 11/16" nut.  Sitka top, Osage Orange back and sides.  You will have a hard time finding a louder acoustic bass.  And, it sounds pretty nice.  K&K Pure Bass pickup installed. Sold	173 - Fretless, 34" scale, 1 5/8" nut.  Sitka top, Sycamore back and sides.   Sold

Bob Gramann
122 Laurel Avenue
Fredericksburg, VA 22408

(540) 898-0611
bob@bobgramann.com
7/16/26