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A compact plank bass with printed frets and four tuners, lying on a piano
Photo: Epiccraftful via Thingiverse, CC BY. Resized and converted to WebP.
Strings · Bass guitar

Working Compact Bass Guitar

A super-compact four-string electric bass on a hardwood plank, with printed frets and peg boxes

Designed by Epiccraftful, published on Thingiverse

CC BY 4.0 Commercial use OK Build info 3/5

Licence verified on Thingiverse, 21 October 2026.

Get the files on Thingiverse ↗
Strings
4, polymer bass-ukulele strings (the designer used Aquila 68U)
Scale
18 in, 24 frets
Body
A 0.75 in hickory plank, about 18.5 in long
Pickup
Under-saddle piezo transducer
On Thingiverse
357 likes · 6 comments (as of 21 Oct 2026)

About the Compact Bass

A very small four-string electric bass that the designer, Epiccraftful, says is fully working and uses at some gigs. The "body" is just a plank of 0.75 in hickory. You print the frets, the nut, four string rollers and two peg boxes, and glue them on. It uses polymer bass-ukulele strings (Aquila 68U), 2+2 bass tuning machines and an under-saddle piezo pickup, so it needs an amp to be heard.

The page gives the plank's dimensions: 1.5 in wide at the head, which is 2 in long; 2.75 in wide at the base; 18.25 in from the nut end to the base along the centre (18.5 in along the edge). Frets go at the positions from an online fret calculator for a 24-fret, 18 in bass scale. Glue the nut 2 in below the top of the head and the pickup underneath. Put the E/A peg box 1 in from the base and the D/G box 1.5 in from it, both on the back. The four rollers go on the underside for the strings to wrap over.

Honest notes. It's a minimal, plank-style bass, not a guitar-shaped instrument. The designer warns that the piezo's wire is very fragile and they hadn't found a good way to secure it, so plan some strain relief. Hole sizes for the strings depend on the string gauge. It takes some woodworking (cutting the plank, drilling) as well as printing.

What you'll need

Printed parts

  • Frets (24)
  • Nut
  • 4 string rollers
  • 2 peg boxes

Bought parts

  • A hickory plank, 0.75 in thick (cut to the dimensions above)
  • Bass-ukulele strings (polymer; the designer used Aquila 68U)
  • 2+2 bass tuning machines (2 left, 2 right)
  • An under-saddle piezo transducer pickup for 4 strings
  • A 3.5 mm male to 2.5 mm female audio adapter
  • Super glue

Tools

  • A 3D printer
  • A saw to cut the plank
  • A drill (hole size to suit your strings)
  • An amp to play through

Build overview

Our own outline of the designer's instructions on Thingiverse.

  1. Print and cut. Print the frets, nut, rollers and peg boxes, and cut the plank to the dimensions given.
  2. Fit the nut and pickup. Glue the nut 2 in below the top of the head, and the piezo pickup to the underside of the plank.
  3. Fit the frets. Work out the positions for 24 frets at an 18 in bass scale with a fret calculator, and glue the frets on.
  4. Fit the tuners. Fix the tuning machines into the peg boxes. Glue the E/A box on the back 1 in from the base and the D/G box 1.5 in from it, then glue the rollers on the underside.
  5. String it. Drill holes above the nut to suit the strings, thread them through, round the end and to the tuners.
  6. Tune and play. Tune up, plug into an amp and play.

Photos

More of the designer's photos are on Thingiverse. See them on Thingiverse ↗

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