The acoustic bass is pretty simple, mechanically speaking:

Strings stretch across a resonant box, making deep notes when plucked or bowed.

You can make one out of a washtub and a broomstick if you like.

For the Jam Table, I would rather build something that any fool can fool with – but that any bass player will want to play.

So I started sketching, trying to puzzle out how to make the playing surface easy to reach – and how to stuff the body under the table surface without running into the table base’s stainless steel frame.

I had a few long strips of acacia butcher block left over from installing a new countertop. Acacia would seem to be strong enough to function as the neck of a standup bass, but I did wonder quite a bit whether it would need some kind of reinforcement or truss rod installed.

I have no way of drilling a hole the 36-inch length and 3/8″ diameter of the neck at all, let alone accurately to the line of the neck to insert a scrap stainless steel rod I have left over from another home project.

So I proceeded with this assumption: If the tension of the thick double-bass strings that I’m using does deform the neck, I’m gonna have to (hell, I dunno) groove the back of the neck with a router and insert the rod and tie it in with … bolts? Ugh. I’m not a religious man, but I am praying on this.