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A Whamola is a one-string bass whose hinged handle bends pitch by changing string tension. To make one, build a stiff body with a fingerboard, route a string over low-friction rollers, and connect it to a tuner or anchor and a pivoting lever. Add a pickup if you want an amplified instrument. There is no standardized, mechanically validated plan in the available examples, so decide the string, tuning, scale, and lever geometry together before cutting parts.
How a Whamola works
Pachyderm Instruments describes the Whamola as a one-string instrument with an aluminum body and hardwood fingerboard, played by plucking or striking the string while moving a whammy-bar-style handle. Its origin story describes an earlier instrument built around square aluminum tubing, a hinged handle, a flat-wound string, a crude fingerboard, a small pickup, a roller channel, and a bass-string peg near the bottom. These are conceptual references, not a dimensioned construction plan. Pachyderm Instruments FAQ · Pachyderm Instruments
The string’s path and the lever do the essential work: the string crosses the playing area and a pickup if fitted, turns over rollers, then reaches a tuner or anchor. Moving the lever changes its tension and therefore its pitch. Components and geometry vary among builds.
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Choose a body construction
Aluminum tube with a wood neck and lever
In a 2012 TalkBass build account, one hobbyist used 1½ × 2-inch aluminum tube, a 1½-inch oak neck attached with epoxy, a carved axe-handle lever, a bass tuner, a patio-door wheel as the nut/fulcrum, and a smaller wheel as the bridge. The builder later said they would choose 1½ × 1½-inch tube instead because the 2-inch width made the instrument harder to play. The build also used an old P-bass pickup and an upright-bass D string. These are one maker’s reported choices, not validated recommendations. TalkBass build account
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All-wood body
A separate oak project used two glued-up 21 × 45 mm boards for the body and a 10 × 45 mm oak fingerboard. Its maker later considered the result too thick and thought a thinner fingerboard might have improved playability. The project reported an overall length of 180 cm including a 60 cm endpin, retractable to about 30 cm, and an approximate 90 cm nut-to-bridge distance. These measurements describe that particular build, not a standard scale or recommended dimensions. Oak Whamola project
Plan the parts and geometry before cutting
At minimum, plan for a stiff body or frame, fingerboard, pivoting lever, string tuner or anchor, low-friction rollers at string turns, and one suitable bass-family string. For an electric build, also plan a pickup, wiring route, and output hardware. Decide whether you want an endpin and whether it needs to retract or come off for storage.
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An Instructables-hosted drawing labels a fingerboard, side board, handle bar, bridge-wheel bar, nut-wheel hole, bridge-wheel holes, string-saddle hole, pickup-wire hole, and leg-screw hole. It marks, for example, the nut-wheel hole one inch from the top and the leg-screw hole one inch from the bottom. The drawing explicitly warns that it is “Not even close to scale!!” Treat it as a checklist of features, not a print-and-cut template; establish dimensions for your own components and string route. Whamola parts drawing
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- Set the string and target tuning first. String choice, scale, tuner position, roller placement, and lever travel affect one another. The cited examples do not provide a validated string-tension calculation for a DIY design.
- Design the roller turns for your string path. Both the origin description and the tube build use a roller at a turn in the string. The sources do not specify a tested wheel or bearing size, so select and fit hardware for your own layout rather than assuming a particular wheel is suitable.
- Choose acoustic or amplified use before routing the body. Pickups appear in electric examples but are not essential to the basic lever-and-string concept. Decide before cutting pickup cavities or drilling wire routes.
Build and assemble in a deliberate order
The examples establish useful components and design choices, but do not document a fully tested procedure. Use this sequence as a planning framework, and determine dimensions and load-bearing details for the materials and hardware you choose.
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- Choose the body style and playing length. Select tubing or wood, decide on body thickness and width, and determine whether an endpin is needed. Mock up how the instrument sits and how far the lever must travel.
- Lay out the complete string path. Mark the fingerboard, roller locations, lever pivot, tuner or anchor, and string turns. If adding a pickup, mark its location and wire route; include endpin hardware if needed. Use the parts drawing only to remind you of features, not as a scale pattern.
- Build and fit the body, fingerboard, and lever. Confirm that the lever moves through the planned range and that the body and pivot arrangement suit the intended string path before installing the string.
- Mount the rollers and string hardware. Fit the tuner or anchor and rollers to the layout you established. Check that the string can follow the intended path as the lever moves; the source projects do not establish a universal hardware specification.
- Install the selected string and, if desired, the pickup. The TalkBass build account describes a P-bass pickup wired through a volume pot to an output jack, without a tone pot; that builder also said the pickup seemed quiet and might need to be raised. Treat this as one wiring anecdote, not a universal schematic. Fit and check pickup height, mounting, grounding, and wiring for your specific parts.
- Check tuning and lever travel. Tune for the string and geometry you selected and confirm that lever movement changes pitch as intended. The sources do not provide a validated string-load limit or a universally safe setup, so do not assume another build’s measurements or tuning apply to yours.
Choose a string and tuning for your own build
String advice differs by instrument. The TalkBass hobbyist used an upright-bass D string. Pachyderm Instruments says its instrument is supplied with a medium-tension, full-scale single G string and answers that it is a G string for a full-size cello; for its own Whamola, the maker says to tune to F-sharp with the bar fully compressed. That maker-specific setup is not automatically right for a DIY instrument with a different scale, tuner, string, or lever geometry. TalkBass build account · Pachyderm Instruments FAQ
Pachyderm also says its instrument includes a stick and recommends a soft stick, preferably bundle sticks, and says to use only the supplied stick size for maximum string life. That guidance applies to the maker’s instrument. Its FAQ says the instrument undergoes at least 45 minutes of stress testing; this is a manufacturer claim, not an independently verified performance figure. Pachyderm Instruments FAQ
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Common design trade-offs
| Decision | What the examples show | What to decide |
|---|---|---|
| Body material and thickness | A tube-body build and an all-oak project are both documented; each maker reported a playability concern with their chosen dimensions. | Mock up the instrument’s width and thickness for your playing position rather than treating either example as a standard. |
| String and tuning | The examples include an upright-bass D string and Pachyderm’s maker-specific G string and F-sharp setup with the bar fully compressed. | Choose a string and target tuning before fixing the scale, tuner, rollers, and lever geometry. |
| Rollers and lever | A patio-door wheel and a smaller wheel were used in one DIY account; the official origin description also mentions a roller channel. | Fit the string route and moving lever to your design; no tested bearing specification is established by these examples. |
| Pickup | The TalkBass build used a P-bass pickup; a pickup is not necessary to the basic one-string lever concept. | Decide whether you need amplification before routing cavities or wiring channels. |
| Portability | The oak project reported a retractable endpin with a 60 cm extended length and about 30 cm retracted. | Set endpin dimensions according to player fit and storage needs. |
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