> Well, blast it, I just broke a string playing with it...  Obviously
> there's a better way to handle picking up the base frequency
> of the string...  anyone got a bright idea that doesn't involve
> op amps and a hundred components?

My God, man of steel. I've NEVER managed to break a bass
guitar string

Looking at my bass on the scope the fundamental is very
strong when the string is first struck, and then deteriorates
into harmonics as the volume dies down. In the past I've
tried sub-harmonic generators (using a 4024, wow, talk
about rumble you can feel) and synth  inputs with varying
degrees of success, principally due to the very poor "A2D"
conversion of string to electronic. Some fuzz boxes will
square up a guitar signal, especially the crude ones that
are basically diode-clippers, perhaps in conjunction with a
noise gate or constant volume amp (simple op amp designs,
I know I know, but you could do it with transistors/FETs)
you could get better results. The easy answer I think would
be to keep striking the string to keep it putting out the fundamental

One possible alternative is a device called an E-bow,

http://www.ebow.com/

which is an electromagnetic thing that causes the string to vibrate.
I haven't tried one on a bass but they work very well on 6-strings,
been around for years

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