Maude

When I first started work in '87 there was a bloke about ten years older who lent me loads of albums including Tygers of Pan Tang. There was also Graham Bonnets band, Alcatraz, although thinking about it Yngwie Malmsteen was guitarist so can't really be classed British, they had that sound though from memory. I ended up in my first proper band with that bloke from work. Happy days.

I know a few people on here have a TB-10 (or B10) but I can't remember who, or more rightly who has still got one as I think one did the rounds a bit. If you have one could you measure the width of the fingerboard at the wide end for me please, and if it's much less than 95mm or so, does it still feel doublebassish to play with tighter string spacing? Thank you. 🙂👍

I've measured up for fingerboards. The Aria board is 41mm at the nut, 65mm at the body end and 657mm long. I'd like about 770mm length for the new one. All boards vary slightly but in general cello boards are all too short, even for the standard Aria one. So it's going to have to be a double bass one. On average from looking at adverts 3/4 & 1/2 size are 41mm nut and 1/4 size are 36mm, so we're down to two sizes. The 3/4 is 860mm long and 96mm at the thick end, the 1/2 is 780mm long and 94mm at the end. Now although I want a wider string spacing it'll have to be a compromise between getting the width and looking/feeling rediculous. So although the 1/2 is the closest in length, if the 3/4 was cut down to 770mm then due to the taper, it would be narrower than the 1/2 at the wide end, so probably more suitable. So a 3/4 size board to cut down is on my shopping list. I realise this is boring but I've written it here to get it clear in my head and to remember it.

It's all good so far. There's still a plenty of time yet though. 😉

I'd sort of gathered that by the big gaps in the factory joint. But there's good contact where it needs to be. As I say, I'm no carpenter but my job means I can assess structural integrity well so will be able to work out where needs to be tight, it's just whether I can achieve it with my poor woodworking skills. If not three or four big decking screws into the dovetail at 45 degrees should hold it. 😆

I feel a liitle side project coming on involving an old steam mop that's never used, some rubber hose and a football pump needle. 😁

Thanks for the info Andy, it's always appreciated. Now thinking out loud here, and while no luthier or carpenter I'm pretty good at problem solving, but please feel free to tell me I'm an idiot if you want. Being a panel beater for over thirty years I'm very good with sandpaper and alignment/attention to detail, but I'm rubbish with a woodworking chisel. With the neck removed could the correct angle be sanded into shoulders of the neck, tapering from nothing taken off the front to the necessary amount off the rear to allow the neck to lay back, and then the dovetail part of the neck chamfered until it sits snuggly in but very fractionally proud, then glued and tapped home? If turned into a mortice and tenon, wouldn't it need packing out either side of the tenon? And still need the taper sanded into the shoulders. I know my terminology is probably off but I hope you can see what I mean. Edit. With my sanding the dovetail I've realised it'll will probably also need packing at the lower rear of the joint as the neck lays back. I reckon something is achievable so I'll get the neck off and go from there. 😬

Thanks, that's as I suspected. 🙂👍

Cheers @Matt PP, I'll watch that later. I need to research the process of changing the neck angle first to make sure I can achieve it with my tools and skill level. I don't want to get the neck off only to have to refit it as is because I can't change the angle.

My Kay has a laminate neck, about forty laminates I reckon. It must be better than those with only five or six. I think they call it plywood. 😉

If you can remove the textured coat but leave whatever's underneath intact then I'd go for. Going right back to wood is time consuming and you risk taking bits out of the wood, but will then need a load more work to grain fill etc, to get to a point where you can paint it. If it weren't textured I'd say just a very light sanding (800grit) would do you but I'd try and get all the textured finish off as you don't know what it is. Quite often an odd finish like that will react with the finished you will be applying, it might not but you don't want to risk it. As for cabinet scraper or razor, I don't know that one will be better than the other. A small razor might be easier is certain area but a larger cabinet scraper better on the bigger flat areas. A scraper with some convex and concave curves as well as a flat edge would be good as you could get pretty much everywhere with it. I don't really know what's available though.

I assume, never a good start 😁, that that dovetail runs through to the back edge of the heel, and heat applied to the heel for long enough to penetrate will allow me to knock the neck/heel out towards the front using a block of wood and a mallet. First cutting through the finish with a razor along the joints so as to save the finish as much as possible, although it's so thin I'm not sure it'll need it. I can see inside through the f hole and it's not bolted from inside or anything. This is all madness BTW, three hours ago I had a lovely bass that just needed a touch of f fingerboard sanding or a trussrod tweak. Now what the hell have I got myself into? 😳😆

Following the method I assume most folks use but well documented by @Andyjr1515, I've removed the fingerboard. I knocked out the nut and removed the plastic TRC. Then used Lady M's clothes iron to heat the board. I placed kitchen towel between the board and the iron to try and protect the iron from any oil residue but something black has leached out of the wood and through the kitchen towel. I have some iron cleaning to do once cooled as ironing a white shirt with black resin on the iron probably isn't going to end well. At worst I've got an iron for the shed and Lady M will have a shiny new one. 😁 As Andy always says it's a slow and steady process and he's not wrong. With time it is actually very easy, you just can't rush it. I started at the nut end as I could get a flat screwdriver between the trussrod and the board to lift the first section, the iron needed to be on there for about fifteen minutes before I could gently ease the board up. I then slid my steel rule in and removed the screwdriver. I left the iron on for about ten minutes in each area and then slid my steel rule down towards the body, bracing the body between my knees and the wiggling the steel rule back and forth in a kind alternatate left and right rowing action. At the body end I put some cardboard around the fingerboard to protect the plastic body binding from the heat, but I have annoyingly damaged the finish on the body. I tried to continue sliding the steel rule, albeit with a slight upward force on the leading edge to try not to dig into the finish, but I did. I managed to get it off the body just with a screwdriver inserted down the length. It wasn't bonded to the body wood anywhere near as firmly as the neck so I suspect this is why there was a tiny gap on one side. The damage to the finish isn't the end of the world as I'm going to do something with the finish anyway. Gently prised out the trussrod and this is the neck joint, this is the bit where I assume everything will quickly turn to firewood if get it wrong. @Andyjr1515, how likely is it that that this separatable without major trauma to the body? That last picture shows the join line I mention early that feels sharp, but I think it's solid, it's the one between neck and heel.

Countdown To Extraction - Megadeth 😆 Ok, a proper suggestion now, Teethgrinder - Therapy?

It's sat tuned to pitch overnight to let the wood acclimatise to indoor temperature and none of the suspect joints have moved, I think the little edge on some joints I can feel are just how they are, I'm reluctant to say bad build quality as wood moves and it's not an expensive instrument so I'd imagine the amount of hand finishing is kept to a minimum. The wood is actually very nice and with a bit more care in the finishing it could be very nice. Something I'll address if this madness works. Which brings me nicely to the next step. I made a bridge from some old laminate flooring and managed to fit the strings over it into the original bridge holes. I had to tape if firmly back to the bottom of the body as the extreme string angle behind the bridge wants to tip it forwards. The new bridge sat in front of the old one so I could see if the top could take the strain. The top is X braced and the X crosses in front of the original bridge so my new one was over the bracing. I tuned it to pitch slowly, repeatedly checking the top with a straight edge and it got to pitch with no distortion of the top. I let it sit for an hour and I can't see any movement at all. The strings are now off and checking again with a straight edge, there seems to be none, or very very little difference in the top whether under the tension of the high bridge or not. One very good observation is that it's much louder and has a nicer, deeper tone with the raised bridge, something that is true of doublebasses. I don't know know the physics but if you raise your action on a DB you get more volume and quite often a nicer tone. So it's now all systems go on removing the fingerboard. 🤞😬

You Talk Too Much - Sultans Of Ping

I'm going to let it acclimatise overnight and inspect a suspect joint. I think I'm worrying about nothing because I reckon the issues with the bass are just manufacturing issues rather than damage. Apart from the fingerboard having a tiny gap to the soundboard, the actual neck and heel are two pieces of wood and I can feel an edge along that join, I just want to see check if that changes with string tension to see if it's separating or just not a great joint. Then I need to mock up a raised bridge and tailpiece to see if the soundboard is happy with the change in directional forces. If it doesn't seem happy then I'll just repair and keep it as is.

You are correct on all counts. Yes the easiest way to achieve a steeper neck angle is to remove the neck, reshape and refit. The problem is me doing it without completely destroying the body. That's why I was hoping to manage something by just replacing the fingerboard and shaving the skinny end and packing out the fat end. But without a new board I can't tell, but you may well be (read probably are) right. How easy is it to remove the entire neck from the body of an acoustic usually? I'm happy to be refinishing this as the finish isn't great anyway. A bit of time sanding it and oiling would do it the world of good as the wood is quite nice.

It'll be even more interesting when I'm sat on the shed floor in tears surrounded by little broken bits of Aria. 😉

I've lost count of the amount of cello necks I've bought without realising. 😆

Well it's here. 😬 Opened the door to the courier holding a soggy tattered box. To be fair he said he had logged it with his supervisor before leaving, so if anything was water damaged then it would be covered. So I've bought an already damaged acoustic bass, that has now, judging by the filth all over it, been dragged around in its box to the point it's soaked up enough water that it's just falling apart in your hands, and is in such a state the delivery driver is genuinely apologetic. Can't see anything going wrong here. 😆 The first box pretty much fell off and the bass was inside a second, guitar box which also felt very damp, not wet but had lost all its integrity. I get the bass out fearing the worst and do you know what? It's alright. 😃 Inspection time. No real damage that I can see as such. A small chip in the top of the headstock that was listed, much bigger chips on the shoulder of the headstock that wasn't listed. The neck seems fine and the fingerboard I don't think is lifting. So better than expected. There are issues though. These aren't complaints as such as it's only a £250/£300 bass anyway. The finishing could be better, certain parts not shaped very well and everything feels dry and slightly rough. There's a little lip where the neck and the heel are glued together, and other joints that could be tidier. This is nit picking and leads me to think that the gap between the fingerboard and body that was the main reason for the price reduction has always been there, and isn't from being dropped, or whatever. Just a bit more not perfect workmanship. It hasn't been smashed by G4M like some of their stuff but has been bought and returned. The actual issue with it is the buzzing on the board. The action is very low and while the E and A strings are fine, the D just starts to buzz a bit from around the 13th fret upwards, but not too bad. But the G stays on the same note from the 13th fret up to about the 16th/17th and then progresses as normal albeit buzzing like the D string. The board may have lifted there or was never glued down properly from factory. I've tuned it up and will let it sit overnight and inspect tomorrow as the wood is very cold from its journey so I'll let it settle. Maybe a little tweak of the trussrod will sort it, not that it needs it if I'm going to attack it. I was kind of hoping the board would be hanging off to 1, save me work and 2, ease my guilt over wrecking a decent instrument.

My Hofner Artist used a different tuner to the standard small Hofner guitar type that they used on the Violins and Clubs. Bigger like a normal bass tuner but still smaller than the norm today, with a large square pearl head. I'll have a look but I'm guessing they'll be the standard Hofner size. 👍

Thunder In The Mountains - Toyah

I you have long fingernails the only way I can see them not catching the strings is to adopt a plucking technique similar to a double bassist. A doublebass is usually plucked using the side of the finger tip, so would be beside your nail, as in this link. https://images.app.goo.gl/A62RFFja6njc6tTp6 The only other option is to buy some of those fake thumbs used for 'The disappearing handkerchief' trick. 😁 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3X-Soft-Rubber-Thumb-Magic-Simulation-Fingers-Appear-Disappear-Joke-Trick-Props-/202672360175?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

Absolutely the right move in my opinion. It's got just the right amount of detail to add interest without cluttering the design. The soundholes and quirky pickguard/control surround are the perfect amount of detail with the control surround mirroring the soundholes. Even a second pickup would clutter it I feel. The headstock matches the overall esthetic perfectly too. Profile, features and colour? Perfection! 👌