Beedster

Folks An old double bass requiring some serious repair has come into my possession; in fact it would me more correct to say a collection of parts that all belonged to the same instrument have come into my possession. My aim is to rebuild the instrument to the degree that it's playable and structurally sound, as opposed to restoring it to its original state. These books, as well as the expertise of this forum, will be my guides It's a 4/4 with a 43.5 speaking length. It has a break at the scroll (which is only held on by the tuners), the endpin gets no traction with the body, there is no nut and the tailwire appears to be made out of a piece of old fence. However a good look around the inside of the body suggests no cracks, no loose bars and - perhaps miraculously- the sound-post is still in place and appears to be quite stable. The main challenge at present relates to the neck, which is not attached to the body, has a considerable amount of glue residue and splintering, and also a curious shape. Going on the obvious signs of previous alignment between neck and body the piece of wood that appear extended sits inside the back of the instrument, that is inside the body. Ultimately I'm not sure what purpose that V-shaped gap serves and whether is is something to retain or fill. Thanks in anticipation of any help you can offer? Here's some pics of the business end of the body And finally a photo of the neck almost in place

This. Hard times don’t stifle creativity they drive it. Looking at the last 20 years ir so of economic stability and the music it produced……. Need I say more 😕

Ha ha, ‘some diversity’ of opinion is an understatement! In the grand scheme - wood, bridge, soundpost, strings - even if a factor I imagine it’s quite low down the list so I’m going to do some experimentation 👍

I messaged Bass Bros a week ago about a consignment sale and had no reply so I’ve opted to go somewhere else

Hi @agedhorse, photos below

Thanks @JoeEvans, very creative. What does that do to the afterlength, do the cords effectively add to vibrating string afterlength, replace the tailpiece, or fall somewhere between the two?

Hi @agedhorse, I'll check re the switches saying 'M-Pulse', although IIRC it does (I have only the one), but the pin numbers certainly differed between the unit/cable and the amp itself hence my inability ti use it 👍

Agree, and it made a right mess of the thread I started about male chickens born in the east end of London running around highly excited while prepping their shotguns for action and tilting their heads to one side

Thanks @chrkelly, I've just looked at some of the thoughts on afterlength modification on TalkBass. Wow, that is the Double Bass rabbit hole to end all Double Bass rabbit holes, but it does at least appear that a bit of trial and error is probably not too risky 👍

That's a really interesting post @JoeEvans, I'm going to look into a few of the ideas in there, thanks 👍

Agree 100%, no need to replace the unit, noise is there but minor, so check all other options first. As @sandy_r says could be as simple as mechanical (positioning) or excessive gain. If you're anything like me, the main problem is that once you've heard something you don;t like it gets progressively louder

That's a proper reply! Ears are good, but a waveforms is about as good as it gets 👍

Hi @sandy_r, looking at sopme of your posts (the Realist for example), I'm not sure how this forum manages without you! Many thanks, I'll check this out when I get the M-Pulse back later this week 👍

Lovely, good work 👍

Thanks Chris, agreed re costly mistake. I pretty much built the bass about 10 years back so it's easy for me to install a longer tail wire, I also have a longer tail piece that might help further. Longer tailwire and tailpiece - and therefore shorter distance between tailpiece and bridge - will affect tone, what's your thinking on the likely difference? Thanks for your help. Chris

Thanks folks, good advice. They're a Eudoxa 3/4 set. When I bought them I was under the impression that like many Pirastro strings, 3/4 strings generally served 4/4 instruments (and IIRC Caswell's didn't offer a 4/4 option). I bought them for a 3/4 instrument that on reflection soon afterwards was working very well with the Evahs I'd experimented with. I suspect the 4/4 will sing with them but not 100% convinced IO should risk it hence the thread

Following this with interest, I’ve an old bass in similar condition that I’m looking at restoring 👍

Thanks Jack, the silks on the strings on there at present start pretty much at the tuner itself so quite a difference in length. I think I may have to suck it and see......

It’s there

Defo something (static) on there, have you checked cables etc and perhaps tried another instrument into the same pre-amp?

I have a very long 4/4 DB and a rather nice set of strings I'm dying to use on it, but they are about a centimetre too short at the nut, that is the silks on the D and A strings run around 1cm across the nut. I've had this same situation on electric bass before and it made very little difference, but I have three questions re doing it on DB 1. Apart from the open strings (which I rarely play anyway) will this adversely affect tone/sustain on fingered notes on those two strings 2. Might I run into problems associated with too short a winding on the tuning peg? 3. Is there any chance I could damage the strings? Thanks in advance folks Chris

Many thanks @agedhorse, I hope so! While you're here, as I mentioned above @Steve Browning was kind enough to send me - and at no cost - a foot-switch for an M-Pulse 600. Sadly the pin number of the cable differed to that on the rear of the amp itself so I was unable to use it. Is there a workaround for this or is it simply a case of that foot-switch will not work with that model of the M-Pulse? Chris