The patient: a 1969-ish Hohner Bartell hollowbody.
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbody.jpg
It's really only hollow on the sides, big support block down the middle...

Here's some pics, and here's what I guess happened, long ago. At least all the damage appears old. The string retainer is pulling out of the body...it was re-installed at one point with non-stock screws-as you can see one of them is a sheet rock screw. You can see the dent the retainer caused in the top. You can barely see the cracks all the way thru the body at the neck joint. I also sent two of the cracks "highlighted.''

I imagine the bass fell face first, breaking the orignal neck, and inflicting the rest of the damage. Landing face first, bending the neck backwards hard enough to break it would have put a great deal of sudden string tension on the string retainer portion of the bridge, and caused the dent in the top. It could have also caused the cracks in the neck joint portion of the body.

Good news/bad news: String tension actually pulls the body back together here. Even applying pressure, I can't get those cracks open much. I think superglue will travel and permeate the cracks and prevent them from getting worse, if they ever would. The string retainer portion of the bridge is another, and bigger problem. One could perhaps just use bigger guage wood screws, but the holes are wallowed out from the sideways tension on them. The correct answer here is to drill them bigger, dowel them, and re-drill, re-install the string retainer.

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokenbridge.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokenbridgeparts.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokentopdent.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokencrackright.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokencrackline.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokencrackleft.jpg
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k229/komual/hohnerbrokencrackline2.jpg

for reference

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3963011&postcount=22

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3963011&postcount=24

all the best,

R

Hey Chef,

I just received my Hohner back from my son, and it has the same cracks that yours does... Not as long, (they are each about 1/4" to 3/8" in length), but identically placed. I cannot widen the cracks with prying, so a hot-hide-glue fix is out. Actually, on mine, they appear very old and do not appear to affect the bass, so I will be leaving them as-is...

On another note, I had forgotten just how good this bass can sound!

-robert

Robert, I'm gonna try to wick some superglue into those.
Rodent, I owe you measurements so you can help me with inserts...

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&cat=1,110&p=30261