Care and feeding of an upright

[thebassplaya38]

I am so ashamed.
I started playing the upright 20 years ago, and have NEVER known anything about proper storage and maintanece. I've owned a 1/2 bass for 11 years that I've never done anything more than store in a gig bag in a corner of my basment .
I stopped playing it a few years ago after being laughed at by too many URB players and accused of playing a "Chello," so I picked up a beautifull 3/4 size Lidl upright from the now defunkt Mars music for $700 bucks (former rental.) Its in excellent shape, but recently I took a look at my lonely 1/2 size and it's starting to crack. I don't want my 3/4 to suffer this same fate.
So what tips can you offer this prodigal son?
Should I store my bass standing up or on it's side?
Should I be using a humidifier?
Any repair shops you'd recommend in the Atlanta GA area?

[John Sprague]

a corner of my basment

That may be the issue right there. Generally speaking, keep the humidity above 25 and below 60, season permitting. Most of all, avoid shocking it when moving from house to gig, by letting it aclimate in the bag for a while (an hour if you can) when you arrive.

Ronald Sachs is a good shop in Atlanta (Lilburn), 770-931-2440.

Good luck!

[Silversorcerer]

I was fortunate(?) enough to snag a 3/4 Lidl laminate that was in fair condition with a horrible set-up from Mars the last day they were in business for $250. It was a going out of business deal that would be tough to beat. Actually a "friend" bought it for me after I explicitly said not to, but that's another story. Anyway, it served me until I was able to get a better bass that was carved and set up right.

I never took any precaution with the Lidl at all. It went everywhere in all kinds of weather conditions. Finally, due to some unhappy accident in it's earlier life, a hairline button crack opened up some, but I think it was due to heavy use and playing, not to weather or wood movement. The plywood basses usually don't crack the way the carved ones do and I feel certain the button crack was due to a sideways impact on the neck. It was not properly repaired so it re-opened.

You might get seams opening or in severe cases delaminations, but the cracks are rare on laminates because of the way the plywood grains cross. I would say if you are just going to "do nothing", and your Lidl is a laminate like mine, you just have to be careful not to drop the bass or otherwise incite damage through carelessness. These seem to be nearly impervious to weather stress. I had a solid wood drum of 5/8" birseye maple that was stored side by side with the Lidl;- and it cracked a bit on one side from drying out, so I think the comparison to your situation is valid if your Lidl is a fully laminated bass.

My guess is that your smaller bass was a carved or hybrid instrument that was more vulnerable to drying out suddenly. If it is, that is the one to be careful with. And hopefully you can get it repaired if the crack is not too bad.

[Don Higdon]

Originally Posted by John Sprague

That may be the issue right there. Generally speaking, keep the humidity above 25 and below 60, season permitting.

I believe humidity less than 40 is dangerous, certainly for a carved bass. I don't know how basses survive in Denver.

[Mike Crumpton]

+1 The reccomended relative humidity readings for a healthy indoor working environment for people are in the range 40% to 70% by the way. :-))) 25% for a bass sounds dangerously low to me but I'm no expert. Other sources seem to reccomend 40% to 60%

[Bruce Lindfield]

Shouldn't be a problem in Manchester eh...