Neck snapped from Pocket

Lombax · #1 12-18-2010, 07:08 PM

The neck came out of the pocket on my plywood chinese bass. I want to get it fixed but I am worried of spending more than the bass is worth. I have owned it for more then 10 yrs and I bought it used then so it has some age to it. IS it worth fixing? What is entailed in fixing it properly? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also if you can recommended a good luthier in Long Island NY area. Thanks (see photos of damage)

Andrew McGregor · #2 12-18-2010, 08:53 PM

Pretty clean break, therefore probably is worth fixing.

Bassmickeyd · #3 12-18-2010, 09:07 PM

Can't see the neck so can't really tell but it does look pretty clean. ...... Find a good repair guy/shop and get their advice.

Lombax · #4 12-19-2010, 06:03 AM

The neck is pretty much a mirror image of the pocket. I did notice that the pocket is shimmed. So not sure how that would effect durability. Any good Luthiers in my area? Long Island NY? Went to Kolstein and he wanted $800 or more. I just think he didn't want to work on it.

john_martin_sai · #5 12-19-2010, 06:11 AM

I would scrap it.

robobass · #6 12-19-2010, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lombax

The neck is pretty much a mirror image of the pocket. I did notice that the pocket is shimmed. So not sure how that would effect durability. Any good Luthiers in my area? Long Island NY? Went to Kolstein and he wanted $800 or more. I just think he didn't want to work on it.

Ouch! 800? I'm no luthier, but I've done this very repair. It took an hour tops.

forester · #7 12-19-2010, 06:28 AM

go for the $80.00 repair...smear some glue in the seam thats popped too.

Bassmickeyd · #8 12-19-2010, 08:13 AM

$800.? ...... What a jerk. .... A good repair guy should do it $150 tops. ..... Don't do it yourself.

michaeln · #9 12-19-2010, 08:17 AM

I'd like to know what Kolstein was going to do for $800.

salcott · #10 12-19-2010, 09:59 AM

I'm no luthier either, but here's what the job looks like to me:
1. Clean out old glue and splinters
2. Reline the pocket w/ new wood-the original carving work is really sloppy and would not allow a good glueing surface
3. Chalk fit neck into pocket
4. Glue up
5. fix whatever else is needed-back seam looks loose

Does that sound like $80-150 worth of work?

Or you could just slop on some glue, shove the neck in, whack it a few times with a mallet to make sure it's seated, clamp it up and hope for the best.

Luthiers, feel free to flame away.

Schoolhouse · #11 12-19-2010, 10:48 AM

It doesn't look like the neck mortise is made properly. Are there sides to the block or are we looking at inside of the ribs? We had two basses in our studio without a mortise, it took considerable time to create a pocket and re-align the neck.

michaeln · #12 12-19-2010, 11:10 AM

Did Kolstein say why it was an $800 repair? I agree with Schoolhouse above, I don't really see any sign of a mortise or dovetail, it looks like the heel of the neck was just glued to that top block and to the ribs. If so, perhaps Kolstein quoted a high price because he was going to rebuild the neck attachment so it had a proper mortise.

With this kind of construction, I think you are fortunate it lasted as long as it did.

Jake deVilliers · #13 12-19-2010, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lombax

The neck came out of the pocket on my plywood chinese bass. I want to get it fixed but I am worried of spending more than the bass is worth. I have owned it for more then 10 yrs and I bought it used then so it has some age to it. IS it worth fixing? What is entailed in fixing it properly? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also if you can recommended a good luthier in Long Island NY area. Thanks (see photos of damage)

You can either do it the 'right' way - re-build the mortise and re-fit the tenon, re-align the neck correctly and glue with hide glue or... you can scrape off the existing glue and epoxy it in there.

If you epoxy it, you'd better get the neck on straight the first time because the joint's never coming apart again...

philip sirois · #14 12-19-2010, 02:28 PM

Give Bill Merchant a try. He's in the city. I had a similar situation on my bass and he fixed it for around 2-250 if I recall. Not to say you don't have some other issues here, but he's worth a try.

Mark Carlsen · #15 12-19-2010, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassmickeyd

$800.? ...... What a jerk. .... A good repair guy should do it $150 tops. ..... Don't do it yourself.

I would guess by this statement you have no idea what it takes to do the job right.

arnoldschnitzer · #16 12-19-2010, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Carlsen

I would guess by this statement you have no idea what it takes to do the job right.

+1 Just look at the gaps that are obvious in the pic. That entire neck joint needs to be rebuilt. And you can rest assured that the alignment was off originally as well. Can 'o worms...

Cody Sisk · #17 12-19-2010, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldschnitzer

+1 Just look at the gaps that are obvious in the pic. That entire neck joint needs to be rebuilt. And you can rest assured that the alignment was off originally as well. Can 'o worms...

Agreed. For the amount of work it would take to do this properly Kolstein's price isn't unreasonable. I wouldn't want to work on it either, especially not for $150 if I'm doing anything more than throwing some T-88 in there and praying..

bigolbassguy · #18 12-19-2010, 06:00 PM

Unless this was a particularly great sounding bass, I'd start saving my money for a replacement.

**ddbassGA** · #19 12-19-2010, 06:20 PM

Don't invest a lot in this Chinese bass. You got 10 years out of it? Pretty good. Here's what I would do, YMMV:

1. Take $800 and put it under the mattress.

2. I'd clean up the joint/spinters on the pocket and the neck heel. Then I'd go out and buy a $4 bottle of Gorilla glue, good at filling gaps, but like epoxy will be a one-time shot. Test fit and mark alignment with string/fishing line, using your bridge to help you gauge angle. Figure how to clamp up. Do a couple more test runs. Then let 'er rip, glue up and clamp. Use a dremel and sharp tool to help clean up the foamy dried expanded Gorilla from around the joint. Refit the bridge. Then I'd have a free, cheap bass you can play in the rain or sell for $350 (with full disclosure of course).

3. Take the $800 from the mattress + the $350 from the sale of the repaired Chinese bass and buy a good used Euro laminate or Engelhart.

Big B. · #20 12-19-2010, 09:16 PM

I think that may have been the best answer yet. Normally a proper repair would be the way to go but considering the value of your bass and how long you have had it, it doesnt seem to be worth spending a lot of money to fix.

If you cant find someone to do a repair for a couple bills or less you may be better off doing it yourself. My first bass was a pretty standard plywood bass that lost the neck in an incident with a hatchback. I epoxied the neck back in place with a dowel, got it nice and clean, and sold it to a friend for 500$ bucks. 12 years later and he still gigs on it.