Sad end pin repair

MollyKay · #1 08-04-2009, 04:54 PM

I just had to share this…I am continually amazed at what people spend their hard earn cash on.

We are working on a 1953 Epiphone B-4 and the previous owner paid $160.00 to have his end pin repaired because it kept falling out…I saw the repair order in person. When we went to remove the end pin to put in a new one the darn thing would not budge. My husband kept working at it and finally came to the conclusion it was GLUED into the end pin block…SIGH. So after much wiggling and pounding with a BFH it broke loose. He yelled…come here and look at this…I could not believe the glue and shim’s jammed into the end pin…this is sad, sad work. I’m not outing anyone because this bass came from many hundreds of miles away and was worked on at a “music store” but regardless…this is either sad or funny…not sure yet.

kurt ratering · #2 08-04-2009, 06:02 PM

thats one way to skin a cat!

shadygrove · #3 08-04-2009, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MollyKay

... the previous owner paid $160.00 to have his end pin repaired because it kept falling out

Well, I'm guessing it didn't fall out anymore

I think I'd be talking to that music store about a refund if I were the owner and if they refused spread the word about their level of crapsmanship. That's criminal enough I'd be more worried about saving their next victim from a similar fate than protecting anyone's reputation... if they get a bad reputation I'd say they've earned it!

Understand how you as a business person wouldn't want to rat them out MollyKay, but yikes! hope someone does.

MollyKay · #4 08-04-2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadygrove

Understand how you as a business person wouldn't want to rat them out MollyKay, but yikes! hope someone does.

Nahhhh...we have owned this bass for almost two years. It has sat in the wings waiting for us to begin the restoration process, so the guy who paid for this repair has long forgotten about it and the bass.

As bass hobbyist we see all kinds of crazy stuff folks do to keep a bass thumping. This falls into the same category as the bass bridge that was shimmed with a yard stick and nails…that was pretty funny too.

I wanted to share what a “music store” repair looks like…no ratting on nobody. The bass already has a shiny new end pin…much better now.

shadygrove · #5 08-04-2009, 07:34 PM

So that's how to keep my bridge from wiggling out of position

Didn't catch from your original post that it's your bass now. Thanks for sharing the pictures and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of that Epi finely restored some day.

james condino · #6 08-06-2009, 02:40 PM

I think I had a repair in last month from the same "shop" - a 1939 Kay that had the loose bassbar "fixed" by inserting a dozen drywall screws through the top of the bass to pull it back in place and then they used a nail gun to secure the soundpost in position....

j.

Mark Carlsen · #7 08-06-2009, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MollyKay

Nahhhh...we have owned this bass for almost two years. It has sat in the wings waiting for us to begin the restoration process, so the guy who paid for this repair has long forgotten about it and the bass.

As bass hobbyist we see all kinds of crazy stuff folks do to keep a bass thumping. This falls into the same category as the bass bridge that was shimmed with a yard stick and nails…that was pretty funny too.

I wanted to share what a “music store” repair looks like…no ratting on nobody. The bass already has a shiny new end pin…much better now.

The Silk After lengths really help the sustain and growl.....

forester · #8 08-06-2009, 07:36 PM

creative repairs that still today are, routine....even the brand scuffin' new are not spared.

MollyKay · #9 08-06-2009, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james condino

1939 Kay that had the loose bassbar "fixed" by inserting a dozen drywall screws through the top of the bass to pull it back in place and then they used a nail gun to secure the soundpost in position....

j.

UNCLE!!!...you win the prize James...that is really sad

wineaux · #10 08-07-2009, 08:35 AM

OUCH.

I patronize a great music shop that does great work with what they understand -- guitars. But I would NEVER take a double bass there for work! In fact, the folks there know so little about basses that they sometimes call ME for advice. I am not a luthier. I don't play one on TV. I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. But I have owned a couple of basses for a couple of years, so I guess that makes me the local expert!

robobass · #11 08-08-2009, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MollyKay

UNCLE!!!...you win the prize James...that is really sad

Uncle indeed. What is truly sad for me is how high James has set the bar. Who is ever going to beat "drywall screws through the top...?" Couldn't you have at least left off the part about the nail gun? Give us little people a chance!

**Matthew Tucker** · #12 08-08-2009, 08:12 PM

So James are you going to share the photos? You DID take some?

Stefano Sciascia's lovely old cornerless bass has screws through the back to keep the crossbars in place. Doesn't seem to hurt it though

Steve Swan · #13 08-09-2009, 10:35 AM

When pressed for details a lot of times these repairs blamed on stores turn out to be repairs done at home by Uncle Fred or Grampa Joe to save money by cutting out the middle man. I've seen a lot of ingenuity in instrument repair from farmer types and handy guys with a shop full of sheet metal scraps and screws, nails, and bolts. It can be charming at times to see someone get a couple more decades of use out of something that otherwise might have been sold for scrap parts or cut up and burned on a cold winter night.

james condino · #14 08-09-2009, 11:38 AM

No photos from this end- it reminded me of the top on one of the old screwed together Pfretschner aluminum basses, where the bassbar really is screwed on from the factory. I'd agree with Steve's post about a lot of the funky work I see, but I've also seen a fair bit coming from guitar shops and such that get in over their heads. As frightening as the drywall screws were, the owner has been playing it for about a dozen years in that condition; it probably giged last night here around town. He is actually quite proud of his self proclaimed "hillbilly luthier" that did the work.

I had heard stories about how great this bass was for years. I borrowed it for a gig last year- the tone and volume were fantastic for an old Kay. I thought that my hands were going to fall off before the end of the first set due to 20 years of Spirocore mediums on an already paper thin neck that had bowed up so the action was about 3/4" off the neck.

j.

james condino · #15 08-09-2009, 11:39 AM

Imagine what that fellow's bass would look like if he had a trapdoor big enough to get the nail gun into....

j.

Steve Swan · #16 08-10-2009, 12:57 PM

It's actually kind of charming that wood screws were used to hold the shims onto the bridge feet. This is innocent hillbilly home repair taken to a new level. Have the screw heads chewed up the top enough to make proper bridge foot contact difficult in the future?

**Matthew Tucker** · #17 08-10-2009, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Swan

Have the screw heads chewed up the top enough to make proper bridge foot contact difficult in the future?

what? worse than a Realist?

forester · #18 08-10-2009, 04:45 PM

dems galvanized roofing nails..nothin' but the best

MollyKay · #19 08-10-2009, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by james condino

As frightening as the drywall screws were, the owner has been playing it for about a dozen years in that condition; it probably giged last night here around town. He is actually quite proud of his self proclaimed "hillbilly luthier" that did the work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Swan

It's actually kind of charming that wood screws were used to hold the shims onto the bridge feet. This is innocent hillbilly home repair taken to a new level. Have the screw heads chewed up the top enough to make proper bridge foot contact difficult in the future?

Hillbilly home repairs, depression era mind set, cheap and clean…whatever you call it these old plywood basses can really take some abuse and less than luthier approved home repairs and keep thumping.

I know the plywood basses don’t have the pedigree and strong bloodlines as some of the beautiful basses we have heard and seen…but pound for pound this student grade, economical plywood babies take a licking and keep on thumping.

Some of the most beat to hell basses are the best sounding ones. My theory is if they are well used, they were played hard…they were played hard because they are good basses. Even with drywall screws and nails they can hold down the low end…you gotta love 'em…but then again you don’t

I sure do.

The one thing I see at festivals that just makes me laugh is the baby shoe for an end pin tip…I just don’t get that one? Its like a bow on a dog from the groomers…it’s just not necessary.

fdeck · #20 08-10-2009, 06:39 PM

My Kay certainly has some home repairs from when I restored it in ~ 1982. Merely gathering decent information on repairing a bass was close to impossible for a teenager living in the suburbs. We consulted library card catalogs, a violin shop in Detroit, etc. Nothing. Then we improvised.

We also had no idea that a Kay was a respectable bass. The violin shop wouldn't touch it. We figured that I would learn to play it, and that I could upgrade to a better bass later. A quarter century later, it is still thumping away.

Today, I would be less tolerant of the same work, because we have access to such a wealth of information and advice.