Setting the angle of the neck

Cyrus Pansch · #1 05-02-2006, 08:52 AM

Hey there,

I'm currently reconstructing an old German made bass of poor quality (Inked Puffering). This is my first bass and I would like to set the neck, but am awfully nervous. Can anyone recommend a decent yet affordable (cheap) Luther in the Minneapolis or Minnesota area?

Thanks for all your help!

Cy

KSB - Ken Smith · #2 05-02-2006, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrus Pansch

Hey there,

I'm currently reconstructing an old German made bass of poor quality (Inked Puffering). This is my first bass and I would like to set the neck, but am awfully nervous. Can anyone recommend a decent yet affordable (cheap) Luther in the Minneapolis or Minnesota area?

Thanks for all your help!

Cy

I tried out a Bass with scratched Purfling in NY a few years ago. It was 140k. I have an old English Bass with painted Purfling from about c1800. That was common back then. Interested to know the price to proove it's not a cheap feature to have inked Purfling?

Many old and many great Basses were made without purfling and left blank, painted or scratched in. If it's a Cheap Bass, then that's not the reason why. By the way, my Batchelder and Martini are un-purfled as well and my Prescott was cut down beautifully and only scratched lines were put in where the Purfling would be.

Cyrus Pansch · #3 05-02-2006, 01:55 PM

Hey Ken,

Wow, that's pretty interesting - I always figured that because it's inked and not carved it would just be a piece. I just emailed you some pictures of it at support@kensmithbasses.com. Let me know whatcha think... I know if you saw what I was doing to this thing you would probably punch me in the face, but regardless please let me know if you can guess a maker, the year, ext... My guess is that it was made for Export (tag is written in English but says made in Germany) between the 1890's and 1920's. It was painted brown by my old College - University of Minnesota Morris Theater Dept about 30 Years ago so i unfortunatly had to strip it down to the white. Thanks again for your help!!!

Cy

KSB - Ken Smith · #4 05-02-2006, 02:26 PM

You should try putting the Pics up here. If you stripped the Bass, how is it I can still see the Purfling lines if it was paint?

The Back is flat with 4 hefty cross bars. Do yourself a favor and trim the ends so they end short of the ribs. Ask Arnold about this. If a seam pops, it will be alot easier to re-glue if the Bar is not in the way.

I see this Bass as a German or Czech Bass about 100 years old or so, give or take like you guessed. Nice touch you put on the button repair but not traditional. Hopefully it will not get pulled up or crack as the neck/Back moves thru the seasons.

Cyrus Pansch · #5 05-03-2006, 09:06 AM

Hey Ken, Thanks for you suggestions, very helpful.

I was wondering how to go about putting up pic's here. Don't you have to post them on a website or something, if you know please pass on the knowledge? I would love to put up a bunch of these picture to show the progress of this project and get more insight from you pro's.

Anyways, the reason you can still see the purfling lines is because they are not paint, but rather inked with a sharp pen or something to make the lines penetrate the wood. Thus when I sanded it still showed well - however in some spots the purfling lines have completely disappeared.

As you also suggested - I have already trimmed the ends of all the crossbars and also replaced the spine (wood strips in-between the crossbars, I think) - I had to do a couple of patches where the wood was badly, badly split on the back. Do you think I'm going to have major problems in the future because I didn't used the properly aged maple wood's to patch (dimetions of patch: 1 cm x 10cm). The first thing I'm going to buy after I finish this thing is a humidifier and a de-humidifier.

I also know what you mean about my button repair. With the original button completely broken off I wanted to patch the open space and replace the button at the same time. After many hours of worrying if this will work or hurt the bass in the long run, I just decided to go for it and see what happens... So far so good right now, and as long as I can get the neck reset properly and securely. (underneath it's as solid as a rock with a new spine and the majority of the patch is under the neck block. The only thing that's sucked about this is the Black Opal stone I inlayed in has already cracked due to the pressure and heat of polishing... Oh'well if that's all I'm getting away with I'll take it.

Sorry I'm not a very traditional person - I also had some calligraphy done telling the story or me finding it and reconstructing it... I figure this is my bass, and it would be a shame not to personalize it in some way.

Thanks again for all your help,

Cy-anara