Slava: Bent vs. Laborie endpin

[.matthew e wengerd.]

Something has been bothering me all week:

Vance recommends making a bent endpin of the same length as your original endpin, but with a 44 degree angle.

http://www.slavapub.net/pdf/ReaderNo1.pdf

The Laborie endpin utilizes a new hole in the endblock, near the back of the bass at the same angle, but does not mention the length relative to your original endpin.

http://www.slavapub.net/pdf/LaborieEndpininstr.pdf

My question is this: I am going to assume (and this may be my problem) that both are to be the same length. If this is the case, the results would be quite different. The bent endpin (A), with it's pin originating from somewhere near the center of the block, would yield a balance point (that is to say, a point of contact with the floor) much nearer the instrument's center of gravity when it is held vertically than the Laborie endpin (B).



It seems to me as though (B) can be leaned much farther back and still be "falling forward" as I understand is the whole point of the bent/Laborie endpin. Should I be bending the bent endpin more? I asked for action shots in another thread and I think this will really clarify things for me.

[toman]

Assuming the bass is at the same height, and as long as the tip of the endpin is in the same place relative to any spot on the bass, (say the original hole in the endblock), then it shouldn't matter what shape or angle the enpin is, or where it mounts, right? The only difference might be the amount of stress put on the mounting point, i.e. a shallower angle into the block might be more likely to eventually split out? Maybe I'm way off, but it makes sense to me...

[flatback]

I would highly recommend the egg pin (if you have not used a bent pin before. It allows you to adjust how far back the bass cantilevers, how high, and at what angle (side to side) I use it now and I will soon replace it with the LaBorie, but only after I have really determaned where exactly i like it. Once you are on a bent pin a slight difference can be big in terms of balance. The egg pin really lets you figure it out first (before boring new holes in your bass...or buying fixed bent pins.)

[.matthew e wengerd.]

That's quite a steep investment, though, flatback.

toman - I completely agree with you. The one thing I wonder about is the roation of the instrument due to a steeper angle of the pin. I bent my pin to something akin to 50-55 degrees and it seems to work a bit better. I'm just struggling to find a position that allows the bass to lean back and still "fall forward."

[toman]

What I did was get some steel rod (cheap) from my local hardware store, then with he help of a vice and a propane torch, made several endpins. I found that a sort of "z" shape worked better than a simple bend, and also allowed some adjustment by changing the height and trimming the end. Same end result as an egg pin, and cost about five bucks... After all that fooling around though, and playing on other people's laborie and bent pins, guess what... I went back to a normal straight pin. The bent thing is just too odd for me, and it didn't seem to work sitting down at all, which accounts for a good 70% of my playing. I suppose with a bent setup to go from standing to sitting, you'd need two different pins or something in order to get the angle right... I dunno. Straight works for me!