Caring for a Carved Bass

[mcnaire2004]

As many of you know I got my Juzek out . But the only thing is I don't know how to care for a carved bass. My luthier told me to get 2 dampits for the older dryer wood in the bass. I was told that it got the huge gashes that were I had fixed from going from cold air to a warm room. I keep my house from about 72 to about 82 degrees ( I like in 70s but my dad likes the low 80s). I don't want anything to happen to my bass. I have a case identical to the New upton bag except with back pack straps. Any tips on keeping my bass in great playing shape?

[sibass89]

My experience with Damp-its is that they drip, dry out too fast, and create small cracks around the F-hole. Mr. Laszlo showed me a quick fix for this. Take two ziplock bags and tie them together with a shoelace. Then put slices along the top of the ziplocks and put a damp sponge in each. These don't drip and there is more sponge to hold water.

Another good thing is just clean it everytime you're done playing it. Keeping the rosin off and the strings clean will do a lot for the bass. The temperature isn't going to affect the bass that much unless it is extremely hot or cold or changes very quickly. So if you keep the house between 72-82 degrees, that will be fine as long as it isn't changing that 10 degrees every hour.

Finally, get something to measure the humidity of the room. Whether it is the card that comes with damp-its or an actual humidity monitor. The humidity should be around 30% if you're constantly taking the bass in and out of the house and around 40% (give or take a few percent for both) if the bass is always in the house.

I hope this advice helps and good luck with your Juzek.

-Nick

[mcnaire2004]

Thanks for the advice I'll be sure to do that. One question you want me to put the ziplock bag on the end of the dampit or in the F hole on its own?

[sibass89]

What you do is tie the two ziplocks together with a shoelace, put one ziplock in the top of the F-hole so that it is hanging, than bring it across the bass so the shoelace is sitting on the belly of the bass, and then put the other ziplock in the other F-hole.

[mcnaire2004]

What about when there is cold weather and I have to take the bass out? I was told that the huge gashes that I had fixed were from going from a cold air to a warm house.

[sibass89]

Thats possible, one thing to do is to slowly let your bass warm up or cool down. When you get home just let the bass sit in the case for 10 minutes. Then open the case and let some air circulate for 10 minutes. After that, take it off, wipe it down or play it a little. The whole thing is to stay away from radical changes. So if you leave it in the case all night, it's going to go from holding cold air to holding very warm air and don't take it out of the case right away because it's too radical of a change as well. Also, go by this standard, if you're too uncomfortable to stand outside, your bass is not comfortable outside. So if it's -10 degrees out there its not a good idea to be bringing your bass out.