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Double Bass progress report

1st Bass

1st Bass

May 26, 2005
1,943
4,119
71
Forest Grove, OR
#1
Trying to post some photos (finally) of the bass I began nearly two years ago. Hope this works...

It is an attempt at the William Tarr model from Peter Chandler's book, but with a slightly rounded back, which I bent from a flatback stock billet. I only got about an inch of curve, and it is hard to see in the photos.

Anyway, there are all sorts of glitches that I think I could do a lot better if I ever try this again, and it still isn't done, but there has been progress...I finally borrowed a camera. :-)

(didn't work)

Well, I can see I did something wrong-- there are no pictures. Somebody want to guide my falt'ring steps?
 
#2
Well I'll try even though us luthiers like to keep our secrets to ourselves:smug: . Actually I'm pretty dense but TB is pretty user friendly. The box below your reply box has a "manage attachments" button which will bring you to another button which will allow you to browse yer 'puter for the file to upload. I'm guessing that you got to that step and it's not working so perhaps your pics are not in the right format or something. That I certainly can't help you with but I am sure someone else will come along.
 
#3
Here you go Chet. Easy for me. If you want to upload them yourself just go ahead and i'll delete this post.

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... now tell us bout it!
 
#6
Matt,

You are a gentleman, and you've saved the day again for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

BTW, I did finally locate my Chandler book-- I had buried it under some notebooks. But the graduations you sent me got me over the hump, so to speak.

Don't know what to tell you all-- it is bigleaf maple and Englemann Spruce. I was disappointed at all the discoloration in the spruce--and one pin knot that actually goes right up into the treble side lower bout-- as dead center as if it had been planned, and then emerges inside, as the curve starts up. Ah, well- I will be very glad to get done with the bass, and get it delivered to the young man for whom it was made.

I made a curved sole plane (maybe 2-1/4" by 3", of steel) for carving it--and a thickness caliper with a 16" throat depth. (Bought the actual gauge for $30 from harbor freight, and mounted it on a frame made of 1" plywood. It isn't perfect-- but it reliably measures to .01mm, if you are careful how you use it, and I would have been well satisfied with getting to .1mm accurately.)

I still have a ways to go, but I am feeling much more hopeful.

Thanks for the encouragement you all have offered.

Chet
 
#9
Yeah... and that's a 25-cent piece, not a hubcap. :-)

I just wanted something light-colored to display it against, and the violin back was handy. Then I decided it looked better dressed up with the half-finished scroll, etc. Besides, I like that wood...I got enough to make a matched violin/viola set of the same billet.

Thanks for the grin.
 
#12
Thanks, Nick!

I put a patch over the knot from the inside, as it emerged over a 3/4" stretch, and was beginning to dry and separate. So I glued on a 2-1/4 x 3" oval patch of fine grained spruce, from the billet of which the front was originally made, and planed it down to nearly nothing at the edges, curving up to perhaps 3/16" in the center. In a fit of paranoia, I wrote on the patch, explaining its purpose...I doubt anyone will ever care, but I felt better. :-)

I still have the mold, of course, and the tools, and the nagging conviction that "I coulda done better...", so probably I will eventually do it again. But for the moment, I have several other things I have to do, on top of not even being done with this one, yet. I sure hope it sounds good...

Chet
 
#13
Those rib caps are purpleheart, and look pretty wild right now, but will tame down under the varnish.

The fleur-de-lis is Paua shell.

Those floral looking things at the end of the purfling wing-ding are burn-in stick, melted into the cut-in design.

I have a lot of final scraping, edge-work, little repairs, etc. left to do, but I am feeling much better about it all.

Thank you all for your encouragement.

(edit) Well-- the photos are not loading again-- I guess I will send them to Matthew again, and ask him to post them. (sigh...)
 
#15
Thank you again, Matthew my friend!

I have yet to install the nut, as the fingerboard is not completely finished. There is still a fairish amount of scraping and edgework to do, and the endpin still to install.

The tuning machines will wait until after varnishing, I expect, though they have been fitted and removed.

It is tempting to do a lot of fancy decorative stuff, but I will not-- I just need to get it completed, now. It has been too long already.
 
#16
I like the purfling weave, and I like the fleur de lys ... but I'm not so sure I like 'em together! For my taste, I'd have inlaid the fleur de lys higher near the button and left the purfling simple. I wonder how the paua shell will look under varnish - or do you mask it off for finishing?

The bass looks good ... its that close ... you need to get a nut on there QUICK and STRING IT UP!
 
#19
I, too, question my design on the back; but it is what the (young) bassist wanted, and I am moderately pleased with it-- I hope he loves it.

I have used abalone before (once, on my first viola), and that time I varnished over the shell-- it yellowed the colors a little, which in that case was not a problem, as it was green abalone, not paua. I may have to mask the paua or something, to keep those blues and purples alive.

I'll get it strung up after I varnish, I think...I need to get this thing done. Tonight I hope to spend some time on the FB, so if I can get the FB dressed to my satisfaction, and the nut in place, I can install the endpin, as well. Then there will only be final scraping left to do before varnishing.

A fellow at work made me a bass endpin reamer-- I had it heat-treated last week, and it works well.

Thanks for all the encouragement, fellows.

Chet
 
#20
Wow, that's some fine work on the purfling and inlay. I like the purple heart detail. I've seen ebony used for those pieces and it is too dark to me. Not all basses have those at the rib neck join. All of the work from wood grain placement and everything looks fantastic. Whatever the knot is, well it's tough to find a piece of wood big enough that doesn't have some surprises. My carved bass has a little knot in the table that is almost hidden in the shading at the edge. It took months for me to even see it. So you are just probably over-reacting to the knot because the bass isn't finished yet. That's such a good looking bass, by the time you are done the knot is like a beauty mark. I couldn't even find it in the photos.

That's a great looking bass if it was your tenth one. How do you like working from the Chandler plans / book? Did you use his methods exclusively or have you developed your own methods as well?
 

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