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Double Bass A clean break

S

swamprocker

Apr 1, 2004
72
0
Bloomington, IN
#1
so I went to take my bass out of her bag for practice last night and was surprised that the strings were really loose and couldn't figure out why. after a quick look over, there is a clean vertical break in the bend where the neck meets the head. :crying: after disassembling the gears and tuning keys, removing the cover plates, etc. I notice that someone, some IDIOT, in the past has screwed in bolts b/c it must have started to come unglued or something. to make a long story slighly less than long ;) I had to drill the bolts out. I will be able to use hide glue and glue everything back together, and glue in dows where the dang bolts were. I guess what i'm trying to get at is when I put everything back together and put the strings on is this going to be strong enoughto hold up to the string tension? thanks for any advise.
 
#2
I would advise you to take your bass to a luthier, he will know what to do and maybe save you money in the long run....
Seems that lately theres a lotta people trying to repair basses by themselves, i will strongly advise you to leave that work to a qualified person, thats why luthiers exist, to take care of our instruments, sometimes to save $100 people will make a "bad" repair that in the future is gonna cost way more to fix.....
when im sick, i go to the doctor, when my bass is sick, i take him to the luthier...pretty fair i would say :D

Nuno
 
#4
My sister is a violin-luthier in LA and she's also a wise-acre. She would say, "Hold your bass closer to the monitor so I can see it better."

There's no way to tell without looking at it, hombre.

Good luck.
 
#5
I really can tell you as im not qualified for that, but if you could post a picture of the damage, im sure our luthiers here could give you some advice, anyway, i've seen basses with all kinds of repairs,some big and ugly ones, and still beeing played and sounding good and im sure a luthier will know what to do...
try to post a picture, i think that will help you to get more advice from qualified posters...Good Luck!!!!
 
#8
swamprocker said:
ok, so I take the bass to a luthier for a glue job. my question is, after glued and the strings put on and tuned, is this going to be strong enough to hold up to the string tension?
Click to expand...
You don't take your bass to a luthier for a Glue Job. You take your bass to a luthier so that he can can evaluate the problem and then chose the best method to repair the problem. Many times simply glueing the neck back together (even with dowels or bolts) will not result in a permanent repair if the break has been previous repaired and failed. Successful gluing requires lots of surface area to overcome the stress from the strings. Depending on the quality of the instrument, a neck graft or a totally new neck may be the only permanent cure. An experienced luthier will know what it will take to truely fix the problem. However, the luthier will have to actually see the instrument to know for sure.
 
#9
There is a luthier around Lafayette Louisiana that has done work on an old Kay bass that I own. She is a violin luthier however she has done excellent work on my bass. The neck was separated and she also replaced the end pin. I can give you information if you are interested. songdog
 
#10
I have to reiterate Bob's admonishment, "it ain't no glue job....." I just recieved a Cremona ( BSO, POS ) neck ungluing job. Guess what? No dovetail, no mortise and/or tendon, nothing but flat surface to flat surface at a right angle to the stress....whoa, what were they thinking??? not much, I guess...You have to have ample amounts of glued surface for a joint, underneath that kind of continuous pressure quotient. Flat-to-flat at the neck joint??? My gosh..
 

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