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Double Bass Access port questions

K

Kev2007

Mar 4, 2008
157
2
Great White North
#1
Hi all

I've been roaming around all the build threads for ideas and inspiration for my wee bass build. One thing I've become quite intrigued with is the concept of an access port or hatch. The only pictures I've found have been James C's and the pictures from Ross' website. Both of those are rectangular. I also read about a round hatch, but I didn't find a picture... I'd be grateful for any pointers to additional pictures and decriptions.

Aesthetic and notions of tradition aside, I have a a couple of questions:

1) I'm worried that a hatch cut from a thin piece of side wood would have a tendancy to warp with seasonal humidity/temperature. Have you found this to be the case? I couuldn't tell from the pictures, but is the hatch piece reinforced in any way to counteract this?

2) I realise that this part of the instrument resonates less than others, but still, everything is in motion on an acoustic instrument, so I wonder if there is any buzzing in evidence? Would a strip of felt between the adjacent surfaces perhaps obviate this?

Okay, one more question: all the hatches I've seen have been in the side. I can see some advantages to having a hatch in the back of the instrument. Good/bad idea??

Thanks for your time.

Kev
 
#2
I haven't heard the words port or hatch since I retired from the Navy- never thought I would hear either in connection with a bass. I have heard of import, export, homeport,carport, airport, transport, report, deport, and passport, but I have never heard of a bassport. I am not trying to be cute here,(maybe a little), but what is a port in a bass, why a port, and why in a bass, do others have bassports? What's it for? and why a port? . . . ..
I like the way you preface the question that you lead up to "tradition aside--good,bad, idea?" We have the end pin port, the f-hole ports both port and starboard, but another port and in the back?----I would like to hear the answers to this question as much as ,perhaps, you do. Thanks for a very interesting ? a port-why a port and why in the back of a bass...hmm
 
#10
I've only put an access panel in one bass- the one I built. I've done it in many different configurations on guitars and have built about 30 total instruments that use some kind of sound port.

Doing it on a new build is one thing; modifying an existing intrument is something completely different. You need to really think about why you want to do it and remember that there are a lot of design considerations that add up- both structural and aethsetic. Unless you have a clear vision and good skills, I wouldn't encourage it.

For me, I work on basses all day long. Playing that ship in a bottle game going in through the soundhole gets pretty old some days..... The soundpost adjustment is more of an added benefit. The primary reason for me was the bolt on neck and just being able to get inside and work on the bass all of the time- like a mechanc who leaves the hood off his favorite car. Prior to making that bass with a bolt on neck, I built and had a hand in several hundred guitars and mandolins with bolt on necks at the Breedlove custom shop, so I had a LOT of time to think over exactly what I was after and how I wanted to approach it.

I had a couple of very different neck designs that I wanted to try out, so it made sense to me. Having one nice box with a few interchangeable necks is a much simpler way to prototype new ideas than building a whole new bass everytime you get some wild idea. Once all the dust has settled, you could very well see that bass in ten years with yet another neck that has been dovetailed and hide glued as well as the access panel is gone.

The other serious consideration was that when I made the original c-bout where the access panel is, I knew I was going to cut a hole in it. In the event of an embarassing worse case scenario, I made sure to keep an exact offcut of the same piece of figured maple. If I completely botched it or didin't like the end result, I still have the option of bending a new c-bout and making it "normal", while having all of the grain and figure match.

I've seen a couple of Kays for sale where someone had done a rather poor job of making a similar access panel and it dropped the street value of them by about 25% in my local market.

j.
 

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