Double Bass Advice wanted for first time fitting and filing a new nut (on a relatively rare EUB!)

[StudioWorksLG]

Hi there, I recently came into possession of an old Framus Triumph electric upright bass, and it’s missing a nut.
I’ve only ever been an electric player and making new nuts is quite well documented over in that world, but Im finding very little by way of tutorials or advice on making a new nut for a double bass! Is it blasphemy to not take an upright to a luthier and give it a go yourself? Does anyone have advice on making your own? Affordable file recommendations, video tutorials?
Oh- and has anyone ever tried Gear4Music’s upright strings? They’re so much cheaper…

 

[Ketbass]

I’ve made many an EB nut but don’t have experience in a DB nut. Thought: you might want to take it to a DB Luthier and have them make and fit one for you. My guess is it will be about the same cost as you coming up with the material, tools, 1st time mess ups, etc… When done, they can set it up for you to your liking and recommend a good set of strings for it. On my EUB, I’m using Spirocores because I like the way they feel. You’ll never “need”to change strings again as far as cost. EUB will never sound like a DB, really, and the Framus is its own thing. Think Ebehard Weber.

Just my 2 cents

 

[walterw]

neat! is that thing full upright scale length?

as for the nut, if you can make a good electric guitar nut from scratch you should be able to do this.

look at a whole bunch of pictures of upright bass nuts, get a slab of ebony (big enough for a few attempts) and give it a shot

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Ebony us very hard. You might have more problems to get the ebony piece in basic shape than to file the grooves in.

 

[eh_train]

Hi there, I recently came into possession of an old Framus Triumph electric upright bass…

Congrats!

Is it blasphemy to not take an upright to a luthier and give it a go yourself?

Nope, especially if you have some woodworking skills and are patient. Look at lots of pics and slowly get the shape correct. It is possible to buy blanks, but even there you have a lot of shaping to do…

Oh- and has anyone ever tried Gear4Music’s upright strings? They’re so much cheaper…

Dunno about G4M, but you get what you pay for with upright strings. A set of Spirocores is spendy, but they’ll last forever.

Have fun with this!

 

[DoubleMIDI]

You might want to try a softer wood than ebony to make a first nut. If you do something wrong you won’t loose as much work and time (and money) as with ebony. If the nut becomes good, use it as a temporary one and redo one with ebony.
You might not even need to glue it on as pressure against neck and fingerboard might hold it in place. If not a drop of superglue does the job and a side impact to the nut should release it if needed.

 

[StudioWorksLG]

Congrats!


Nope, especially if you have some woodworking skills and are patient. Look at lots of pics and slowly get the shape correct. It is possible to buy blanks, but even there you have a lot of shaping to do…



Dunno about G4M, but you get what you pay for with upright strings. A set of Spirocores is spendy, but they’ll last forever.

Have fun with this!

Thanks so much mate, recently got to a point I’m happy with and while the action is HORRENDOUS it’s a very fun instrument

 

[eh_train]

Thanks so much mate, recently got to a point I’m happy with and while the action is HORRENDOUS it’s a very fun instrument

If the string height is too high you’ll need to work on the bridge next. A lot of different ways to do that, and you might want to have a luthier on board…