Thanks. The GL inlay was the original owner’s initials. He drug this bass from Wisconsin to Florida back to Tennessee then back to Florida in its lifetime. He was a pretty well-known bluegrasser in his day.
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Double Bass Alignment Issues
- Thread starter OldKayBlonde
- Start date
Looking at the photo of the complete bass from the front to my eye the fingerboard is at a slight angle, i would post a picture looking down from the scroll?
Greg Clinkingbeard
Commercial User
Wiggle the neck to see if it’s loose, but I suspect it’s not. My money is on the person not centering the bridge and correcting for a variance in the top. If the bridge is centered in the picture, the bass side should be raised. If that’s the case, bite the bullet and have it done right.
I just did that because I was curious. It is rock solid. Can’t make it move at all. However, I measured at the end of the fingerboard extension. It is fully one-half inch closer to G side of body than E side of body.
Greg Clinkingbeard
Commercial User
Fitting a bridge is a lot more complicated than most people would think. You must allow for that and variations in the arch of the top. This could probably be fixed by installing adjusters, removing some of the wood from the leg and foot on the G side. Find somebody who knows what they are doing.
30 seconds under the eye of a true professional will save you from tons of confusion, head scratching and unnecessary work. This happened to me quite recently, I had a bass on my hands that had a case of bridge misalignment. Ok sounding and cool looking bass for sure, but when I took it to my luthier he said immediately that the neck is warped and top sunken. I was too much in hype to look and think critically, the luthier corrected that straight away.
Looks to me, in the straight on shot, like the bridge and strings are centered on the body (judging from the F holes) and the fingerboard isn't. Ergo, misaligned neck. I suppose the bridge could be "cheated" over a bit to bring the E string over the fingerboard, but the only cure I think is going to be to re-do the neck joint and line it up with the centerline this time.
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
- 607
- Disclosures
- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
Pretty easy to re-arch the bridge to get the strings on the board without the cost of resetting the neck. The bridge might need a little cheating to the passenger side but plenty of Kays are off centre from the factory.
I finally found a knowledgeable luthier. He’s in Sarasota. He looked at all the pics and I have an appointment Saturday to take it down.
Greg Clinkingbeard
Commercial User
Yes - post some pics of the repairs once you have them completed.
I know the OP already found a luthier but just wanted to add one more luthier in the Tampa area.
Violin Shop Tampa
4009 Henderson Blvd, Tampa, FL 33629
(813) 288-8215
The bass luthier, Francesco Muci is a very talented and skilled luthier. Worked on my teacher and my bass countless times.
So I took the Blonde to The Violin Shop today. The good news is that the neck and all components are solid, and overall the bass is in really good shape. The bad news is that the Engelhardt neck was put in crooked in ‘95. I likely didn’t notice till the recent string change. All is not lost. Francesco is going to carve a new bridge and compensate for the misalignment. While it won’t be perfect, it will be playable and not cause any further undue stress on the top. I’ll post a pic next week of the finished product. Thanks to all who have given their thoughts and opinions. I’m truly thankful.
Just got her back home. They put on a Kevlar tailgut. Cut new slots in the saddle for alignment. New bridge with adjusted string positioning. It’s not perfect, but it plays great and I’m not out a thousand dollars for a new neck or neck set. Thanks again everyone!
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That looks much better, glad you found a solution.
I too have a skewed Kay neck with a compensating corrective set up that I’ve been happily playing for years with Innovation Golden Slaps and a Spiro Weich E.
Hope you really enjoy your bass now that she’s a fitter fiddle.
I too have a skewed Kay neck with a compensating corrective set up that I’ve been happily playing for years with Innovation Golden Slaps and a Spiro Weich E.
Hope you really enjoy your bass now that she’s a fitter fiddle.
Me too, have a 1952 Kay C-1 with the end of the fingerboard 1/2" closer to the E side. Some prior owner reset the neck with Gorilla glue so no easy fix there. Followed the advice of Mr. Condino and just moved the bridge over to compensate. Been gigging with it for two years and it does ok, use Corelli 370 strings due to my old arthritic left hand.
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