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Double Bass Bridge work video!

#22
1st Bass said:
Yup-- I did manage to think that far ahead. The CF bar was OK as far as the level at the surface of the neck-- but I installed it so that it protruded into the pegbox, thinking i could just trim it flush. (Yow!!..Bad idea!) A dremel with a grinder might have been a better approach, but I had burned my dremel up, at the time, trying to cut a purfling slot for a bass-back, and had not yet replaced it. :-)

Chet
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I let mine stick out the other end and cut it off with a hacksaw. You can the little black rectangle under the fingerboard. I figure its good to let the next repairman know there's something else in the neck.
 
#23
Bus said:
This video is a cello set-up video, but offers some insight into how a bridge is actually carved and adjusted. Video number two on this page:

Invalid Link Removed. The carbon fiber cello is in the hands of the lutier at about the :50 second mark.

By the way, does anyone own a carbon fiber bass? :cool:
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Thanks for posting the link! :D Irrespective of the way this thread has been derailed, I found it interesting to see this approach to bridge setup, and appreciate your effort in providing the link.
 
#24
eroy said:
Personally I have never cut any instruments bridge foot with a chisel and it seems odd but I would give it a go. I use a knife myself...and so do all the guys here at the shop as well as almost all the makers I have studied with and/or been around.
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I picked that up as well, it seems counter-intuitive to cut a convex curve with the flat of the blade, but I'll give it a go, too. I don't usually use a knife, i use a glass scraper!
 
#26
Jake deVilliers said:
I let mine stick out the other end and cut it off with a hacksaw. You can the little black rectangle under the fingerboard. I figure its good to let the next repairman know there's something else in the neck.
Click to expand...

Well, as usual, I managed to incorporate the worst of both ways-- it is flush on both ends, but I had to cut BOTH--don't know what I was thinking. :-) Surely I could have pre-cut at least one end....
 
#27
As a woodworker/furniture maker for many years I have always been curious about the use of material and design. All the things we make are driven by availability and quantity of suitable materials, the design parameters and by technology. The development of new materials and processes drives new methods thus pushing the envelope of what is possible. Carbon fiber has seriously pushed the envelope of what is possible with bikes, cars, boats, airplanes and now musical instruments. While I love all things wood the availability of high quality wood suitable for wooden musical instruments, wooden boats and furniture is seriously being depleted and in some cases some prime instrument woods are gone. How much longer will you be able to purchase high quality ebony for fingerboards? The rate of consumption is outstripping the available stock of trees. While you may not like CF instruments it is inevitable that the design and material choices of musical instruments will change drastically over the next decade. Look at the history of house building, boat and furniture building. Material availability and design concepts go hand in hand.
 
#29
Do you not think bass guitars and electric instruments would replace instruments in the last bastion of total conservatism on the planet (the symphony orchestra)? Not likely!
Maybe as some have said in schools and for kids to get lessons wihout forking out huge wads of cash. But that would mean first lowering the price of these things to a reasonable level and secondly there would then be a transition problem when the kids get a 'real' bass! Does the white-clad hazy cellist take her prized position to the BSO as suggested on the site? I can't imagine what the comments would be! I once brought a bass stand (wooden and quite sturdy) to the BBC and they all looked at it like it was something out of Star Trek!
 
#30
It takes time, trial/error and creativity to work the bugs out of any process. L&C is just one builder. As other builders take up working w/CF maybe the tonal possibilities will be refined and expanded on. Wood has density, elasticity and rigidity that contribute to the tonal characteristics of an instrument. Give NASA engineers the R&D challenge of building an all CF bass that matches the tonal characteristics of a wooden bass. Other than that it is up to the small builders to be innovative and creative w/new materials
 
#33
Johnny Atomic said:
if they were $1500 to $2000, there would be one in my house right now.

I like 'em, have no idea how they sound, but I think they LOOK cool, for what that's worth.
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Massed produced in China and they would be that price no doubt. Most companies at this point that use this process are small and it's very time consuming and expensive to set up the factory with molds, etc. Actually it's the kind of product that may be best mass produced for much less. It's not like your going to take the soul out of carbon fiber building 100 a day.
 
#39
Gary Lynch said:
Right here;


15ce_1_sbl.jpg
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Funny shape, though, eh Ken? What's that long sticky-up bit for? ;)
 
#40
Not being a luthier, the two things that impressed me in the video were how quickly he got the soundpost in there, and just imagining what my own hands would look like after attempting to wield that chisel in that way.

A maintenance free cello would be perfect for an amateur like me, but of course the price would have to be in a different ballpark. Still, if the technology can be perfected on an advanced level instrument, some of its benefits could be brought down to lower cost instruments.

I wonder what a layer of carbon fiber cloth would do for a plywood bass, in between two of the wood layers.
 

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