Double Bass Broken Tuning Machine

[robobass]

I decided to try and braze the paddle back into place. I used a brass brush to clean the area, silver solder and my burnzomatic. I clamped the pieces together added flux and heated till the solder flowed flipped and repeated. It was messy but tight. After filing the excess solder drips (I was a little to agressive) and polising it looked mint. the only problem was it was the only shiny part so I polished and lubed the whole set.

...Benton

Looks like a perfectly good repair, but did you use oxy-acetylene and hard solder? If not it probably won't hold. Also, you do want to try to avoid heating up the plate too much. If it breaks again I'd take the whole plate to a jeweler, who could do this quickly and easily. Carving a new paddle ain't a bad idea either. In any case, I think repair (if it breaks again) is still a better option for you than fitting new tuners.

 

[fdeck]

Assuming "silver solder" means hard solder, I think the joint has a good chance of holding up. I've done hard solder on workpieces of similar size using just propane. In my experience, the trick to a good joint is to start with clean surfaces, apply sufficient flux, and then keep the entire joint inside the flame until you're done. The inside of the flame is a reducing atmosphere, so the workpiece won't oxidize so long as it's kept in there. With a propane torch, it will take patience to get the piece up to temperature -- practically cherry red.