Double Bass Chadwick Neck-joint let go

[Landy67]

I went to practice today, and I found that the neck joint let go. It doesn't look like it's a big deal, but is this the kind of thing a home handyman can take care of, or should I take it to Upton Bass? If I do it myself, does anyone have a recommendation for the type of glue to use?

If I take it to a pro, is there something else I should have done at the same time? What kind of maintenance do these things need?

Thanks

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Doesn't look like too big a deal but I'd have an experienced DB repairman check it out. There may or may not be related problems.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Agreed. It looks like the joint was badly starved of hide glue, which would explain the failure, but it's always better to be sure when your expensive bass gets sick.

 

[james condino]

WARRANTY???????? Another Chinese bass with a neck failure.....

 

[Landy67]

WARRANTY???????? Another Chinese bass with a neck failure.....

Actually, I think the part that failed was made in Nashville...

As for warranty... I'm not the original owner, and if there is one, I'll bet it would cost more for me to ship it to Nashville and back than the repair is going to cost.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Just bring it to Michael Hartery or Upton's Boston shop and see what they say.

 

[Robert Strickland]

Definitely don't try to do it yourself. Good luthier needed.

 

[Jeremy Darrow]

Call Charlie Chadwick before you do anything else. He'll tell you what you should and shouldn't do.

 

[360guy]

I've found that it's not a glue starved joint ( it's quite easy to slop a lot of glue there) but a poor fit. Hide glue is not gap-filling. So some fine tuning is probably needed before it's re-glued.

 

[Robert Strickland]

Makes sense

 

[bnutz]

Call Charlie Chadwick before you do anything else. He'll tell you what you should and shouldn't do.

+1

I owned one of these and Charlie was always really good about support and is very hands-on. And even though you're not the original owner, my guess is that he's not going to want a bunch of his defective/broken products running around out in the world.

But- I'd also take it to a good shop. I'm not 100% sold on the Chadwick design and a great luthier may have some ideas about how to shore it up.

-b