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Double Bass Cleat material

#22
Eric,

Considering the elements in mind the back may be best taken off, you said it's also off up to the blocks right? BUT the potential to damage the button is HUGE and for you to attempt this.....maybe not. The back off would facilitate the correct alignment of the rib crack, allow you to clean, cleat, clamp etc., same for the back.

What type of rosin do you use on your flipper? What's the best meat/rosin combo? Angus with Pops? I prefer Carlsson on mine. AND if you have ribs you can throw the scraps in the FF's I purchased a bass once with buffalo wing bones inside.....mice I hope.
 
#23
The bass has had a nicely done neck graft, the neck joint and button area are sound so I don't want to mess with it. That's something I'm not sure I could do properly.

I can align the rib crack using wedges under the spool clamp bolts (saw that in the Traeger book), but obviously I can't fit and glue cleats to the rib. A glued crack with no cleats is better than an open crack.
I think I'll be able to cleat the back ok.

Mmmm, Petzburgers....
 
#24
In the course of removing a bucketfull of old glue from the lower back seam, I discovered a couple sections of inner lining loose near the bottom block, and that both ends of the lower back brace had separated from the back for about an inch. So after glueing those things and a couple rib cracks successfully, I set about washing out the misaligned back crack. After digging caulking out of the crack :rollno: , I now discover that there's no way this crack is gonna close. The back has shrunk too much, the bottom nine inches or so of the crack is open a good 1/32", so it's going to need a spline. This has happened before, there are a few splines in old cracks in this back already.

So, here's the plan of attack: Split a strip of maple off a plank, plane/ sand/ scrape it to the width of the split, using feeler and wire gauges to measure the slot width, and a vernier caliper to measure the spline. Since the grain is a bit wavy, soak the spline in hot water (or steam it?) then clamp it in the crack, in the hope it will conform to the shape of the crack. After it has dried unclamp, glue and reclamp. How's that sound? If bending is not a good choice, how about taking a rubbing of the crack (white paper, soft pencil), glueing that piece of paper to a strip of maple, then bandsawing or scroll sawing the spline to shape? Once again, I'm hoping for a little guidance from the pro's here.
Thanks.
 
#26
I've made some progress on my little repair project. Here's some pictures for anyone who's interested (some of the photography's a bit sketchy). Yeah, this is everyday stuff for the pro luthiers, but for an enthusiastic dabbler like myself, it's a bit of an adventure.

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- This is my clothes iron heated glue pot. Works great if you keep an eye on the thermometer, adjust accordingly. Gotta put some sort of a pilot light on it, I left it on overnight once.

Spool clamps-
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Can't have enough of them. Cut the discs using a hole saw, from hardwood salvaged from skids from work. Bandsawed out, sanded as necessary, faced with 1/16" thick sheet cork. Some use 1/4-20 threaded rod, some use 5/16-18. The 5/16 is better as it's stiffer. One disc tapped to hold rod, wing nut at the other end. A few wraps of masking tap prevents the threads from damaging the edge of the instrument.

Back brace posts-
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Made from short lengths of spruce 1x2 and scraps of aluminum for handles. Allows clamping of the ends of the lower back brace without removing the back entirely. I suppose a post of this sort could also be positioned using a sound post tool.

Clamping the crack-
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This crack was an awkward one to clamp. I made up some cauls from scrap hardwood, faced them with cork, pulled them together with 1/4-20 threaded rod and wing nuts. The slats connecting them to the spool clamps at the C bouts prevent them from squeezing off the bottom of the top. The deep throat C clamps and the stack of hammers (!) keep the crack aligned.

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Am I using the wrong term here? Anyway, this is the finished insert glued in place. The crack was open 1 mm+ at the bottom, tapering to no gap at the top. I cut and scraped a strip of maple to fit the crack (tedious, took a couple tries), soaked it in a tinfoil tray of boiling water to soften it, then clamped it in the crack. After 5-6 hours I unclamped it to find it had dried and taken the wavy shape of the crack. Went over everything with a hair dryer to make sure it was dry, then glued it in place.

Next step will be to cleat the crack (I'm thinkin' the bigger cleats would be best) using the clamps with the flat base, glue the seam, then touch up. Stay tuned (or not...)
 

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