Double Bass "Crack is stabilized"

[Steven Ayres]

A music store is selling this as if it's all OK.

So some poor schlub has to carry this thing home and learn that Kays are impossible to play and sound like crap. If I had a nickel ....

 

[HateyMcAmp]

Jesus. I want to report them to the better business bureau.

 

[TroyK]

I think it's fine, because they painted the bolt a woodlike color. Then again, I'm not luthier.

 

[charlie monroe]

So some poor schlub has to carry this thing home and learn that Kays are impossible to play and sound like crap. If I had a nickel ....

...and pay good money for the experience

 

[charlie monroe]

I think it's fine, because they painted the bolt a woodlike color. Then again, I'm not luthier.

Pretty sure that's just good ole rust

 

[TroyK]

Pretty sure that's just good ole rust

Well that makes it vintage then, doesn't it?

 

[Josh Kneisel]

That's pretty bad.

 

[bolophonic]

How does it sound?

 

[jsf729]

The bolt is probably not torqued to spec.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

That’s nothing.

A few years ago I fixed an ‘80 Engel with a broken neck heel and sent it back out into the wild. I believe it was a school bass. The shop teacher or somebody tried to fix the crack with wood glue without slacking the strings. A whole lot of wood glue.

Needless to say, it wasn’t a success. I had to pop the top, replace the neck block and shim and reset the neck after painstakingly cleaning up the mess.

 

[craigie]

Well I’m case of flood or tsunami may be good to have around.

 

[jasonrp]

Wait till the guy selling gets the idea that it's a travel bass. I'd add at least 500 to the asking price

 

[ctrlzjones]

A music store is selling this as if it's all OK.
(...)

Wait, does that mean that the head is overlapping from the FB on the other side?

Adds also an interesting notion in case the instrument starts to reflect upon its own existence: "Uh, now I'm screwed".

 

[Sam Sherry]

CRACK STABILIZED: It's leaning securely against the cash register.

 

[Steven Ayres]

Wait, does that mean that the head is overlapping from the FB on the other side?

There's a big rhomboid patch in the fingerboard, presumably covering a carriage-bolt head.

The seller also mentions that the table is sunk about 3/4" and the scroll has been screwed back on. All this for $1450 out the door!

 

[GretschWretch]

I can see a logical (though inadvisable) reason for the bolt, but I see screw holes and doweling that seem to serve no purpose whatsoever vis-a-vis fixing the crack.

 

[james condino]

I think the same guy was doing repair work over at the Les Paul forum!!!

 

[Steven Ayres]

I think the same guy was doing repair work over at the Les Paul forum!

Now that's some serious engineering!

 

[5StringBlues]

I think the same guy was doing repair work over at the Les Paul forum!!!View attachment 2879072

Gotta take this over to the funniest pic thread.

 

[james condino]

My guess is that the original photo shows the "add on disease"...

First attempt= nail gun on sides; unsuccessful....
2nd attempt= dowels; unsuccessful because the nails are sticking out on the inside of the crack.
3rd attempt= telephone pole bolt. Successful in that the neck is still holding on, but not very aesthetically pleasing.

I won't say that any of it cannot be corrected or fixed, but it will take up a lot of bench time (= expensive...).

For every clean original neck Kay I see, probably 20 of them look like this, and the rest are in the middle somewhere. The street value is more like $600 three weeks after Christmas. It is important to remember that if this was done 25 years ago, this was a $150 bass so the work was considered reasonable for the cost involved....