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Double Bass Do I need to cut a new bridge for this Kay?

#41
JBarz said:
Doing stuff for $$$ always sours me on a thing, but I think I'd gladly tinker on anyone's axe (restore edges or whatever) in exchange for more broken basses & parts that need some TLC - PM me if interested.
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By the time you're ready to take a carved bass apart, plane flat some back braces, and close some top cracks, I'll have the money to pay you (which you will want) to restore my Romanian. Or we can race ;)

JBarz said:
I remember the one neck I planed wasn't super difficult, just time consuming. I think it took a solid 25+ hrs. But hell, if it keeps me off stupid Facebook and not staring at the ding dang screens - it's totally worth the $200 for a new fingerboard blank cost of admission.
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A year or so after I got my '46 Kay from Condino, I developed a buzz at the D on the G string. I chased it around for like 3 frustrating hours before just taking it back to him, he fixed it in ten minutes while talking to me and barely looking at the bass... voodoo I tell ya, but someone's gotta know how to do it!
 
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#43
Thanks Bra Double D (how'd I do?)
Read all the DB CF threads I could find, but there wasn't much info, honestly. Looking forward to making a more comprehensive How-to for us DIY'rs out there as a thanks for all ya'lls help.
I'm leaning towards gluing the shim first, uncut and centered, square on the neck. Then, using the straight edge of the shim as a guide, digging the router bit deep enough to go through the shim and into neck itself . Then, I'm thinking of using the excess bits of shim from the sides to backfill the grooves on top of the CF rods (CA glue'd in) so the hide glue on the fingerboard can have 100% adhesion. This is just where I'm at with my thinking right now...
 
#44
bradd said:
The deeper the carbon fiber is embedded into the neck, the better it will work. Putting it into the shim will not be very effective. Read through some of the CF threads before you decide.
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Not at all saying you're wrong since I'm far from an expert, but I'm curious the line of reasoning here; once the maple shim is glued to the neck, isn't it essentially then part of the neck? I don't see why it would change the stiffening properties of the CF, but maybe I'm missing something?
 
#45
unbrokenchain said:
Not at all saying you're wrong since I'm far from an expert, but I'm curious the line of reasoning here; once the maple shim is glued to the neck, isn't it essentially then part of the neck? I don't see why it would change the stiffening properties of the CF, but maybe I'm missing something?
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The greatest amount of pull is on the back side of the neck, therefore getting the cf as far into the neck as possible is going to have the greatest effect. The fact that you're adding a shim doesn't factor into the effectiveness.
 
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#47
bradd said:
The deeper the carbon fiber is embedded into the neck, the better it will work. Putting it into the shim will not be very effective. Read through some of the CF threads before you decide.
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This is NOT true.

A rigid beam will act the same throughout the neck. With fixed position materials it is all about beam strength and the I beam effect; basic engineering class 101.

I think what you are confusing it with is the neutral axis when referring to an adjustable truss rod placement, like on a P bass. With adjustable truss rods, since you are applying tension for them to work properly, they pull more backwards tension from compression the deeper you go towards the back of the neck.
 
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#52
Everything's come in now except the carbon fiber rods from Stewmac... feet getting cold, but no backing out now...
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#53
An update for anyone following along at home:

I put a clean set of Spiro Mits on this bass because that's what I like to do setup work with to determine a baseline (pun not intended) for the fingerboard. They've stretched out and I'm thinking "I could have gone just a tiny bit lower with the setup and it would have been juuuuust right". After reading elsewhere on a different thread about 42" vs 41.5" Kays, and having equipped the bridge feet with thin teflon anyway, I decided to scoot the bridge back about a centimeter from 41.5" to make it a clean 42" scale length, and the bridge right up next to (adjacent to) the sound post. And whoooohheeeeeeew boy. I feel like I need to walk away from futzing with this now because it's just playing so delightfully, all the way up the fingerboard - arco, pizz, it's lovely. Its not loud, but plays like butter all the way up and can scream in the amp. You guys know the feeling, I'm sure - when a setup comes together and begs you to quit tinkering with it, even though...

Meanwhile USPS has "delayed" the package from Stewmac with the carbon fiber rods and router bit, so I couldn't do it right now anyway, but I am super curious to know what I might be missing by not putting in the carbon fiber and the shim. I'm not ruling it out, but it's leaning towards a "it can wait.."

I've still got this new fingerboard, nut, and bridge, and still want to tinker, though, so... I've decided to design a super portable EUB.

... but that's for a different thread. Thanks for all your patience and help.
 
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#55
Thanks again for the support. I'm really enjoying the contrast right now between my two basses - 42.5" thick neck'd American Standard setup higher (6mm on G string) with guts for acoustic tone and this thin neck'd 42" Kay setup crazy low (3mm on G string) with steel strings for the amplified screamer. When I get frustrated with the limitations of one setup, I just bounce over to the other contrasting one and vice versa. I got to thinking about it and I realized that anything I did to "improve" this S9 (higher overstand, reinforced neck, etc) acoustically would essentially begin to increase the likelihood of feedback at higher volumes, neutralizing this bass' natural strength(s). Eventually I might revisit the idea of homogenizing my two basses (copying the setup of the Standard onto the S9), but right now I'm pretty happy to just practice what I've got (thank goodness!). -Jeremy
 

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