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Double Bass Double Bass Crack on the left side

D

dbassnut

Apr 1, 2008
191
5
Malaysia
#1
Hi,
I have a crack on the left side of my double bass from the F hole extending about 6 inches along the grain. This crack is pre existing & has been repaired ( a few years back) before but it cracked again a little early this year & I have been using the bass as is as I was & still am kind of broke.
However, last Sunday, while changing my tuners, the bridge fell over. I had to reposition the sound post & bridge. One day after this, I noticed that the crack was getting a little bigger, so I took the bridge off to reduce the stress & the crack got a little smaller.
Now my problem is, there aren't any luthiers in Penang, Malaysia so most double bass players here have to DIY.
The nearest one is probably in the next country (Singapore) & I probably won't be able to afford them so I think I'm stuck with doing the repair work myself.
I am trying to find out where I can buy hide glue in Penang as well but haven't been successful yet. Most of the violin shops here that do repair use superglue (shudder).
Any advice would be much appreciated.
 

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#2
That definitely has to be repaired before it spreads and causes greater damage. Anyone's first suggestion would be to get it to a professional. Given its proximity to the soundpost, this is not a repair for an amateur. Chances are, an improper fittting soundpost may have caused this to crack in the first place. In all liklihood, it was fitted in either Europe or North America where the climate is considerably different than that where you are and the excessive humidity caused it to swell and eventually fracture the table. Forcing glue into the crack will not suffice; You will have to fit cleats along the crack from behind to stabilize it (you may even need a proper patch). The post will have to be looked at as well. Do you know of anyone in a local orchestra or any string owner that may be able to steer you towards someone with the skills to fix this?
 
#3
You are thinking correctly toward hide glue. This would be an easy repair for any bass shop. It is good that you are taking the pressure off so the crack won't spread anymore. Depending on the value of the bass and your future expectation with it, would factor in a suggestion as to how to repair it. Since you are in a broken state, i can't recommend the best way to fix the crack, which would be to remove the top, inlay a souind-post patch and cleat the crack. This would need to be done in a bass luthier shop.

Here's something that you can do(not all will agree with this)
drill a small hole at the end of the crack and fill it with cooked hide glue. At the f hole end of the crack-hide glue it together. Make a tool out of a whatever will work to clean the under-surface of the top. Then, dip a piece of linen cloth in hide glue and smooth it out as far as you can reach over the crack through the f-hole. With the right kind of clamps, you can install cleats. Go to International violin 800-542-3538. They will have the clamps, glue and would probably even ship you a few pieces of spruce for the cleats. Make sure that the sound post fits right- i would fit it so the top would not move up or down when you install the post, since the crack is close to the sound post. This should be considered a temporary fix until you can have the top removed and have the soundpost patch inlayed(some use a thin surface patch instead)
If you will provide your address, some of us would probably be willing to send you what you need to fix it. But, surely, there is someone in the area-if not, help is on the way.

Hope this helps!
 
#4
Hi Guys, thanks for the advice.
A senior double bass player who has helped me before will be taking a look at the bass this weekend & hopefully we can work something out.
The crack was caused a 2 years back by my ex-pianist who walked into it while texting. Fortunately my conductor (I play in a local amateur orchestra) help me fix it. He glued a few cleats & installed them by tying a knot on a fishing line, threading this through the cleat, & out through the crack (you can see the pin hole marks where the line was pulled through to install the cleats on the TOP view photo). When you pulled the line tight, this would allign both sides of the wood at the crack. Worked well until early this week when the sound post fell over & the crack got too bad to ignore.
I'm probably going to DIY it & will be asking around town this weekend. Hopefully, I can locate an old timer carpenter that can tell me where to buy hide glue. Or hopefully my friend has some left over hide glue that I could use.
Gene,
thanks for the advice. I think that your repair technique would be doable for me. :)
Bassics,
I do know a violin maker but he lives in a different city & I'm not sure if he repairs double basses or if I could afford his services.

Once again, thanks & wish me luck.
 
#7
Hi guys,
Thanks, I'll post photos once it's done.
A little history about my bass.
Its about 20 years old, used to belong to my late tutor.
Its a chinese one but well made & very easy to play.

For my repair options,
1. I hope my senior bass player is willing to help me get it repaired. He has a workshop & does violin repairs so I'm hoping that he has the tools & supplies needed.
2. If he can't, then I'll probably have to do it myself. Hopefully my senior will help me get the hide glue.
3. Worse case, I'll just have to figure a way how to do a temporary repair until after August & hope the violin maker in KL does double bass repair & is willing to repair mine & his repair cost is within my budget. Which leaves me with another problem. How to get my bass down to KL from Penang. The last time I did that, I rode in the luggage coach as the train conductor refuse to let me put the bass in a passenger even though I bought a ticket for the bass & myself.
This time, I think I'll email the train company & book a sleeper for the bass & get a confirmation letter from them saying that I can use it for the bass.
Once again, thanks for the advice.
 
#9
Thanks, Matthew for the heads up.

So I've taken my bass to my friend last Saturday & he says he can fix it. As he is in Penang, I've sent it to him to repair.
What he told me about the repair is
1. He will have the clean out the existing glue that is already in the crack.
2. Glue & clamp it together using hide glue & cleats
He'll be calling me in a day or two so I'm crossing my fingers & hoping for the best. I think for my situation, he is the best choice as he in Penang & he does have the experience as he is both a double bass maker & luckily for me, his hobby is making violins (I didn't know that earlier).
When I asked him if I'd need to get the top off, he said for my case it wouldn't be necessary as the crack should be fixable.
Apart from my friend who's repairing the crack here in Penang, the next closest Luthier that I know would probably be Ong Keat Wei who is based in KL & the bassloft's Brandon Wong, both who are also double bass players.
However, I'd still prefer to get the crack fixed here in Penang as the distance is a little too far. (6hours to KL & 9hrs to Singapore by car).
 
#10
am planning on coming to Penang and was hoping to find a violin luthier. Any suggestions? I studied the concept extensively, bought a bunch of tools but it just intimidates me too much, and would like to get it done properly (and watch and learn). Thanks a lot.
 
#11
Hi guys,
Great news, the bass has been fixed, the crack closed & glued without having to open the top. My friend said that he'd only recommend opening the top if there were more repairs to be done later.
Kenax, if you are Penang, do drop me a line. For professional luthiers, I don't think that there are any in Penang. My friend only help me as he does this as a hobby.
There is a luthier in KL though who is also a double bass player. His site is here but it's in chinese. He actually studied violin making in Italy so he'd probably be the guy you'd want to talk to.
http://ong7578.blogspot.com/
Hope this helps.
I'll post photos of the repaired crack later. I'm very happy with it, the bass actually sounds much louder as perhaps the crack was causing the bass to leak air & diminish the sound.
 
#12
Hi Kenax,
If I am not mistaken, my friend who repaired my bass would be playing at a charity concert which my orchestra is organizing on 22nd August.
Link Removed
If you are in the area during that time, do drop in during the concert & I'll introduce you to him. I think that Keat Wei, the luthier from KL will also be there. Both of them play the double bass too.
 
#15
Hi Guys,
Once again, thanks for all the advice. Here are the photo's of the crack after the repair. You can see some excess glue along the crack as some wood chipped off much earlier. In any case, the bass sounds a lot better now than before.
The bridge has also been reshaped & the string height dropped to 6mm at the E & 6mm at G.
As my bridge has adjusters, I'm thinking of raising the height a bit (I used to have it at 8mm at E & 9mm at G, I'm planning on increasing the existing heights from 6mm to 7 or 8mm).
Now my question is, should I detune the string by a tone & then increase the height? Or just adjust the height without detuning?
Appreciate your suggestions.
Thanks
 

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#18
dbassnut said:
Hi Jake,
thanks for the tip. err, how far should I detune? I'm thinking of dropping a whole tone down.
Click to expand...

Sure, something like that will make a useful difference. Depending on how much you're planning to raise the bridge, you'll get a semitone back with the adjusters! ;)
 

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