Double Bass Double bass neck vs. fingerboard thickness

[Pavel B the2nd]

Hello and thanks to anybody who is able and willing to help me.

I have a new ebony fingerboard on my 120 years old German bass. The maple neck was not in very good state so there is a maple “cleat” pasted in between the neck and the fingerboard. Now, the all neck is very thick. My question is if there is some rule/range for ratio of thicknesses of maple and ebony parts.

What should be cut more, maple or ebony? In my case, the original maple part would become quite thin.

Thank you in advance for any advice,

Pavel

 

[robobass]

Well, you never want to remove thickness from the ebony. By "cleat", we here would mostly say "shim", if I understand things properly. I think the most sensible thing would be to remove the shim first. But... Is the shim uniform in thickness or tapered? A tapered shim is a common way to increase bridge height and overstand. It's all very complicated. Please post some pictures.

 

[MikeCanada]

If you have a shim between the neck and the fingerboard and the new fingerboard is thick or thicker than what was there previously, then the shim should be the first thing to go. Depending on the thickness of the shim removing it entirely might be the correct solution, or planing it down so it is thinner might be the best option.

 

[Pavel B the2nd]

Thank you both very much. It's finished. The shim is tapered from 3 to 5mm (approx.). Now, ebony seems to be unusal masive but the complete neck is very solid and more comfortable to play on...

 

[Eric Hochberg]

Let's see a side shot of the neck/fingerboard.