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Double Bass Eminence Neck Damage :(

Nate74

Nate74

Mar 3, 2007
789
78
DFW
#1
I've been a gigging musician for almost 20 years and have never had an instrument stolen (knock on wood) or severely damaged. But last night my luck ran out. I had my car all packed up and had my Eminence in the soft case leaning against a wall by my front door. I kiss the wife and daughter and hear the bass sliding down the wall and hitting the tile floor. It wasn't very loud and I'm thinking "heck, it's in a case it'll be fine." Well, I should have checked but didn't until arriving at the gig where I found this:

eminence_damage3.jpg


I've only had this bass about a month and even though I got it used (here on TB), it's still one of the most expensive instruments I've ever owned. I'm heading down to World of Strings in Long Beach this morning to see what, if anything, they can do.

I borrowed a friend,s acoustic bass guitar to do the show (he lives near the bar we were at). I hope he doesn't mind the tear stains I left on it... :crying::crying::crying:
 
#2
By the look of where the break is I would guess it is not a detachable neck, correct ?
It's a clean break and if it goes back together without to many little splinters and chunks of wood stopping it from re-joining I would epoxy it. I would try dry clamping it first and if all goes well glue and clamp over night....Good luck and sorry about the accident.
 
#3
Oh no! That really hurts.

I "inherited" and old Kay from my high school band room years ago and the neck was split there - but more so, almost to the point of being completely separate. I talked to some knowledgeable people who told me that most uprights are actually designed to split there because it is an easily repairable spot with little risk of damaging the neck. So, since I wasn't at the risk of losing any money on the deal, I took the bass home and used some wood glue and clamps to fix the split.

It may not be the prettiest fix ever, but it has held up just fine for over a decade now.

Some wood glue, clamps, and padding for the fretboard and you'll be up and running again in no time!

I know it hurts now to look at, but it should be savable!

Best of luck!
 
#4
The head upright luthier guy at World of Strings (best UB place in So CA) gave me two options. Option One: glue it back together and just live with a "less than pretty" spot on the bass. Estimate $100-$200. Option Two: Remove the back of the instrument, construct an internal patch of some sort, make a new "wing" where the body overlaps the neck, blah blah blah. He guessed that could run "half the cost of the instrument." I'm going with Option one. If it's too ugly, I'll put a bandaid on it...

Still hurts to think about but it does look likely I'll at least have a playable instrument again.
 
#6
jacochops said:
The luthier at World of Strings is Jon Peterson. He is a genius. He'll make it as right as it can be. Best in So Cal, although Lisa Gass in LA, and Dave Millard in San Diego are fantastic, as well! Best of luck!
Click to expand...

That's great to hear. I've never used them before but our mandolin guy swears by the place and after seeing the "giant room of uprights" this morning, I have confidence it'll be as good as it can...
 
#7
Nate,

I am planning to replace the neck and fingerboard on my (fixed neck) Eminance 5 string, so I corresponded with Gary last week at [email protected] (who makes the Eminance).

He told me that this neck is of conventional design and construction; therefore, its repair should be very similar to that of a normal acoustic upright bass.

Therefore, I would think that the above recommendation by jacochops is the best recourse that you have.

Good luck! And, let us know how it goes.

Jon
 
#8
Nate74 said:
I've been a gigging musician for almost 20 years and have never had an instrument stolen (knock on wood) or severely damaged. But last night my luck ran out. I had my car all packed up and had my Eminence in the soft case leaning against a wall by my front door. I kiss the wife and daughter and hear the bass sliding down the wall and hitting the tile floor. It wasn't very loud and I'm thinking "heck, it's in a case it'll be fine." Well, I should have checked but didn't until arriving at the gig where I found this:

eminence_damage3.jpg


I've only had this bass about a month and even though I got it used (here on TB), it's still one of the most expensive instruments I've ever owned. I'm heading down to World of Strings in Long Beach this morning to see what, if anything, they can do.

I borrowed a friend,s acoustic bass guitar to do the show (he lives near the bar we were at). I hope he doesn't mind the tear stains I left on it... :crying::crying::crying:
Click to expand...

Same happened to me.
It was easily fixed by those I bought it from.
Now it's better than before.
 
#10
So sorry to see that.

I've repaired two breaks exactly like yours but it was clean so the touch up wasn't major. Although it's built like traditional double basses, the pocket is rather shallow. What I did to one of the bass is apply a hidden bolt from inside of the body. You will need a long rod to attach the bolt driver and thru the endpin side, drive a bolt into the neck. It was very stable even without glue.

Hope it all works out for you.
 
#13
I'll be picking up the bass today after work. When I called to confirm it would be ready, the guy asked if I had the case or if it was there in the shop. I had the gig bag in my truck but it got me to thinking about finding a hard case for the bass. Since it's not a removable neck version, it'd be pretty long, but far better than another trip to the repair shop... anybody know a custom hard case manufacturer?

I'll post pix when I get it home to show the group.
 
#15
I picked up the bass yesterday and am ecstatic to have it back and in very playable condition. Plus, they changed the neck angle slightly so my adjustable bridge is more in the center of it's range rather than dropped all the way down. After 6 weeks without it though, I realize I was letting myself think it would "good as new" when I got it back. So part of me is a bit disappointing that the damage is still so apparent. I've done enough refinishing work to know that covering something like this would be next to impossible, but somehow I thought maybe the luthiers working on it had some trade secret that would magically cover up this gash. I'll of course live with it and maybe find a small decal or something to put over it... maybe I'm just being silly.

eminence_repair2.jpg
 

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