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Double Bass End Pin Replacement for Do-it-Yourselfers?

N

nikolai poopius

Sep 10, 2008
5
0
Fairbanks, AK
#1
I live in Fairbanks, AK where access to luthiers tends to be intermittent, expensive, and time-consuming. Some bassists here will even send their basses to Seattle to have repairs made there.
I am a student with a student bass (half carved Chinese model), so I'm not overly concerned with very minor damages. My end plug is cracked and needs replacement. When I contacted Lemur to replace it they recommended I make measurements of the current plug and verify that everything is intact and sound with the hole and the block there. Have any old hands out there done this procedure before? Any advice before I embark?
Thanks.
 
#2
Im not an "old hand" but I work on basses every day.
To install an endpin you need an endpin reamer which costs around $200. This reamer is tapered to the exact shape of the endpin plug. Some times a new endpin is too small for the pre existing hole and some time you need to ream the hole bigger with the tool mentioned before. To answer your question about whether or not you should or could do this with out taking it to a luthier..the answer is NO. You will be glad you took it to some one with the right tools.
 
#3
nikolai poopius said:
I live in Fairbanks, AK where access to luthiers tends to be intermittent, expensive, and time-consuming. Some bassists here will even send their basses to Seattle to have repairs made there.
I am a student with a student bass (half carved Chinese model), so I'm not overly concerned with very minor damages. My end plug is cracked and needs replacement. When I contacted Lemur to replace it they recommended I make measurements of the current plug and verify that everything is intact and sound with the hole and the block there. Have any old hands out there done this procedure before? Any advice before I embark?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

If the new endpin is of the same size of the old one, you just need to exchange one with the other with no adaptations needed.

I would suggest you take out the old endpin and measure it, this way you can either order the right one, or decide to take it to a luthier. The endpin reamer would be helpful if the new endpin is bigger than the old one. If the new pin is slightly smaller, then you can try wrapping it with double sided sand paper (for example) to fill the gap. If the difference is big then the hole needs to be plugged, filled/glued with new wood and re-drilled/reamed to the right size (not advisable for amateurs).

Just make sure that your soundpost doesn't fall while taking your bass apart.
 
#4
I just did this last night and it was almost fatal.

I read in a different thread that someone took the old and the new endpins, wrapped them with sandpaper and turned it for eight hours to acheive success.

This same thread also recomMended you take it to a shop to do it. If you have that reamer tool it is a snap and about an hour of labor- so a shop should charge 20-40.

UNLESS YOU LIVE IN ALASKA OR ARE DESPERATE DO NOT ATTEMPT

but if you must.... remember you can not put back what you took out.

I did a similar method but with a drill. I reversed the pin and stuck it the the chuck of a variable speed drill. I wrapped the collar with 40 grit sandpaper (I used the sandpaper that has a sticky back HIGHLY RECOMMEND also 40 is overkill use 60)

HERE IS THE BIG PROBLEM WITH THIS WHOLE THING- you will naturally wear down more of the hole at the outside. So, the outer part of the hole, that needs to be tight will be loose.

I realized this halfway through but was fortunate enough to still make it work.

I ONLY USED THE OLD ENDPIN
I ONLY PUT SANDPAPER ON THE TIP OF THE COLLAR
I INCREASED THE RADIUS OF THE COLLAR BY ADDING ONE LAYER OF ELECTRICAL TAPE AT A TIME

Although this method was quicker than by hand I still spent 4 hours doing this very slowly and checking the fit of the new collar often.

Again, if you are going to do this have it done by a pro but if you must do this, take your time and really focus on the inner part of the hole

Daniel Haugh
 

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#5
Thanks for the heads up, folks. I ended up, (after a few months of working on it), finding someone in town with a reamer who helped me replace it. The replacement end pin was just a little bit wider than the previous one, which made the procedure pretty painless and inexpensive. Without the proper tools, though, I believe it would have been difficult, and if the replacement pin was narrower than the previous one I'm not sure I could have done it at all.
 
#6
I'm a machinist and just started making my own custom endpin last week. The diameter of my old one was 1/2 an inch or .500, and the new one I'm making is exactly .500 as well. This should be fine correct?
 
#7
Reviving an old thread…I replaced my endpin recently, a new (to me) bass with a way too short endpin, I’m 6’3”. The replacement was too big for the hole so I flipped the new endpin around on the rod, taped sandpaper to it (Gorilla tape, preserving it’s conical shape) and reamed the hole bigger. It took me a little over two hours total (from loosening the strings making my tool to retuning), much less time than taking the bass to the guy I normally would. At one point I was on the verge of getting the hole too big and at the end I wrapped it in 1.5 wraps of gaff tape (cloth) but it’s very snug in the hole and the bass sounds exactly as it did before.
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#8
A tip for those who are far from luthiers:

These endpin sockets are universal and can be quickly fitted as long as the hole in the bottom block is in decent shape. The shaft of the socket is cylindrical and comes with a 3D printed conical sleeve. You just stick the sleeve into the hole, mark where it stops, and cut off the excess. It takes almost no time.

Endpins — Saddle Rider Music LLC
 
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#10
For $50 you can get a decent Chinese endpin reamer on ebay that will work fine for occasional use. I do have the $400 fancy European model, but I use one of many $50 just as often. The cheap ones are even better from the standpoint that I don't care if I run into some nails or other old junk that takes a chip out or when I'm problem solving away from the workbench with the dadgumn'd lawn mower repairs...

Even more so, stop looking at the problem as a single solution, Rather than drilling a massive hole in the corpus of the bass body because it is easy, take the new oversized endpin to anyone who has even a small hobby lathe and have the endpin turned down to fit the current body hole size. It should take 10 minutes and requires modest skills. You can also chuck the endpin in a drill press to accomplish the same task.
 
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#12
james condino said:
Even more so, stop looking at the problem as a single solution, Rather than drilling a massive hole in the corpus of the bass body because it is easy, take the new oversized endpin to anyone who has even a small hobby lathe and have the endpin turned down to fit the current body hole size. It should take 10 minutes and requires modest skills. You can also chuck the endpin in a drill press to accomplish the same task.
Click to expand...

I dunno man. Not everyone has a friend with a hobby lathe, and even if they do, you need a tapered reamer and a dial indicator to get the cross slide to the right angle. With the 3D printed sleeve you can do the job in minutes with only a hand saw.
 
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