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Double Bass Endpin + socket - too simple?

G

George700DL

Jan 9, 2009
540
4
Maryland
#1
I chose a very simple way to attach my tail piece:

attachment.jpg


I turned the socket out of hard maple as follows:

The socket has a 1" diameter dowel that goes inside the tail block (untapered). It's just snug enough to stay in place, not tight by any means (and not glued of course). When the socket is in place, the dowel is flush with the surface of the tail block (inside), so nothing protrudes into the body of the bass. The side that contacts the ribs is lined with cork (hide-glued) - I was thinking of possible vibration/rattling. Non-issue.

Then there is a 2" hole on the other side of that socket that accepts a 3/4 size dowel. Again, just snug, not tight. It stays in place when i carry the bass. I use a rubber crutch tip on that on hardwood floors, and take it off when playing on carpet.

Obviously the end pin is not adjustable, but takes about 15 seconds to cut a new one of different height and carry more than 1 along. I use just 1 size anyway.

BTW, my tail block is about 2" thick, and I actually glued 2 pieces together, with their grain at 90 degrees to prevent splits.

Oh, and I slightly angled the tail piece hole, so that the bass leans back a little when the pin is perpendicular to the floor - in the opposite direction of the pull of the tail piece cable. The socket is shaped to accommodate this angle and have a flat contact surface.

The tail piece is attached via shielded braided cable, crimped within the cavity of the tail piece.

I see absolutely no drawbacks to this whatsoever. But it sounded too simple, and I'm wondering if there are any objections to this setup?

George
 
#5
PB+J said:
Why have the socket--why not just have the endpin go directly into the endblock, as in the laborie endpin?
Click to expand...

I heard the term laborie endpin, but haven't actually seen one. I'll look it up.

I definitely wanted to have a maple socket - I don't know if I'd want to have a shallow hole in the soft spruce block with the endpin digging in and have the bass rest on it.

This is not my idea, I grabbed it from the GAL low-cost bass article. It seemed simple and functional.

Also how do you get a case on it?
Click to expand...

Very easily. I got the 3/4 bag from Bob Gollihur's website, all fits very well. The pin sticks out, but I could just take it off if I wanted the bag to swallow the whole thing. The socket itself sticks about 3" out of the bass - maybe the picture makes it look longer.
 
#7
That's the way end-pins used to be-- just a piece of wood which fit snugly into a socket which was fit in the hole in the block, with the tail gut around it-- I have an old one in a box with old bridges and posts that I haven't used to start fires yet.
I recall David Walter used to like that set-up-- you can take a big wood screw, screw it into the end of the dowel, then cut off the head and sharpen it so you have a nice spike-- then remove the dowel to transport, or replace with short, blunt dowel,
 
#8
Provbass1 said:
That's the way end-pins used to be-- just a piece of wood which fit snugly into a socket which was fit in the hole in the block, with the tail gut around it-- I have an old one in a box with old bridges and posts that I haven't used to start fires yet.
I recall David Walter used to like that set-up-- you can take a big wood screw, screw it into the end of the dowel, then cut off the head and sharpen it so you have a nice spike-- then remove the dowel to transport, or replace with short, blunt dowel,
Click to expand...

I use a crutch tip on the end on h/w floors, and I take it off when there is carpet. Couldn't be any simpler.

I don't like the squeaks caused by the crutch tip getting caught on carpet, otherwise I'd keep it on all the time.

George
 
#9
If it were me, I'd shorten the length of the socket past the tailgut. It's not a problem, just extra wood that's not really doing anything. All in all, though, the whole thing looks like you've done a very good job. There is no such thing as too simple, IMHO simpicity is a virtue that should be strived for in all aspects of life.
 
#10
uprightben said:
If it were me, I'd shorten the length of the socket past the tailgut. It's not a problem, just extra wood that's not really doing anything. All in all, though, the whole thing looks like you've done a very good job. There is no such thing as too simple, IMHO simpicity is a virtue that should be strived for in all aspects of life.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I thought about that. The hole for the pin itself goes about 2" deep. I suppose I could make it like 1" or so and still be fine, but I just kinda left it alone because it doesn't get in the way of anything. The pin hole does not go as far as where the cable loops around - at that point the socket is already solid.

When the bass travels in/out of the car, and when it gets picked up, that pin/socket/tail block takes most of the impact. My thinking was to make it kinda meaty. It's hard maple - plenty strong - so it could probably lose some weight and be fine.

George
 
#11
Provbass1 said:
I recall David Walter used to like that set-up-- you can take a big wood screw, screw it into the end of the dowel, then cut off the head and sharpen it so you have a nice spike-- then remove the dowel to transport, or replace with short, blunt dowel,
Click to expand...

That spike idea is very cool, but it raises a question: These days, where is it possibly acceptable to have a spike like that scoring floors? I can't think of a place other than outdoors :)
 
#12
George700DL said:
That spike idea is very cool, but it raises a question: These days, where is it possibly acceptable to have a spike like that scoring floors? I can't think of a place other than outdoors :)
Click to expand...

George, not that there is anything wrong with what you did but did you considered the MusicKit design (I think it was) where you use a hanger bolt that has a wood screw end and a (shortened) straight thread end. The bass pear has a matching threaded insert. You screw the wood screw end into a turned peg and then apply/remove it from the pear. It can't rattle because you twist it up tight.
 
#13
gbaker said:
George, not that there is anything wrong with what you did but did you considered the MusicKit design (I think it was) where you use a hanger bolt that has a wood screw end and a (shortened) straight thread end. The bass pear has a matching threaded insert. You screw the wood screw end into a turned peg and then apply/remove it from the pear. It can't rattle because you twist it up tight.
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound familiar - for the removable neck, yeah there was the bolt. But for the tail piece, I thought the plans called for a rather conventional approach, except using their cello endpin. Maybe the plans I got were updated and they had different approaches. I was told they stopped supporting the "baroque bass" plans because it was too challenging for people to build.

So far I have no issues whatsoever with the approach I took, I just wondered if it was too simple to be effective and if there was a down side to it.

George
 

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