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Double Bass Evaluating basss with repaired cracks

B

Bass Barrister

Nov 4, 2004
387
2
74
Chicago
www.azflaw.com
#1
At what point does the presence of significant cracks, even if well repaired and stable, diminish the value of a bass or raise a red flag to avoid it.

A few days ago, I tried out a bass, offered at about $10k, which sounded quite good to me and made me want to spend more time with it. There are two issues that do concern me though:

1. A rib crack, about 12", on the treble side of the bass running from the point where the body meets the neck right down the middle of the rib.

2. A top plate crack running from the sound post all the way to the bottom of the lower bout.

The seller, an established shop with a good rep., assures me that the cracks have been well repaired and are stable. I discussed this bass with another luthier, who has NOT seen it, but who told me that the rib crack is probably no biggie but that the sondpost area crack is a "turn around and run" problem even if well repaired.

I suspect tha it will be hard to find any older bass without some cracks present. What should I be looking for? What would you consider an abolute turn off? What is acceptable?

Thanks
 
#2
Sound post and bass bar cracks would concern me, and all things being equal, I would rather find a bass without them. Also, a sound post crack on a round back is not a good thing (unrepairable), I've been told. I have rib cracks on my basses and once repaired, have not opened up again. The luthiers around here could advise you the best I think. I would show that bass to someone good (I think you know who) before buying it at the very least.
 
#3
I agree about the rib crack. No big deal. My small German bass that I use exclusively for jazz has cracks along the bass bar and the around the soundpost but both were correctly fixed with inlay patches. I love that bass and won't ever sell it. If I were to though, those repairs may scare off buyers. That's the only "turn around and run" reason that I can think of. I remember seeing Tim Pitts' Gagliano with it's top off and the underside looked to be about 25% patches. One of the best basses I've ever heard.
 
#6
bassist14 said:
the soundpost crack in the top has a counterpressure from from the stringpressure (strings <-->soundpost) that keeps it in a kind of balance, the soundpostcrack in the (round)back has not.
Click to expand...
Sorry, that makes no sense to me. If there is an inlayed patch in the back, it is being pushed into place by the soundpost, just as a top patch would be.

If no one bought basses with old soundpost and bass bar cracks, there would not be many old basses being played. Nearly all the great old basses, especially the Italians, would have been junked by now.

Soundpost cracks do not devalue a bass the way they do a violin. These unfortunate scars seem to be par for the course for an instrument that has traditionally been neglected, dropped, mishandled and poorly repaired in its lifetime.
 
#9
i attached two links to pics of the bass i had in mind when i did my post.
the patch in the back has cracked.

arnold, can you please tell me what went wrong here?
did it crack because of the direction of the grain from the patch?

thanks a lot
bassist14

soundpostcrack in back from outside
Invalid Link Removed

from inside

Invalid Link Removed
 

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