Double Bass Finding a 1/2 size bass top

[BeowulfKingsley]

Some years ago I somehow got ahold of a 1/2 size bass body...just an inexpensive student model. The top had been destroyed. I have no idea where I could get a replacement. I already have playable uprights...I could also make the bass into a bookshelf or a liquor cabinet, but it might be nice to rebuild it if it could be done on the cheap. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[GretschWretch]

Reach out to some of the bass shops and see if they have an orphaned top in their back room. Over my mantelpiece I have a bass back I got years ago from Barry Kolstein's shop.

But you have to ascertain before buying that the replacement top will mate to the rib garland of the bass.

 

[Steven Ayres]

Any ideas?

I can't be much help with the core question, but I wonder: would this be an instrument you'd play, an instrument you'd sell, or a fun project?

 

[BeowulfKingsley]

I don't know if I'd play it or not. My experience on 1/2 sizes is limited and the ones I've played didn't impress me with their E string, but that could be different on a different bass. I might sell it or give it to a deserving student. I know very little about bass luthiery, but it could be a good project to learn some basics. Mostly I just feel sorry for the poor thing, and I hate to see an instrument in that shape. Apparently it was a student's bass who felt they'd had it with lessons, and they'd kicked the top right in. If I'd known the student, I'd have given them a kick myself.

 

[Steven Ayres]

So should I infer that it had a solid top rather than laminate, and you don't have the broken pieces?

I'd consider trying to source a 1/2-scale laminate top blank from a Chinese operation. A solid replacement seems harder to find, maybe in eastern Europe.

I'd venture that 'on the cheap' will be the hardest piece of the puzzle, though.

 

[LouisF]

You could check with Ken at International Violins:

Invalid Link Removed