Double Bass Has anyone here ever made their own bent endpin?

[Basschair]

Well, have any of you tried it?

I got one from George Vance last week, and it's working out well for the moment. Still, my bass is heavy enough that I feel I'd do well to experiment some with different length/shape endpins. What I'd need to do is find somewhere I can pick up 10mm steel rods, figure the correct type of torch to heat, take a few safety precautions, and start bending. Of course, it'll be harder than my simplistic description, but would probably be more worthwhile than just shelling out a few hundred just to get a variety of endpins that someone else did.

I'm wondering if anyone else has taken this do-it-yourself approach, and where you got your supplies from?

Best regards
Paul

 

[PB+J]

I haven't done it but somewhere, maybe Vance's site, I found directions. You need a metal vise, and a length of pipe, a MAP gas torch, and 10 mm rod. The rod you can get at a machine shop or professional metal working shop. You just heat the rod, stick the pipe on the end for leverage, and bend

 

[bass-me-up]

have you ever thought about trying the stahlhammer endpin
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i know it's pretty popular in europe. this might be worth looking at before bending pipes all day

 

[toman]

I did it. I just went to Home Depot and bought some 10mm rod. Back at home, I fixed it in a bench vise, heated it with a torch, and bent it to shape. Ground it to size for my tip on the bench grinder. I made a couple to experiment with different lengths and angles, only to determine that I didn't see much advantage in continuing. My straight pin works fine...

 

[Anesthesia]

you can get 10mm rod from a steel supplier and they probably have offcuts you could get for say 2 bucks.

go and ask at a supplier

 

[PB+J]

Home Depot doesn't sell 10 mm endpin--I checked three of them, and they get close but not 10 mm--where did you find it?

 

[PB+J]

That stalhammer pin looks interesting--but is it adjustable for length?

It looks like it'd be too short for me

 

[Chasarms]

That stalhammer pin looks interesting--but is it adjustable for length?

It looks like it'd be too short for me

Looking at the photo, it appears there is a set screw on the shaft itself to adjust the length of an interior shaft -- sort of telescoping kind of thing. Pretty ingenious really. I like the idea of having one pin that works either way.

That said, I bent the shaft from my old crappy end pin once I had my KC Strings endpin installed. It doesn't really work that well IMO. If you need height, the bass rocks on it and you really have to crank down the set screw to keep the extended pin aligned in the imaginary plane that would bisect the bass. Does that make sense? Maybe I should just say, "pointing straight back."

Anyway, Bending a straight endpin is not a good idea IMO. It doesn't really get the bass balanced as well as you think. In order to really get the bass balanced, the pin needs to be on the back of the bass as the Laborie or egg pin does.

If you insist on bending a pin, I would suggest using the "Z" bend that Vance suggests. Also, the bent pin puts a lot of directional stress on a conventional end pin collar in a way it was not designed to be stressed.

 

[robobass]

For a real variety of metal rod in every size and alloy you can imagine, go to www.mcmaster.com. I don't recommend the bent rod approach myself, however. I prefer an angled hole in the socket.
Robobass

 

[Matthew Tucker]

I played a bass with a stahlhammer pin for a while. It was telescopic for length (although not really long) and had two positions, straight, or bent. I don't remember there being an in between position. in bent position you had to pull it all the way out.

 

[Johnny L]

Home Depot doesn't sell 10 mm endpin--I checked three of them, and they get close but not 10 mm--where did you find it?

Right not 10mm...but close enough in size, soft enough to bend in a vise by hand, cheap enough to buy several instead of taking your wife/date/partner to a movie.

For experimenting short-term, they work.

Hard 10mm stainless steel, it's not easy to come by and definitely not cheap last time I checked a couple of years ago at the specialty metal shops ($40 for 3 ft. lengths).

Myself, I picked up an eggpin and am glad I did. I can still experiment and the pin is super stiff so the bass doesn't shake.

 

[JoeyNaeger]

I made one.

I got some 10mm stainless from mcmaster but I recomend not using metric sized metal. It's way more epxensive. If you get 25/64", it's close enough to 10 mm and is cheaper. 3/8" is too wobbly. If you have a vice, a map gas torch, and an angle grinder, its not hard to make one. With the right size die, you can also thread the end so you can use a rubber tip from a goetz endpin or something. I don't recomend this as a permanent solution, but more as an inexpensive and non permanent way of testing the idea.

 

[PB+J]

I found it was cheaper, in terms of my time, to just order one from Vance, who charges around $20. That convinced me I wanted to get an eggpin. Now that I have the eggpin, I keep thinking I may go to the Laborie pin at some point