Double Bass how to set a soundpost

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Yes.
The soundpost transfers sound to the back and acts as a fulcrum for the bridge and top. It should be between the ‘toe’ and ‘heel’ of the foot and no more than a diameter below it. Beyond that, it’s not doing it’s job and will compromise the top. The post should have been fit so it would sit in the proper position before the bridge feet were fit to the top. Get it moved and hopefully it won’t mess up the way the bridge fits.

 

[Wasnex]

I set up a soundpost with the help of two laces. Using a fork makes it much easier and faster, but the laces do not leave holes and do not harm the details.

At first, I spent an hour or so on every installation, but later I did it for about ten minutes. This is the same skill as the ability to change the strings or establish a bridge. It is not always possible to contact the luthier. In addition, the soundpost greatly affects the sound. And only you know what sound you want to get!

I have used two pieces of string tied around the ends of the sound post. The advantage of a sound post setter is designed to tap the ends of the post into proper position. I found it was fairly challenging to get the post exactly where I wanted it with string.

I used string to set the post on a pretty crappy instrument. For a nice instrument I would pay an expert, unless it was an emergency.

 

[james condino]

Here is my soundpost video from a few years back:

This was a promo shoot to try and develop that tool as a commercial product & was sent around to multiple tool companies, receiving almost universal rejection by corporate guys who had never seen a bass. A similar one is in the works as we speak with another company, so hopefully the end product will make it out in the trenches next spring.

They are intentionally aluminum and flat, so you can easily bend them in any configuration to adjust for the individual bass. Currently I do not sell these, BUT....every student that comes to the shop for individual bass work instruction takes a bit of time and we muck about in the machine room and make up a set for them.

That was back in the days when we all had rowdy late night gigs and I clearly had not gotten any sleep that week....

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Yes.
The soundpost transfers sound to the back and acts as a fulcrum for the bridge and top. It should be between the ‘toe’ and ‘heel’ of the foot and no more than a diameter below it. Beyond that, it’s not doing it’s job and will compromise the top. The post should have been fit so it would sit in the proper position before the bridge feet were fit to the top. Get it moved and hopefully it won’t mess up the way the bridge fits.

Thanks, Greg. I will search around for a local person to help with this since I don’t think the student in question can manage a trip to Cincy right now, and because I’m not confident I wouldn’t screw it up.