Double Bass ISO: Vintage Hatpeg single Tuner

[JBarz]

Hey fellas. Does anyone have a single hatpeg tuner they’d consider selling that matches these photo’d?

Trying to make a 5-string…

 

[GretschWretch]

As anyone can clearly see, hat peg tuners have thick shafts. Where in that pegbox are you going to find room for a fifth one?

 

[JBarz]

I’m probably going to try to fabricate something. Weighing my options now. I can get a cheap set of Chinese 5 string tuners with metal plate, but would rather spend a little extra time/money/effort for the sake of charm.

 

[SAlcott]

There is zero room in that pegbox for a fifth tuner. On top of that, without a lot of effort, I can see in the first pic 4 screws where there shouldn't be screws, indicating a sloppy repair of a scroll break sometime in this bass's past. I don't think there's enough charm in the world to enable making a 5 string bass out of what we see here.

 

[JBarz]

The top scroll pictured below is the one that is original to the aluminum Pfretz who’s fate is in question. I figure I’ve got one shot to epoxy it in to the rest of the original neck (in tact!). The taper matches exactly as stacked so the current, tentative plan is to graft the top into the bottom. This is largely an exercise in “can I do this?” … when/if I fail I’ll have James in Asheville cut me a new neck, so there’s no worries about messing anything up. I may waste some time, but I’ll learn something I’m sure….

 

[Eric Hochberg]

Why not go with a 5th tuner on the tailpiece if you want to use that scroll?

 

[JBarz]

Why not go with a 5th tuner on the tailpiece if you want to use that scroll?

What a novel idea ! I hadn’t even considered…

 

[Eric Hochberg]

What a novel idea ! I hadn’t even considered…

It's been done... https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/2001-gagnon-double-bass-5-strings.613266/#comment-8468431

there's also a pic of a Prescott with one somewhere... Eugene Wright's bass, I think.

 

[JBarz]

Eric, I hope I can buy you a beer as a thank you one day irl - this is going to work brilliantly. I just replaced the fingerboard with a big ole oversized piece of ebony. It’s sitting up in clamps, so tomorrow it’s go time. Very excited.