Double Bass Loose inner lamination on Kay

[Steven Ayres]

Ordering a new saddle and bridge. Would you remove the two cap nuts and sort of edge over the holes? Thanks for all the advice.

I'm not completely sure what you're asking, but I can say that because the Kay tailpiece has no routing for a tailgut, we loop the gut (wire rope or Kevlar, usually) through the tailwire holes.

 

[layrepairs]

Yes, exactly. The loop would then be over the top of the tailpiece where there are currently two cap nuts.
Do you round over the original holes a bit toward the center for the wire rope or just let it do a sharp bend?

 

[Steven Ayres]

Yes, exactly. The loop would then be over the top of the tailpiece where there are currently two cap nuts.
Do you round over the original holes a bit toward the center for the wire rope or just let it do a sharp bend?

I've seen at least one case in which the tailpiece failed at the holes and the entire section wood between them split out, so I'm a little nervous about doing anything that might weaken a maple tailpiece. I think rosewood or ebony would be much safer that way.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The holes from top to bottom are safe.
The ones on the back only not necessarily.

For my very first (Frankenstein) ply bass my father asked for a bass tailpiece at a music store (about 50 years ago) but they only had an (ebony) cello tailpiece with holes on the back. I used that and it held for at least a decade but then the whole section at the holes split off.
Might not have happened with a bass tailpiece, but the one of my current bass with holes from top to bottom seems to be more robust. Just not suitable for a nylon tailgut.

 

[james condino]

This configuration almost universally breaks under tension, regardless of the cable used (or in this case an old coat hangar). It is the grain orientation that fails, not the cable choice. Original dyed maple from a 1930s American Standard:

I've never seen one of these fail (striking Brazilian rosewood from two different old Kays):

Even when I significantly reduce the mass, they have all held up fine: