Double Bass Neck Repair

[60's Bluesman]

First post here in many years,

I’ve wanted a double bass for a long time and one has appeared in an auction that might fit the bill if the repairs can be a DIY thing and the price stays low.

Its a low end student model Chinese plywood bass, neck has broken loose. I have some woodworking experience and some tools (clamps and such) as well as kits of West System epoxy if that is suited for this repair.

Walk me through this repair if you were to do it. Guessing the neck has to come completely off the body, fingerboard is removed from neck(?), glue or epoxy applied, clamped into place and let dry then reassemble. On a low end bass like this would you use wood pins or even screws on this to make the repair last? Share you wisdom with me.

Again, I don’t own this bass, there’s a few days left in the auction, price shipped is over $1000 bucks less than I could get a new Chinese bass for. If the price stays low I may go after it. I’m such a novice I can’t see spending as much as I’ve bought vehicles for on a bass. I know its low end but I can’t see myself owning a DB any other way than this sort of situation.

 

[Steven Ayres]

While it's true that anything can be repaired, I have to say you'd be wise to avoid getting attached to this idea. Even in new condition this bass would likely disappoint you in the end, and selling it again would be hard. Hold fire, keep your powder dry and watch for better opportunities, I think.

 

[LouisF]

Run, don't walk, away from that bass! For a couple of hundred more, you have serious options, especially this one:
Meisel- 1954 | Cincinnati Bass Cellar

Others:
Student Upright Double Bass Milano MB-12 in 1/2 and 3/4 sizes
https://www.stringemporium.com/thompson-upright-plywood-basses.htm

 

[60's Bluesman]

While it's true that anything can be repaired, I have to say you'd be wise to avoid getting attached to this idea. Even in new condition this bass would likely disappoint you in the end, and selling it again would be hard. Hold fire, keep your powder dry and watch for better opportunities, I think.

I appreciate the reply. I’d like to ask in what ways would I be subject to disappointment? Obviously structurally speaking it is inferior but would a totally green player suffer from having a low end instrument? Sound I’m sure is inferior to a carved bass but how long would it take for a newbie to make decent sound anyhow. I know you guys aren’t suggesting I buy a Stradivarius masterpiece but besides the risk of it breaking again after repairs what would I gain besides resale value?

Run, don't walk, away from that bass! For a couple of hundred more, you have serious options, especially this one:
Meisel- 1954 | Cincinnati Bass Cellar

Others:
Student Upright Double Bass Milano MB-12 in 1/2 and 3/4 sizes
https://www.stringemporium.com/thompson-upright-plywood-basses.htm

I phrased the pricing part poorly, just to be clear this bass is over $1000 dollars less then any of those. It’s an open auction so I suspect it will creep up in price. Let phase the question this way: If you think you could make it playable again and you didn’t own a DB, would you buy it for $300 shipped to your door? Edit: No doubt those are superior instruments to this one on its best days.

 

[LouisF]

I wouldn't take it for $300, only because -- even if you got all the repair and set up issues resolved at next to no cost DYI - in three months the bass would be in a corner taking up space or you'd be trying to sell it for what you paid for it. An inner city youth orchestra here bought 3 or 4 of these kinds of basses for their junior orchestra. The basses are all in a storeroom with separated seams, loose necks, rattling endpins, with a big - if metaphorical over them saying "I told you so."

 

[eh_train]

OP, the phrase "penny-wise, pound foolish" applies here.

If you were able to look inside the neck pocket, you should see something like in the pic below. Nice straight sides, with fresh wood that fits with the neck. It's very, very unlikely you'd find that, however. Ninety-nine percent of the time these kinds of instruments are slapped together with the glue used as a filler to make it fit. And it's the wrong kind of glue, so good luck making it right. Unless you put in hours of work.

If you were able to get the neck back in, and make it somewhat playable, the next things you'd have to be concerned about are warps in the neck, warps in the rest of the wood, and tops that collapse.

Like everyone else who has played a decent bass, my advice is save a little coin and look for a good deal on a proven instrument.

 

[60's Bluesman]

I wouldn't take it for $300, only because -- even if you got all the repair and set up issues resolved at next to no cost DYI - in three months the bass would be in a corner taking up space or you'd be trying to sell it for what you paid for it. An inner city youth orchestra here bought 3 or 4 of these kinds of basses for their junior orchestra. The basses are all in a storeroom with separated seams, loose necks, rattling endpins, with a big - if metaphorical over them saying "I told you so."

Oh wow, that bad? Yeah that sounds unusable. DB is definitely a rough instrument to find a cheap beginner instrument to try out. I think I will stay away from this one as you and Steven suggested, just too much going against it. But at the end of the day I think I trust my aptitude for woodworking more than my musical abilities. I think a fixer upper would be the only way I’ll get a decent one just because of the price associated with a DB, any DB lol.

Thank you both for your help and you extra for those links!

 

[JBarz]

For $300? Just for the sake of argument, I’d say do it, but I really enjoy that kinda challenge. The other guys are right, I just get high off that feeling of restoring trash to treasure. You should see this giant two story barn in my backyard I’m trying to convert to a tiny home/workshop… so much hidden foundational rot, it sucks so much… BUT, when I’m done it’s going to be clean as hell and I’m going to be super proud of it. You can do it.

 

[Steven Ayres]

I think I trust my aptitude for woodworking more than my musical abilities.

I'm happy to encourage anyone to be proactive in maintaining and repairing their instrument, but bear in mind that carpentry is not luthiery, and it's easy to be confident in enough knowledge to be dangerous. The results of the ideas you mentioned about adding dowels or hardware, for example, are commonplace headaches for luthiers asked to do proper repairs on failed experiments.

 

[Anne Millington]

If you are looking for something to play to see how you get along with double bass, I would not start with such a troubled instrument. Nothing discourages a new player more than an unresponsive, bad sounding instrument. You might try renting for a while just to get started. Also I see so many nice basses on this site and elsewhere, for very reasonable prices. Do yourself a favor!

 

[60's Bluesman]

For $300? Just for the sake of argument, I’d say do it, but I really enjoy that kinda challenge. The other guys are right, I just get high off that feeling of restoring trash to treasure. You should see this giant two story barn in my backyard I’m trying to convert to a tiny home/workshop… so much hidden foundational rot, it sucks so much… BUT, when I’m done it’s going to be clean as hell and I’m going to be super proud of it. You can do it.

That was kind of the thought as well and it’s not at $300 yet, it’s barely over $200 at the moment but who knows how an auction will go. There’s probably 20 other people watching with the same thought that will start a bidding war.

I'm happy to encourage anyone to be proactive in maintaining and repairing their instrument, but bear in mind that carpentry is not luthiery, and it's easy to be confident in enough knowledge to be dangerous. The results of the ideas you mentioned about adding dowels or hardware, for example, are commonplace headaches for luthiers asked to do proper repairs on failed experiments.

Oh I certainly agree with you, carpentry and luthiery are two very different things but with some commonalities and concepts. The dowel or screw I mentioned because it was suggested in some older posts here regarding cheap basses. From my layman understanding of it is that on anything of higher quality it would often be ill-advised or like a last resort but on something super low end it was a good way to give the repair a fighting chance of holding together, due to the nature of their poor construction. For sure I’m no luthier. The guys and gals that are have specialized training, tools and above all experience that I don’t have.

If you are looking for something to play to see how you get along with double bass, I would not start with such a troubled instrument. Nothing discourages a new player more than an unresponsive, bad sounding instrument. You might try renting for a while just to get started. Also I see so many nice basses on this site and elsewhere, for very reasonable prices. Do yourself a favor!

You make many good points! Rental is something I’ve considered and it’s not a terrible option. Around me rental places with DBs are few and far between but they are around. I haven’t recently looked at their terms but for an adult not tied to a college program they make it pretty hard to get one. One thing I had considered is buying with PayPal and using their 0% financing option. Last I knew it was cheaper per month than rental but to mess around with one for the first time I think rental isn’t a bad idea.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Can of worms. That’s a Palatino. It was assembled with synthetic glue and doesn’t have a proper neck block. I have one in my living room that my daughter found on the side of the road and gave to me as a Christmas gift. I never play it.

 

[Anne Millington]

You make many good points! Rental is something I’ve considered and it’s not a terrible option. Around me rental places with DBs are few and far between but they are around. I haven’t recently looked at their terms but for an adult not tied to a college program they make it pretty hard to get one.

Are you going to study with someone? Most of us here would recommend that, I think. Sometimes teachers have or know of instruments you can use for a while when you are starting out. We have a couple of cellos we keep just for that purpose.

 

[60's Bluesman]

Can of worms. That’s a Palatino. It was assembled with synthetic glue and doesn’t have a proper neck block. I have one in my living room that my daughter found on the side of the road and gave to me as a Christmas gift. I never play it.

It’s a Ceramona but from what I’ve read it sounds like the same factory makes them and sell them where they are rebranded as whatever. So it probably is the same bass or same Quality at least. But I must say even if they are junk I wish DBs appeared on the side of the road around here haha. Best I found was a bongo drum in a ditch.

Are you going to study with someone? Most of us here would recommend that, I think. Sometimes teachers have or know of instruments you can use for a while when you are starting out. We have a couple of cellos we keep just for that purpose.

I am in a very rural area, nearest in-person teacher that advertises their services is almost two hours away. There is a well established orchestra about a half hour away but I don’t know if any of the bassists offer lessons. I have a friend who is a fairly accomplished violinist that is helping me with some things but she can only do so much.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

I’d be surprised if the orchestra’s bassists don’t have a side hustle giving lessons.

 

[Keith Rawlings]

Hold out for something else. Decent beginner plywood basses come up for sale on here all the time. You’re going to waste so much time, effort and money fixing that Cremona.

I have a good friend who has two of those basses; both of which have the same neck separation thing going on with them. He used them for beating them to hell in a rockabilly band and got 3 years out of them each before they fell apart. I’ve seen Engleharts on here for $800. They’re cheap and solid starter basses to see if you even want to play DB. That Meisel Louis F posted is really nice too.

 

[LouisF]

That's exactly what happened to the student basses I was talking about - gets separate, seams separate.
Get the Meisel, IMO )

 

[60's Bluesman]

I would love the Meisel, from comments here and from other homework seems like a very sturdy instrument and they may actually be under selling it. But I can’t swing that kind of money on an instrument I haven’t learned to play yet. However some good news in this thread! I found a rental place near me that will rent to adults it’s $50 a month for a full set up. Double checking the brand and if this trial period they advertise would be in effect for me. They say for the cost of one month’s rental you get your first two months for free after that before payments resume at $50. All money counts towards the purchase as well. So I think that’s the route I’ll go for now. Need to find a teacher still but I’ll talk to the bassists in that orchestra I mentioned prior and take help from my friend on music theory and reading sheet music.

Thank you everyone for the advice!

 

[JBarz]

I’m curious how this dude can ship this bear from San Antonio to Memphis for only $70. I suspect after the auction ends there will be a “recalculation” of shipping costs to whomever the lucky/unlucky buyer is…

 

[turf3]

...DB is definitely a rough instrument to find a cheap beginner instrument to try out....

This is reality. It's not like electric bass where you can find a playable (not broken, neck not twisted) instrument for $100 and do a quick setup on it and get started, or even acoustic guitars where a $200 Yamaha plays well. The sooner you realize that the entry fee for double bass is somewhere around $1000 for something playable that won't fall apart, the better off you'll be. Yes, of course, every so often someone scores a real find, just like every so often someone finds a '63 split window Corvette with 20,000 miles in a barn and the farmer gives it to him to make room for more hay; but if what you want is an actual musical instrument to start playing on, not a rebuilding project, then you'll be best served to buy a modest but serviceable bass from someone who specializes in these kinds of instruments, knows what they're doing, and won't rip you off. Search this forum and you'll find many references.