Double Bass No Neck Heel. What to do?

[Michael F Clef]

With no neck heel on my NXT Electric Upright it presents a challenge when shifting. Any other EUBers with this issue and how do you deal with it? Thank you.

 

[Maple]

You or a luthier might be able to fabricate a fake heel out of a block of similar wood and attach it either with VHB tape or via a screw.

 

[Francois Blais]

@Mark Gollihur used to sell such an accessory but I didn’t find it on their website.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I think NS Design sells a fake heel, but it’s not cheap.

 

[marcox]

NS Bass Thumbstop Neck Heel Rest
Bass Thumbstop Neck Heel Rest | NS Design

(Out of stock)

 

[Tom Lane]

With no neck heel on my NXT Electric Upright it presents a challenge when shifting. Any other EUBers with this issue and how do you deal with it? Thank you.

I dealt with it by playing the heeless neck as I fingered my DB.

 

[Mark Gollihur]

@Mark Gollihur used to sell such an accessory but I didn’t find it on their website.

So yeah. It's always been a problematic product. It was designed for the CR grade instruments, so its finish was matched to the CR bass. It was custom-manufactured to perfectly match the back of the neck, and used permanent VHB (very high bond) adhesive to apply it.

The problems:

• It was for the 4-string. People that bought it for the 5-string returned it because it didn't fit the slightly different profile.
• It was for the CR4 series. For some reason, it apparently didn't fit the NXT or WAV basses because there was a slight difference in profile, and people returned it.
• People generally didn't put it in the right place, and complained that it didn't fit when they tried to install it - so... you guessed it, they returned it.

The few people that made it work liked it very much. But availability, cost, and the extensive tech support and aggravation meant that it just wasn't worth dealing with.

I suggest doing something like the CR-T model; take a decorative brass cap-head brad and cut all but about 1/8" of the brad off, leaving the head. Drill a small hole where it should be, put in a drop of CA, and embed the brad into the back of the neck. It will serve as a landmark for switching to thumb position without being intrusive, problematic, etc.

 

[turf3]

Maybe before drilling the hole, you could take another brad of the same type and cut everything except the head off, and temporarily secure it to the neck with CA glue where you THINK it ought to be; then it's easy to knock it off and try a different location tilll you're happy with the location, THEN drill the hole and make a permanent installation as above.