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Official Carl Thompson basses club thread
- Thread starter Aaronbeh
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- carl thompson club
Lol 3 aint so bad...my latest CT is sitting at 6 years now
I can only make time pass so quickly haha
I was thinking a suspended animation on myself ala the Alien films to ride out the wait
I just got on the list 10/26/23. I've got a very long way to go.
I just got on the list 10/26/23. I've got a very long way to go.
Most likely....but.....ya never know. Ive seen Carl bang some out in a few months for someone too....
2 years and 7 months for me: O feel great to hear that I can have more time to prepare to pay; main thing I would love to do is meet the man in BK….when I get back to visit family in NYC….
You gotta make the trip. Hes not getting any younger. Im going in Feb to see him for his birthday.
Anyone with a face-mounted cavity cover have issues with the screws pulling out of the body wood? I'm assuming it's from the force applied when pulling the instrument cable out of the jack as those tiny little screws likely aren't meant to deal with that much pulling force. Thinking about installing some of those brass threaded inserts from McMaster and replacing the screws with machine thread style. Not sure if the brass threads would stand up to the force better. Ideas?
Usually drilling it out to a diameter where the threads (of the brass threaded insert) barely touch the wood and using epoxy to fill in the void is the way to go. But since this a Carl Thompson were talking about here...
Have you contacted Carl about it
Not yet. I was mostly spitballing ideas and he seems busy enough I didn't want to bug him with things I'm more than capable of addressing. I reassessed it after making the post and I'm thinking I can just get some longer screws with more bite (without going through the back of course) before I do something more permanent like the brass inserts. I was thinking they were pick guard style screws when in actuality they're more like ones you would find on a truss rod cover. After they're seated in the cavity cover there's hardly any thread left to go into the body wood.
Gruvit I would be very careful here. You may want to have a trusted local luthier look at this and see what they say. Wood can be finicky, especially some of the exotic woods that Carl uses. If it was mine, I would get more than one opinion from real instrument techs with a lot of experience. The last thing you want is a quick fix that will require a larger, more invasive, fix down the road.
be patient and do it right one time.
be patient and do it right one time.
I can appreciate the concern. I'll take a pic when I get a chance to show what I'm working with here. I bought this one on the used market (read $goldbars) so if it weren't within my skill set I would absolutely not even attempt it. I've done my fair share of woodwork though and giving an extra 1/8-1/4" of depth to a few holes and replacing screws is definitely something I have done before in a variety of hardwoods. Time and patience will see me through.
I would at least talk to Carl before going Bob Vila on one of his instruments….
That's fair. I'll shoot him a message!
Here's what I'm working with FWIW. That just isn't enough thread to go into the body. Only the tapered portion of the screw is actually going into the body. A little more length, possibly even girth, would do me good with the stresses added when removing the instrument cable from the jack.
I'd try a screw with a longer shaft. If that doesn't work, just fill the holes in the body with broken-off toothpicks and some glue. You'll be able to give those screws something to grip in no time. This is as minor and routine a repair as they come. Not worth bothering Carl about in my book. Yes, Carl Thompson basses are nice and (in my estimation) they should be cared for, but they're also literal instruments (i.e., tools) and replacing a screw or filling a hole for better thread grip is just part of upkeep. It's not like you are talking about something invasive like a refinish, neck crack, or de-fret.
That was my initial line of thinking. Several things I could do of progressive intrusiveness, none of which would be irreparable, before it would be out of my control. I figured pics would be the best way to portray the issue. I just figured I'd toss it out in case anyone else had run into it already.
