Happy Friday, all.
Here's a new one. What I have is a 1930s-ish Czech factory bass with integral bass bar (now removed) with a top that is slightly sunken in the lower third of the bass bar area, an untouched bass bar blank from Metropolitan Music and a bass bar that was harvested from a 1939 King I restored last year.
The Czech was free to me, and humble at the beginning of its' life, which included many years of bad repairs. I am attempting to undo and redo as much of the bad work as I can in hopes of making it play again.
It has a lot of serious problems, but at the present I am focused on fitting a seperate bass bar. When I began restoring my '39 King the bar was loose from the bridge down so I removed and saved it while fitting a new bar with no spring. It came out ok.
I initially planned to do the same with this Czech but am wondering if the bar from the King, which is still in good shape and has some spring to it, could be an asset.
The King bass bar is seasoned, stable and has a clean gluing surface. I dry-fitted it where I would place the bar on the Czech and it's not a bad fit. I would have to flex the lower part of the top down 1/4" to glue it in, but pressing the two components together does not cause the top to complain. I do not know how that will affect the fit of the top to the ribs, but it's looking like I will be fitting new edging anyway, so whatever.
I don't mind fitting a new, unsprung bass bar but can't help but wonder if using the King bar would be a shortcut worth taking. Advice, please?
Here's a new one. What I have is a 1930s-ish Czech factory bass with integral bass bar (now removed) with a top that is slightly sunken in the lower third of the bass bar area, an untouched bass bar blank from Metropolitan Music and a bass bar that was harvested from a 1939 King I restored last year.
The Czech was free to me, and humble at the beginning of its' life, which included many years of bad repairs. I am attempting to undo and redo as much of the bad work as I can in hopes of making it play again.
It has a lot of serious problems, but at the present I am focused on fitting a seperate bass bar. When I began restoring my '39 King the bar was loose from the bridge down so I removed and saved it while fitting a new bar with no spring. It came out ok.
I initially planned to do the same with this Czech but am wondering if the bar from the King, which is still in good shape and has some spring to it, could be an asset.
The King bass bar is seasoned, stable and has a clean gluing surface. I dry-fitted it where I would place the bar on the Czech and it's not a bad fit. I would have to flex the lower part of the top down 1/4" to glue it in, but pressing the two components together does not cause the top to complain. I do not know how that will affect the fit of the top to the ribs, but it's looking like I will be fitting new edging anyway, so whatever.
I don't mind fitting a new, unsprung bass bar but can't help but wonder if using the King bar would be a shortcut worth taking. Advice, please?
