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Double Bass OUCH

E

EFischer1

Mar 17, 2002
321
0
New York, New York
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#1
So I was on the subway the other day and a drunk guy kicked my c. 1900 hawkes. The seams and everything are fine, but he took about a quarter sized chunk out of the corner (i have italian corners). its on the underside of the corner and didn't break all the way through but did knock away enough wood to expose the framework of the corner. I suppose the chunk fell out of my case on the walk from the station to my apt.

Any advice on how and, more importantly, how much this will cost me to fix?
 
#2
first sorry for your loss, if you have a cell phone photo you should circulate it privately amongst us. Subway platforms are dangerous places to be drunk.

I have seen two basses that Jeff Bollbach has refurbished and they were both BEAUTIFULLY DONE. I dunno about cost and stuff, but the quality of his work is very high indeed.
 
#6
Those corners are violin corners. Italian basses come in all shapes....gamba, violin and Bussetto. Since this is an English Hawkes, I assume they're violin.
I'm assuming this took a corner with the purfling in it, so your luthier will have to do a nice job of making it look like it fits with the old. Take it to the best guy you can find.
Since you're in NY, you shouldn't have a problem.
 
#7
1) How do we know it is actualy an English Hawks. Most of them were made in Germany and France with only a small portion being made in England.

2) Italians ALSO made Guitar Shaped Basses without any corners at all.

3) Actually, I haven't seen any Busetto shaped Basses that are geniune Italian to my Eye regardless of the name Gio. Maria Del Busetto.. I saw one Bass on a Japanese website attributed to him but it looked German to me and not as old as G.M. 'Busetto's work.
 
#9
efischer1- to answer your question: this sounds like a minor repair, and shouldn't cost that much. If you have the original corner piece, that's great. However, fitting/varnishing a new corner isn't terribly difficult. If you can take the train out to Long Island, Jeff Bollbach is worth looking up.

Sorry to hear about your mishap. I had a few dings and cracks in my bass when I rode the subway around Boston in the early 1990s... even carried a little GK amp, and a change of clothes, sometimes!
 
#10
I know this is not exactly a corner breaking off but if you're ever in a recording session and the engineer or one of his assistants comes by with duct tape, run with your bass as fast as you can! I was in a session one time and before I could do anything, the engineer was trying to tape a microphone to the tailpiece of my bass! Suddenly, I hear an "oops" and look down to see that he had accidentally gotten some of the tape stuck to my bass and when he pulled it off, some of the varnish came with it! I couldn't believe it. Be forewarned my fellow bassists: basses should not be near tape... EVER!
 
#12
my Boston internship was '93-96. I guess that's more mid-'90s... I was doing civic symphony work, studying history/performance, and playing lots of no-money "free jazz" gigs. (I guess that's why it's called free-jazz, anyway!)

That black tape, commonly called gaffer's tape, will work on certain finishes. Painter's tape, usually blue or purple, will work on most varnishes. ("Work" in the sense of sticking, but not leaving a residue, or removing varnish.) Duct tape, yellow masking tape, surgical tape are all very dangerous.
 

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