• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Double Bass Palatino Megathread part I

Status
Not open for further replies.
#401
I want to get the opinion of the posters on this issue.

I took my Palatino VE-500 to a local luthier who is highly respected as one of the top ones regarding string instruments. He looked at my bass and remarked that the only things he thought should be improved was some "knot" on the fretboard (he recommended a partial plane of the board) and agreed with me that a maple bridge would be better than the stock one. Regarding the knot, before my stock bridge had problems (adjuster issues, small screws,etc.), i was able to play with the instrument for hours, and I never heard any "buzzing" in the area where he pointed out the knot (it's around the A to B position on the E string). I wasn't sold on his recommendation of planing it, but maybe I'm clueless on this.

He was charging $75.00 for the partial plane, and $150.00 for the maple bridge (labor plus the bridge).

Now, I'm totally clueless on this, but that's quite a chunk of money, and maybe I'm crazy, but I thought our very own Nohandles on this board was making quality bridges for the P-Ve-500 for a lot less (wasn't it $55-65.00?).

I decided to wait it out and come back here to research these questions. What are people's thoughts on these prices?
 
#402
Mine is in the shop right now.....I have a buzz on the D string by the Bb area (sounds like a "Sitar").....he tells me that it looks like I have a slight dip in the fingerboard.....trying to figure out if we need to plane it down or whatever.....a real annoying sound........
 
#403
Since I have no time and have a 1971 BMW morotcycle in my shop for a ground up rebulid progressing nicely, I can't use the work shop for wood right at the moment. I scored an Eminence bass very reasonably but the bridge was hacked and needed replaces so I got a new one from G Edward Luthiers. Turns out it's an NS design bridge but the good news is it will work to replace the Palatino stock bridge. Flaten the feet and shorten it and you will have a new very well made bridge. I have found however that it is better to leave the top of the bridge fat and not thin it down to the thickness like an acoustic. 7/32 is the thickness on mine. Round the top slightly but leave your string slot parallel to the bottom of the feet. By the way the bridge has really nice adjusters on it that really work and are easy to use.
 
#404
Does anyone know if the $150.00 price is a fair price for a maple bass bridge? What about $75.00 for a partial plane of the board (to flatten a "knot"). What about $150.00 for a full plane.

I'd like to get working materials for my bass at the best price. If there is someone that can make (or makes) a quality bridge for a Palatino VE-500 at below $150.00, I'd like to know, so I can order from them.

I'd appreciate a response to those questions, if anyone can answer them. Thanks guys!:D
 
#406
Does anyone know if the $150.00 price is a fair price for a maple bass bridge? What about $75.00 for a partial plane of the board (to flatten a "knot"). What about $150.00 for a full plane? I've been reading online about different types of bridges and I just want to buy one that A) works with the Palatino VE-500 and B) is of good quality. I don't need Stradivarius-quality materials, folks. I'm not YoyoMa or Yitzhak Perlman here...I just want good, professional, gigging quality...for mostly Jazz and Latin/salsa gigs, and at a good, middle of the road price.

If there is someone that can make (or makes) a quality bridge for a Palatino VE-500 at below $150.00, I'd like to know, so I can order from them.

I'd appreciate a response to those questions, if anyone can answer them. Thanks guys!:D
 
#409
jamiefoxer said:
Does anyone know if the $150.00 price is a fair price for a maple bass bridge? What about $75.00 for a partial plane of the board (to flatten a "knot"). What about $150.00 for a full plane? I've been reading online about different types of bridges and I just want to buy one that A) works with the Palatino VE-500 and B) is of good quality. I don't need Stradivarius-quality materials, folks. I'm not YoyoMa or Yitzhak Perlman here...I just want good, professional, gigging quality...for mostly Jazz and Latin/salsa gigs, and at a good, middle of the road price.

If there is someone that can make (or makes) a quality bridge for a Palatino VE-500 at below $150.00, I'd like to know, so I can order from them.

I'd appreciate a response to those questions, if anyone can answer them. Thanks guys!:D
Click to expand...

I just thought of this. There is nothing wrong with the stock bridge. Why don't you get the wood working guy to add 1/8 to the bridge and then remove 1/8 from the top and reslot it?I read he was going to help you on the repair forum.
 
#410
Well, two things about my stock bridge.

1) I messed it up slightly (the grooves) trying to fit longer screws (but thicker) into the grooves. The stock bridge came with the legs' screw grooves too worn out already, as if it had been used. The legs were flimsy and easily popped out the bridge under tension from the strings.

2) Harder (better) wood transmits the sound better. When I took the bridge to a luthier, he immediately said, "yeah, this wood is weak...you could use a better bridge". He recommended Maple.

I have a friend who is a carpenter who might take the stock bridge, trace it on maple wood, and cut out another bridge for me. I had no problems with the stock bridge's height ability (the adjusters worked well). But, I need the new bridge to have longer screws with adjusters that work for them, so I can raise the action a little, while retaining a good, hardwood tranmission quality.
 
#411
Hello all (new here, looks great though),

I purchased a Palatino VE500 in late December of 2006 off ebay. I had to unscrew everything and look inside the body, because of curiosity. What I have gathered so far is that construction was done very cheaply (hence the price) as the body looks to be two routed out halves of particle board that were glued together and the wiring on mine wasn't even soldered (the wires were only held onto the other electronics with hot glue :hmm: ). But, my bass came in one piece and played well out of the box (minus a few long, but minour cracks in the fingerboard). One of the things that bothered me about it was the false advertising in the auction which was copied directly from the Palatino site itself. My fingerboard was clearly NOT ebony, but a much lighter wood coloured with a dark stain and there was NO leather in the piece of crap "leather/plastic gig bag". Carrying the bass in the bag resulted in the breaking of a string (luckily it was the cheap stock one), so I have replaced all of them with D'addario Helicore Orchestral Mediums (worth the extra $90 in comparison with the generic red label ones IMO). The only modification I have done to the bass is put little white nail polish markers on the side of the fingerboard for note reference, but I am working on a plexiglass bridge today. I plan to try the rubber under the bridge feet idea as well purchase a Sansamp Bass Driver to run it through before an amp (have no money right now :( ). I am also looking to buy a hard case for this bass, anyone happen to know a good company that isn't too terribly expensive? I remember someone saying they purchased a case from Colorado Cases, what was it like; hard case or padded soft? This thread has been great for ideas and reference.
 
#412
Yvarg said:
Hello all (new here, looks great though),

I purchased a Palatino VE500 in late December of 2006 off ebay. I had to unscrew everything and look inside the body, because of curiosity. What I have gathered so far is that construction was done very cheaply (hence the price) as the body looks to be two routed out halves of particle board that were glued together and the wiring on mine wasn't even soldered (the wires were only held onto the other electronics with hot glue :hmm: ). But, my bass came in one piece and played well out of the box (minus a few long, but minour cracks in the fingerboard). One of the things that bothered me about it was the false advertising in the auction which was copied directly from the Palatino site itself. My fingerboard was clearly NOT ebony, but a much lighter wood coloured with a dark stain and there was NO leather in the piece of crap "leather/plastic gig bag". Carrying the bass in the bag resulted in the breaking of a string (luckily it was the cheap stock one), so I have replaced all of them with D'addario Helicore Orchestral Mediums (worth the extra $90 in comparison with the generic red label ones IMO). The only modification I have done to the bass is put little white nail polish markers on the side of the fingerboard for note reference, but I am working on a plexiglass bridge today. I plan to try the rubber under the bridge feet idea as well purchase a Sansamp Bass Driver to run it through before an amp (have no money right now :( ). I am also looking to buy a hard case for this bass, anyone happen to know a good company that isn't too terribly expensive? I remember someone saying they purchased a case from Colorado Cases, what was it like; hard case or padded soft? This thread has been great for ideas and reference.
Click to expand...

Wow sounds like they have really cheapened it up. That's really to bad. The bag is definantly junk. The case I had made is a soft shell but very well made with plenty of padding.
I don't have any ideas on hard shell cases.
 
#413
Yvarg said:
I purchased a Palatino VE500 in late December of 2006 off ebay. I had to unscrew everything and look inside the body, because of curiosity. What I have gathered so far is that construction was done very cheaply (hence the price) as the body looks to be two routed out halves of particle board that were glued together .... My fingerboard was clearly NOT ebony, but a much lighter wood coloured with a dark stain and there was NO leather in the piece of crap "leather/plastic gig bag".
Click to expand...

Nohandles said:
Wow sounds like they have really cheapened it up. That's really to bad.
Click to expand...

Have Palatino's changed then ? They were once proper wood with ebony fingerboard, now they're particle board and a stained fingerboard ?

Or am I misreading ?

Andy
 
#414
BigBeatNut said:
Have Palatino's changed then ? They were once proper wood with ebony fingerboard, now they're particle board and a stained fingerboard ?

Or am I misreading ?

Andy
Click to expand...

I wrote to Palatino USA today and asked them if they in fact changed their construction on the VE-500 I have not heard back as of yet. I asked them to address this question direct on this post. Hope they will take the time to answer?
 
#417
I got this reply today from Palatino. I hope there is not copies out there. This bass is the best on the market for the money.

Hi Doug:

We are glad to hear that you like the bass. Unfortunately as a manufacturer our policy is not to post on the message boards in order to keep them as objective as possible.

I am more than happy to answer your concerns though. If you would like to post any of these to the board, please feel free.

Every VE-500 that we have made has an ebony fingerboard. Certainly none are made of particle board! The wood that we use is Chinese ebony, though, which differs in color from African ebony. Chinese ebony often has lighter colored streaks alternating with stripes of the traditional black ebony. Because of this, we do dye the fingerboards black for a uniform appearance, but the wood itself IS true ebony.

As for the electronics, I was surprised to see the comments about the hot glue gun on the thread you sent. In fact, the VE-500's electronics are composed of a modular system where all the components are connected by "snap-on" plastic attachments. The only point of solder is where the ground wire connects to the preamp. Any other soldering connections are permanently inside the preamp housing itself. The snap connections are solid enough that we haven't seen any faulty connections due to this style of electronics.

I hope these descriptions help to ease your mind. We are glad to hear that you like your bass, and definitely we appreciate you forwarding on the thread with all this info.

Best,

Ali
 
#420
Heh . . . I went back last night and took a flashlight to the inside to have another look at everything. I was mistaken and it is NOT particleboard, it just has a very rough look to it. I also realized how stupid a mistake I made when I said the "solders" were hot glue; as they are indeed soldered like any other bass, but hot glue was used to hold the wires next to electronic components to stop them from tearing when the different covers were opened. Sorry about for any trouble . . .
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back