My bass hasn't been played (any real time on it anyway) for 40 years. It was set up about 30 years ago, and full tension has been on it since that time. The first time I loosened a string, it creaked and moaned loudly. After tuning back up, I relized that some seams had opened up, and my endpin was bent (the block had twisted, or come loose. Was this a result of tension release, delapidation, or a combonation?
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Double Bass Reason?
- Thread starter bassist1962
- Start date
I guess it doesn't really matter, except that I am just wondering if the problems I am encountering would have happened the first time I tried to change strings.
OK, I guess my wording, I gave myself to ridicule. I am used to the acoustic guitar world, and not the violin world. Length of time not withstanding, is it possible to have seams pop as well as other problems, just by tension changes?
You can expect some opening and minor glue work due to seasonal expanding and contracting but no, in a bass that's been well looked after slacking the strings off shouldn't be a big risk of anything other than the sound post falling over.
Look at it this way: you have a car that hasn't been started in thirty years and you're wondering if the fan belt breaking is remarkable? It's going to need a major overhaul. You're lucky it didn't explode.
Thank you Jeff. Yes, I plan on getting it in as soon as I can. It's not as if the instrument was physically abused, it has just sat in a corner all these years being neglected.
The luthier has told me its shouldn't be that big of a deal to fix. He told me he deals with these type of things all the time.
