Gentlemen,
Among the interesting suggestions was one repair guy's idea of epoxy and metal rods. I couldn't get excited over an iffy repair full of glue and shrapnel.
To the keen eye of Lisa Gass, the rupture was "nasty," and there just isn't enough wood to work with. A glue job in that vulnerable spot could hold, or could be a bust, and I'd rather not live with the uncertainty.
It turns out that the current neck had been replaced or at least worked on before - as there is a dime-sized piece of wood over what must be a dowel or a screw towards the rear of the heel - so I feel less ashamed for having to go with another neck. Besides, Morelli is a factory bass, so the scroll is not an exceptional piece worth salvaging at any cost.
Upstairs in her shop's loft lay an old German neck with a nifty spiral of a scroll and some cool tiger-striped flame along the neck, similar to that of my fractured neck. It will take some time, but it looks like the bass will eventually sport this neck as a replacement.
Thank goodness for Lisa, and for a good instrument insurance policy - which I'll call "Oh, Bummer! - care."
Once all the paperwork is in place, the adjuster says the company will cover the repair, and we're talking several thousands - verily, "a wreath of Franklins."
PS: Why all the trouble and expense over a factory bass? Here's a few lines from my former teacher's book:
- "On my return to Los Angeles, Yuli Apfeld, the salesman at Lockie's Music on lower Broadway, called me excitedly describing a Morelli bass from Germany that had recently arrived in the store. 'I think you should have it, kid,' he said. When I saw it, I instantly agreed with him and signed on the dotted line." - Red Callender, from his autobiography, Unfinished Dream.
The very next night, Red got a call to replace Pops Foster in Louis Armstrong's band. A few days later, November 13, 1937, Red did his first-ever record date with Louis. One of the sides became one of Louis's blockbuster hits, "On the Sunny Side of the Street."
Red and the bass were on their way. He sold it to me about a half-century later.
Seems to me it's a bass worth sticking one's neck out for.
Thanks to all the bass brethren for helping ease the trauma.
, I may have chosen another route.
's for saying this, but the repair You see in that thread of mine was done with white glue.
