Double Bass So I decided to repair it myself...

[George Himmel]

**For the TL;DR crowd, skip this first post and go on to the fun pics!

So for the sake of brevity in my prologue: My bass isn't terribly fine, but it isn't horrible, and it holds practical and sentimental value to me. So, when it started giving me too much trouble, I decided it should be repaired rather than sold. I was in a place where I couldn't afford the bench time to get it fixed properly, but I had enough for wood, I had tools, I had time since it was off-season for DB music, and I had a measure more ambition than sense (the secret ingredient!).

Whenever I finish a project like this I decide I should have at least some documentation of it, so I took pictures of my workings and decided I'd share them here for anyone interested in doing it themselves or for anyone who even cares to pass the time.

Part I: It All Started with the Action

Even with the adjustable bridge on my axe at minimum height, I felt that the action was too high. I attributed it to not playing the DB in months and that my muscles had gone, but one day I was really digging in and felt a wobble in my pizz hand: I pulled at the fingerboard (which I never really liked--it was some "ebonized" piece of ordure) and discovered that it had delaminated quite a bit up the neck, which caused the neck to bow forward, messing with the projection and relief! This was the last straw; I was going to fix this thing.

I bought a nice ebony fingerboard blank through a buddy at a violin shop and went to work. I laid the bass up, took the strings and bridge off (sound post didn't even fall--yes!), and went to work pulling the fingerboard-shaped ejectamenta off of the neck. Even just holding it compared to the ebony blank it was obviously inferior. It was light, and the black paint/dye had rubbed through to the white wood where strings contacted frequently. I scraped and planed the neck, fitted the blank to it and glued it up with the help of a second pair of hands (thanks Erik). On the second try doing this, the glue took, and I went along planing the board down to proper thickness/relief. This brought me to the next challenge.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

What pictures?

 

[George Himmel]

Ha! Patience! Forgot to load them all.

Part II: Fittings Fallout

When the fingerboard was on, it was clear the old nut wouldn't work, it was far too short. I luckily had on hand a slightly oversized pen turning blank of ebony, so I cut that down enough to make a nut. Since the current saddle was too small as well (small enough that the steel airline cable tailwire was digging a bit into the top; an annoyance I had previously let slide), I figured I could use the remainder of the ebony to fashion a new one. So I went to it shaping my new fittings!

I wish I had a picture of the old nut. It was really cobby and constructed from three small pieces of scrap ebony. Maybe I'll find it and take some pictures if people care to see them. Either way, here are some rough production shots of the nut and saddle, along with a comparison of the old and new saddles.

Nut 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Nut 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Nut 3

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Saddle 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Saddle 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Saddle comparison 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Saddle comparison 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

 

[George Himmel]

Actually, I just noticed you can see the old fingerboard in the background of those first shots!

Part III: Finishing the Project (I Thought)

So I glued up my fittings and did a bit of the finer adjustment work and polishing (I didn't realize what a nice natural polish ebony takes!); I slotted the nut and regraduated the slots a couple times until I got a nice roll (the pics are actually before the second adjustment), I reshaped the bridge a tad and restrung the beast up just to see how it felt, and it was alive! I loved the new easy action--which I could adjust from slightly too low to too high for my wimpy hands to really stop properly--and the projection and definition and volume all seemed better than before. I would've been happy with easier action and simply not making it worse, so I was pretty stoked. But I had all of this kinetic energy for doing the work, so I was left thinking, "well what else can I do?"

Nut fitted profile

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Nut fitted front

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Nut fitted top

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Fingerboard down

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Nut and fingerboard down

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Nut fitted 3/4 G-side

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Saddle fitted

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass full, new ebony

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

 

[TroyK]

It's a nice looking bass. Congratulations on getting through a big series of repairs like that. Takes a lot of patience and care, I would think.

 

[George Himmel]

Part IV: I Got the Itch

So after all that the bass was playing beautifully, but I wanted to do something more. The only remaining thing was that tailpiece. Like other fittings it had accompanied, it fell short of what I thought was cool. It was obviously painted black, and appeared to be cut all of one piece of whatever it was. So I decided I'd get something wild and cut a slightly heavier tailpiece for myself to focus up the sound and give it a custom touch for fun. I decided I'd go up to Tropical Exotic Hardwoods just north of me and pick out some wood. I had in my head to use Honduran Rosewood, Macassar Ebony, or Cocobolo...

When I got there, Coco was the clear winner. Plus as a bonus, I thought the red/orange/black grain would look bitchin' against my orangey varnish (in photos it can look a little tangerine--it's actually deeper/browner/redder than in some of the unedited photos here). So I bought a board and brought it back, and I gave it a real rough plane and splash of mineral spirits to see the figure.

Cocobolo blank 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Cocobolo blank 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Cocobolo blank 3

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Cocobolo blank 4

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Cocobolo planed

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Cocobolo blank mineral spirits

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

 

[George Himmel]

It's a nice looking bass. Congratulations on getting through a big series of repairs like that. Takes a lot of patience and care, I would think.

Thanks! It took a while, especially because I only had 20 minutes-1 hour-2 hours here and there to work, but it was a ton of fun and really satisfying.

 

[George Himmel]

Part V: Testing: 1-2-3...

So as I'm not exactly an expert at all this, I figured I'd cut off a bit of my coco to do a practice piece. It started just as a miniature version of what I wanted to do, but a bit of the way through I realized it'd probably make a pretty decent tailpiece for a 3/4 violin! I shaped the thing down and carved out the hollows, then drilling the holes and putting in the tailpiece nut. The exhaustive part was definitely using a really small coping saw (almost jeweler's saw size) to cut the slots for the string mounts. For the nut, I just cut a shallow groove and glued in an ebony veneer cut into a crescent, finishing with some sandpaper. To preserve the red color of the wood (I like the eventual oxidation/browning just fine, but I wanted to experiment with a sealer/finisher to keep the red and match my varnish) I wiped on some CA glue after finish sanding the wood. Just a few very thing coats, then a rub back down nearly to the wood to give it luster.

Practice TP rough 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP rough 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP rough 3

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP rough 4

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP fitted 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP fitted 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP finished 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Practice TP finished 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

 

[james condino]

Lookin' good George!

 

[George Himmel]

Part VI: Showtime

After deciding what was easy and what was challenging with the practice model, I started in on the real deal. I used a silver Sharpie to draw an outline on the main coco board and cut that out with the bandsaw (it takes a bit of doing cutting a full inch-think board all the way around with wood as dense and oily as cocobolo). Then I did a free-handed bevel around the topside edge to take off a chunk and make my rasping/carving job easier, though I wouldn't recommend this method, because free-hand bandsaw beveling is pretty kettle-headed and I did it largely out of impatience. Then I took a rasp and hand tools to it to get down to the main shape, drilling my holes before hollowing out the back. The shape was refined using a spindle sander that I now love.

Bass tailpiece outline

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece rough 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece rough 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece rough 3

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece rough 4

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece rough 4

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece rough 5

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

The one challenge that was maybe a bit stupid to take on was cutting the curve in the nut-end for a compensated shape. It meant that instead of a horizontally straight nut with a simple curve would need to be come a horizontally S-shaped nut with a compound curve. I used a duck call blank of African Blackwood to make three rough blanks (no pics; sorry) and then cut one down to fit into the curved channel carved into the tailpiece. Now the first time I tried gluing it in, I used CA glue and some ebony/blackwood dust I had saved to glue and fill. This was a chawbacon move. As soon as I poured the glue into the channel and dusted in some ebony dust, the exothermic reaction made the glue crust up almost immediately, smoking and fuming for a few seconds. I had to chip/scrape/rotary tool out all the glue, but the resulting channel was actually maybe a bit cleaner than the original. I tried again, this time using a slow-setting permanent instrument glue (can't remember the name of the stuff right now) instead and clamped it up. The next day, it was ready to be finished.

Bass tailpiece nut/saddle 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece nut/saddle 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece nut/saddle 3

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Luckily for me, because the size of the bass tailpiece is so much larger than that of a violin, I could use my rotary tool and hand drill to cut the stringmount channels and tailwire holes. Then the same ol' sandpaper from 180-250-320-600-1200 came out and it started to take a nice sheen. I applied a CA finish in very thin swipes with shop towels, then buffed the finish to match the luster of the natural wood shine.

Bass tailpiece nut/saddle 4

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece finished

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

 

[George Himmel]

Lookin' good George!

Thanks! I've had so much fun making this stuff. I hoped others might enjoy seeing the catalog and maybe even using it for reference/confidence booster in case they feel like taking on similar projects. I was definitely inspired by the DIY luthiers on the board, and referenced a bunch of threads to glean info on measurements and weights.

 

[George Himmel]

Part VII: Putting It All Together

Happy with the results of all the sweat and forearm aches, I went to layup my bass. I had some airline cable and copper (I think?) crimps, so I used those. But before threading the wire I used some spare shrink tubing that we have at Bass San Diego for cleaning up wiring (and it's black! Woo!) to cover the steel cable and protect the wood while looking all murdered-out and stealthy. I strung the thing back up and I love it. Here are the final pics. The camera reacts strangely to light through transparent finishes, so the varnish looks extra yellowish in these, though the coco is fairly accurate. Hope you guys enjoyed checking out the overhaul! I'll definitely answer any questions I can, but I can't guarantee I did anything in the most correct way!

Take it easy,
George

Bass tailpiece installed

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015
• 2

Bass tailpiece full body 1

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece full body 2

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece above

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece profile

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

Bass tailpiece close-up grain

• George Himmel
• Mar 25, 2015

 

[TroyK]

You do really nice work. Now that you're into the tailpiece, though you might stop and give some thought to function. You might want that tailpiece to be *lighter* instead of heavier and I'm a big convert to the belief that you want the after lengths to be an 11th + an octave above the open string. So that curve could/should have some function. You'd probably need to mock it up and mark the right location for that ridge first.

Jake is an expert on this, not everyone believes in it, but not everyone has experienced the before and after. My bass sings and purrs and the wolf notes are gone after he got that dialed in for me.

Just a thought.

 

[George Himmel]

You do really nice work. Now that you're into the tailpiece, though you might stop and give some thought to function. You might want that tailpiece to be *lighter* instead of heavier and I'm a big convert to the belief that you want the after lengths to be an 11th + an octave above the open string. So that curve could/should have some function. You'd probably need to mock it up and mark the right location for that ridge first.

Jake is an expert on this, not everyone believes in it, but not everyone has experienced the before and after. My bass sings and purrs and the wolf notes are gone after he got that dialed in for me.

Just a thought.

Thanks. Yeah, those were both concerns of mine, though admittedly secondary. I read a bunch of material advocating lighter tailpieces, but my old one felt nearly like balsa or glassed foam--like waterlogged surfboard. Maybe I was reactionary in letting mine be a bit heavier. Strangely enough, the tuned afterlength interval is now closer than it was. I double checked that my bridge wasn't off, but it used to be that the E-string afterlength was a bit sharp of the mark and the G-string about a whole step flat. It isn't tuned perfectly now, but it did eliminate the ugly wolf I had on open A (ick).

I may revisit it in the future, though (time permitting)!

 

[TroyK]

More or less tailpiece wire could get you there, maybe. It's worth dialing in. If I switch string gauges and one gets off a little, I can really tell. A little shim in the right place under that string, over the tailpiece and all is right in the world again.

Looks great, you're doing a nice job with this work.

 

[George Himmel]

Well Sheezy! What do you use for a shim? Also, I lived in Seattle for nearly five years. You in Seattle proper, or surrounding?

 

[TroyK]

Seattle proper.

In a pinch, I've used part of a wooden match stick, but a cut piece of hardwood, just big enough to created a different contact point for the after-length to come into tune.

 

[Heifetzbass]

Nice work! Good on Ya!

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

Great thread - I work on upright basses too. Subscribed.

 

[George Himmel]

Thanks Ed and Heifetz! Troy, I still have some bits and pieces here and there, so I'll definitely experiment with that, thanks. Plus she's due for some new strings soon here, so maybe after that.

And I found the old nut, so I'll take a couple pics so that anyone who cares can see the low-profile-4-piece glory!