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Double Bass Sound posts?

TenorClef

TenorClef

Feb 6, 2004
412
0
54
UK North Yorkshire
www.andrewkerensky.com
#1
Ok so i got my first UDB, and looks like i need to get the bridge fitted and the string action lowered a little to make it play more comfy. A local violin restorer guy said he would do it but also said it might be worth while replacing the sound post as well, as i'm a DB virgin, is this guy playing me or have any of you other bassist heard of basses having replaced sound posts. Don't want to spend money if i don't need to really. It sounds like a nice DB to me. Its a Boosey and Hawkes Paesold made by A.Shroetter, and i imagine A Shroetter is the name of the big wig chinese foreman who makes the DB's some where in China.
 
#2
TenorClef said:
Ok so i got my first UDB, and looks like i need to get the bridge fitted and the string action lowered a little to make it play more comfy. A local violin restorer guy said he would do it but also said it might be worth while replacing the sound post as well, as i'm a DB virgin, is this guy playing me or have any of you other bassist heard of basses having replaced sound posts. Don't want to spend money if i don't need to really. It sounds like a nice DB to me. Its a Boosey and Hawkes Paesold made by A.Shroetter, and i imagine A Shroetter is the name of the big wig chinese foreman who makes the DB's some where in China.
Click to expand...

Nope, they're just made up company names. They are "factory basses" which means that somebody carves the neck (or oversees the machine that cuts the neck), somebody else does the fingerboard, somebody else oversees the machines that form the laminates for top and sides etc.The soundpost is a dowel that (look inside the F hole on the G string side of the bass) does two things:
1. reinforces and strengthens the top ( so that the bridge doesn't crash through the top)
2. transmits the vibrations for the bridge and the top to the back of the instrument

If you check either www.jeffbollbach.com or Link Removed, either luthier has a column on the importance of soundpost fit and its affect on sound.
 
#3
A soundpost replacement or adjustment is part of set up.

Usually a set up includes planing the finger board, adjusting the nut, setting the soundpost and replacing the tail wire with a flexible one.
 
#4
To add to Rick's comments, if the bass has never been set up professionally, the soundpost at least needs to be examined closely by the luthier. And, it is very likely that has not been fitted as well as it could and should be. The post should match the arch of the top and back with no gaps at all on either end. Even the slightest bit of the post standing on edge can damage the top or back under string tension.

So, since it is pretty likely that the post will need to be removed, carved and replaced anyway, you should probably have the luthier start with a blank, high quality post. The cost is in the luthier's time for fitting, not the cost of the post itself. Why pay a luthier to fit a cheap, green post when he or she could instead be paid to fit a well-seasoned one deemed the appropriate hardness for your bass?

The post itself is only a few bucks.
 

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