Double Bass Stagg EUB megathread

[DoubleMIDI]

I start from the end.

A standard tailpiece might be too long. You might hardly have any underlength between bridge and tailpiece then.
But you can try. Just make anything reversible.
But I think a new bridge might be a much better investment.

The 1 mm shim alters the angle and that might result in several centimeters at the end of the fingerboard. Just try it. I would not go higher than 2 mm and this might even be too much for the screws.

You can try by unscrewing the neck just a few mm at all screws and keep the top part of neck and body in close contact and lift the lower (inner) part a bit so that the fingerboard gets raised. Have a look at that part of the neck how much it needs to be raised.

If it won’t work with partly unscrewing, remove the screws completely and lift the end of the fingerboard a bit. Watch the inner end how much it needs to be raised there.

An alternative would be to insert a wood block between body and neck to enlarge the overstand. But you might need new screws then.

Personally I see no need for a magnetic pickup for the Stagg EDB. It is very feedback resistant with the piezo. But it’s your decision (and your problem).

BTW, you only get hints from me. I’m not here to give you a detailed solution to a problem. You need to try them yourself. And if it doesn’t work well, you might need to reconsider your idea.

 

[Deleted member 396076]

It is a standard tailpiece, but I plan to shorten it to deal with the length. The bridge already has a replacement, I am just at the point of determining the required angle for the neck. I have been testing similar to your recommendation of loosening the screws a bit and measuring, but I was curious as to what other people's experiences have been. The magnetic pickup is not intended as a replacement for the piezo, more of an augmentation.. it is laying around not being used so I may as well give it a shot.

I appreciate your hints.. I have a few more things to try out, but I think the plan is about settled.

SMH

 

[DoubleMIDI]

OK, so go for it.

 

[Deleted member 396076]

I intend to soon, but there is no rush. I have been playing bass for over 40 years so it is not exactly like this is my senior project or something.. I can afford the time to wait and see if someone with actual experience regarding the durability of that endpin replies.
This is a ten year old thread though so that is probably not very likely, but that is ok too. I did not come here for step by step solutions or to have my hand held. I have read this entire thread before posting, some parts of it a few times. I was just hoping to clarify things that I had not seen addressed with people who have done much of this before me.
Thanks

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Until you try the modified tailpiece, why not try the sponge first. The ringing of the underlengths will stop and it is cheap and quick to do. Later you can compare this to the tailpiece and report the differences we would like to know (at least me).

 

[kolera]

Hello internet people... I would very much appreciate if someone could direct me to the point in this megathread where the topic was belly rest, and how could you improve it. I recently acquired stagg, and that much nicer version with pau ferro fingerboard, so this is the only thing that bugs me. Other than that, tha bass is on its way to become legend (like vw golf)!
Thanks for the answer

 

[DoubleMIDI]

You can bend to your needs. I also put some fabric or rubber foam around the body support.
I even bent mine to a different degree to change the angle of the u-shaped end.
Only bend it when it is not attached to the instrument or you might break the connection.

But it is still a bendable support.
A really stiff (unbendable) one would be better but would need non-reversible changes (new screw holes etc.) to the instrument.

I do not use the left shoulder support because of the rubber coated rod that catches my arm or clothes in thumb position where you need to glide over it while changing positions. Removing the coating might be a better option, but I haven‘t tried that.

 

[Deleted member 396076]

I have gotten a bit behind schedule due to personal obligations with the family, but I wanted to give an update for those who may be interested.

Floating the tailpiece will work fine, and it does seem to reduce/relieve the need for a mute down there. I did test with a sponge as was requested, and the sponge seemed to work about the same as the rubber tube that I had been using previously. I believe that hanging the tailpiece will negate the need, but I can't be sure until it's all done and plugged in. The rubber tube I'm referring to is similar to the vibramute if anyone is curious.. I just clipped a piece of tubing from a fish tank filter.

The bridge is a replacement bridge for an eminence eub. It does have to be fit and shaped, but it is pretty perfect once that has been done. I basically filled the cutouts in the stagg body, and then fit the bridge to the flat top. I may alter the plan and reshape the eminence feet to fit into those cutouts, but I have not decided for sure at this point. The neck does have to be shimmed to use this bridge as it is a bit taller than the stock one.

The krivo magnetic pickup is absolutely unnecessary, but it was just going to waste. It will fit fine once the neck has been angled, and it does add something that I like. I am considering doing some sort of ric-o-sound configuration, but I don't plan to commit to anything with the electronics until I have played it for a while. I have way too many amps, so I'm sure both pickups will be used in one way or another.

I think that pretty much covers everything. I still need to fabricate a wedge for the neck pocket and trim the excess from the bottom of the tailpiece, but everything seems to be coming together well. I imagine my next project will have to be a custom case as I am not sure this will go back into the gig bag.

I want to thank you again for your tips, and for responding so that I could bounce my ideas off of someone.

SMH

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The gig bag should still fit, but you should put something at the bottom as the endpin can damage that part going through it if you transport it upright.
Make sure that the endpin stays in the middle by adding a kind of cup (high enough so it can not jump out) or at least that it cannot get over the edge of the insert.
Probably not a problem if you carry it horizontally only.

 

[Matthew_84]

I got an early birthday gift after wanting a EUB for a while… She’s a beauty and I love it!

Question: do the stock strings have red silks on both ends?

The guy I bought this from had a luthier do a setup on it a long time ago, and he wasn’t sure if the strings were changed or not, but they are higher tension than what I thought they’d be... Granted, I’ve never played an EUB/DB before so I don’t know what quantifies for high tension, but they are harder to play than I expected, and the nut slots were filed down.

I definitely have some modifications I want to make, like making the end-pin a bit beefier, and possibly crafting some sturdier side-arm so it can be a bit more stable as it rests against me, but I really like it so far!

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Yes, the stock strings have red silks on both ends. They have a solid wire core, you might see it at the ball end if you take down a string.
Also the stock strings easily colored my fingertips black when playing/sliding for a while. They are medium tension, a bit towards the lighter end.

The luthier did a good job at the nut. The slots are too deep originally and a string with a larger diameter can easily break it if not filed down. Be still prepared for a new nut if it is still the plastic one and you want to try different strings, but this is cheap.

A lot of Staggs have an uneven fingerboard that needs to be planed. Looks like this is what the luthier did and be happy that you didn‘t had to pay for this. Originally the neck of the standard Staggs is coated with laquer/epoxy and the only way to plan the fingerboard is to completely remove that off the fingerboard surface.

For the body support a new one would stabelize it a lot more, but I bent the upper part in a bow to move the upper part of the U-shaped part more to the front, so it rests better against my body.

A sponge in the underlength damp them. One of the first and easiest modifications I did.

it would be a good idea to read through the whole Stagg Megathread, takes some time, but you get hints for the endpin.

What I disliked the most is the bridge as it is shaped wrong. Adjusters need to be at the same height to be able to turn them, but the strings are equal height then. On a DB the string height needs to rise by one mm at the end of the fingerboard from string to string towards the lower ones. Trying to modify the bridge it will get the laquer/epoxy removed which might not look nice. Also the E-string might jump out of the groove if played a bit harder.
The bridge is too heavy since there is so much metal on it for this adjuster construction.
But to be honest, I didn‘t took the time yet to make a new bridge for my Stagg myself as I mostly play my Clevinger EUB now.
Someone else did it some postings below, I think.

There is always something to tweak on a Stagg, but if you can mostly live with it as it is, just do the minor ones now. The others maybe later or not.

Happy playing!

 

[Matthew_84]

Thanks @DoubleMIDI

Yeah, I did skim through the thread the night prior just to see quick reviews. I’ve looked at these before but the early ones with the painted fingerboard prevented me from pulling the trigger in the past. I noticed this board was rosewood though so I made the jump.

The luthier did a good job on nut it seems. There is about 2x business cards under each string (with a tiny bit more give on the E string and a tiny less on the G). Also, I believed they may have carved some of the neck out as there is about 3mm relief (eyeballed) when I stop a string at the first semitone and the the 24th. I don’t know if that’s enough or not, but I’ll look into this more as I did still notice some buzzing on some strings. The fingerboard seems smooth, but a straight-edge will be required to confirm.

I do recall seeing some postings about something for the tip of the end-pin earlier in the thread, so I’ll just dig up those posts again (and likely re-read the thread slowly - especially your string recommendations in the past, as I would like something slightly lower tension).

And yeah, I saw what you mean with the bridge. My action is pretty good on all strings but the E, and I saw that it looks like the R string is not a sitting in the bridge well. I was thinking of making a bit more accurate slots, but forgot about the coating on the bridge I read about earlier so I may hold off on that.

For the body support a new one would stabilize it a lot more, but I bent the upper part in a bow to move the upper part of the U-shaped part more to the front, so it rests better against my body.

Yeah, I actually tried bending mine towards the front as well so that it would sit closer up to beside the neck, making the bass sit a bit more perpendicular to me, but the metal on mine was hard to bend. I’ll have to try it on a bench or something (with it off the bass of course).

I was surprised at how far back it went. I’ve never played an acoustic DB, so I don’t know if it’s accurate placement or not, but it did seem like it would balance better if it was pushed forward (and by that I mean to the right, in standing position, so that it’s more in line with the bass’ body and not so much behind it).

 

[Matthew_84]

Just an update for potential future readers regarding my previous post and how I was trying to bend the support arm so the bass would rest perpendicular to my shoulders. IMO, I was going about it the wrong way, as trying to fret that way was pushing the bass away from me, which is why I needed to clamp down on the neck so much to fret the string and why the tension seemed so much higher to me.

I watched a few videos earlier, but this one really helped me.



I realized I should really have the fingerboard facing away from my left shoulder (within reason), so that I pull the bass towards me and the support when I fret (as much as possible anyway). I had to pull/bend the support quite a bit but now I’m somewhat behind the bass, with the support leaning into my left side, and I can bend over into thumb position really easily now. It still takes more pressure to fret that I thought it would, but it’s a lot easier than it and I was even playing scales today. I will need lessons soon, but today was a good day.

 

[Matthew_84]

I’ll post this elsewhere in the forum as well, but I noticed some cracks on my scroll/headstock.

The first two pictures are on the left (EA) side. The crack goes through from the outside to the inside.

The last picture is of the right side (GD), and there’s only a crack on the inside.

I would like to take care of these (preferably by myself if it’s an easy job), just to make sure they don’t grow and ruin the headstock.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good glue/bind I can use?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I wouldn’t change anything since if you try to get some glue in the crack, opening the crack to get some glue in might make more damage to it.
I think the crack might have happened by the inserts from the tuners. Trying to remove them to widen the hole might reduce the stress but might also no longer fix the insert.
But it is also possible that it is a result of an impact. The construction of the headstock without a back makes it a lot more sensitive to impacts than a DB type which is carved out of a solid piece of wood from the front. Same for the parallel sides.
You can make it more stable by adding as back, but glue it to the bare wood, not to the laquer.

BTW, I’m not sure you have a rosewood version of the instrument. I have one and you see the rosewood at the edges of the glued on fingerboard where the white dots are. If it is black around the dots you don’t have a rosewood fingerboard but a standard neck with the laquer removed on top.

 

[Matthew_84]

Thanks DoubleMidi! That is a good insight.

I don’t think it’ll do much more damage in the immediate future but I will keep an eye on it, and sometime in the next few weeks, I will pop off the tuners to inspect it a bit more, and get an idea to how tight they are.

and yes, mine is the rosewood version

 

[BlacksHole]

I was making some modifications to my upright and when I loosened the strings I noticed that the D string had odd bend in it when loosened. I am guessing that I should go ahead and change the strings which are far more expensive than bass guitar strings. I play mostly bass guitar rather than upright but I still want better strings that aren't overly expensive. I don't know much but would like to learn to bow better. So I'm looking for strings that sounds very good when plucked but are at least reasonable for bowing that are fairly cheap. I've read this whole thread twice now and I'm still confused as to the best place to buy them and which i should try first. So many different options leave me a bit confused

 

[rumblinbass]

I was making some modifications to my upright and when I loosened the strings I noticed that the D string had odd bend in it when loosened. I am guessing that I should go ahead and change the strings which are far more expensive than bass guitar strings. I play mostly bass guitar rather than upright but I still want better strings that aren't overly expensive. I don't know much but would like to learn to bow better. So I'm looking for strings that sounds very good when plucked but are at least reasonable for bowing that are fairly cheap. I've read this whole thread twice now and I'm still confused as to the best place to buy them and which i should try first. So many different options leave me a bit confused

I recently picked up a Stagg EDB and am looking for strings too.
FWIW it found Stagg replacement strings on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0192AI6E...id=G4PEN5U5CQP7&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it_im

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The Stagg strings color my fingers black after a few minutes of playing.
If they do for you too, better get more expensive strings. The best solution might be Thomastik Spirocore Mittel 4-4 (S42 set), as you can use them for the next decade. Anything else might survive one or two years only.

 

[Deleted member 396076]

I have not gotten much time to work on this but I wanted to attach a photo of the tailpiece. I have not decided for certain is this will ultimately be a pattern or not, but I am leaning towards refinishing this and keeping it.. almost looks like it belongs there.

The bridge is shaped and ready to install, but I'm not sure when I will get more time to devote to this at the moment.