This may have been covered somewhere before, but I have a new student with an internet special with a string slot cut too deep. Is there a DIY repair to get it at least temporarily playable? For various reasons it's the only option right now. No luthier close enough, no adjusters, no way to fit a new bridge. Suggestions?
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Double Bass String slot too deep on bridge
- Thread starter Bruce Calin
- Start date
If that’s the only option, there’s a few half baked solutions in aware of.
A slice of business card or similar heavy paper, cereal box etc.
if you’re feeling slick and have an appropriate file, you can build it up with some super glue. If you’re feeling real fancy some super glue and maple dust.
Anything can work in a pinch.
A slice of business card or similar heavy paper, cereal box etc.
if you’re feeling slick and have an appropriate file, you can build it up with some super glue. If you’re feeling real fancy some super glue and maple dust.
Anything can work in a pinch.
My luthier did this very thing recently, albeit at the nut. There was a light buzz on the E string, so he went the front of the shop, came back with a torn corner of a Post-It note, folded it once or twice and put it in the slot. Problem solved.
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Thanks for the tips. I've used the paper one for the nut but hadn't thought doing something like it for the bridge. I will check it out. I don't want to get too involved with a student instrument that needs a lot of other help but if something simple works it will be good enough for now, I hope-anything to get them started.
The paper that can do much at the bridge does almost nothing at the bridge.
If the slot is really deep so the bridge crown is not filed down there but a deep slot I would use the superglue mixed with a hardwood dust and put several layers on until the needed height is accomplished.
If you have too much on the sides you can file them down carefully.
If the groove is uneven file it slightly down to make it more even.
Anything put under the bridge feet lifts the whole bridge, not only the single slot. Then you need to file down the other string slots to get the correct relative height.
You might want to have a luthier add adjusters or a bridge leg wood insert instead of shimming under the bridge leg(s), but for a simple quick and cheap solution, nothing beats the wood dust/superglue method.
If the slot is really deep so the bridge crown is not filed down there but a deep slot I would use the superglue mixed with a hardwood dust and put several layers on until the needed height is accomplished.
If you have too much on the sides you can file them down carefully.
If the groove is uneven file it slightly down to make it more even.
Anything put under the bridge feet lifts the whole bridge, not only the single slot. Then you need to file down the other string slots to get the correct relative height.
You might want to have a luthier add adjusters or a bridge leg wood insert instead of shimming under the bridge leg(s), but for a simple quick and cheap solution, nothing beats the wood dust/superglue method.
Back in the day I used a small piece of a match, or a small bit of 1 mm plywood (for model building). Glued it in the slot with white glue. Used a bit too long piece and filed of the excess ends after drying. The string I mounted to apply pressure, before the glue hardened.
Any of the above.
Personally, having little patience I'd probably use thick card (like the back of a spiral notebook), maybe two thicknesses, double over, use superglue to affix in slot, put a little Saran Wrap over the string and use string to hold the shim in place (Saran Wrap so you don't superglue the string down), wait 5 minutes, take off cello wrap, use pencil to graphite the notch.
Personally, having little patience I'd probably use thick card (like the back of a spiral notebook), maybe two thicknesses, double over, use superglue to affix in slot, put a little Saran Wrap over the string and use string to hold the shim in place (Saran Wrap so you don't superglue the string down), wait 5 minutes, take off cello wrap, use pencil to graphite the notch.
+1 for superglue and sawdust, but add graphite powder to the glue as it dries.
it strikes me that the best no compromise "home fix" would be to find a piece of actual maple wood and inlay it into the too low slot, that way it could be reshaped afterwards to be a 100% solid maple wood slot for the string to rest on as opposed to paper or some kind of glue/dust mixture
that might mean squaring off the slot itself to fit the "graft" into before wood-gluing it in place, and i'd think you want to orient the inlay piece so its grain runs the same direction as the bridge itself
that might mean squaring off the slot itself to fit the "graft" into before wood-gluing it in place, and i'd think you want to orient the inlay piece so its grain runs the same direction as the bridge itself
Cutting out a piece of the bridge makes the vibrational transfer to the sides less intense. I got a bridge with a pickup in the slot on an EUB,filled the slot with hard wood but the highest string is always too quiet.
If the hardwood dust is the major part and the glue just keeps it together it would at least good enough for a student instrument.
If the hardwood dust is the major part and the glue just keeps it together it would at least good enough for a student instrument.
100% I've done that before. Filed the a nice square piece out and glued another piece in. Sanded them together once dried, used PVA. It looked like blank bridge.
That looks like it would work on a bassoguitar too, where the curvature of the fingerboard isn't as extreme.
