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Double Bass Tailpiece exploded, need to replace

#41
Don Hergert said:
Chris, does this require a Kolstein tailpiece for the time being? If not, your local luthier's shop may have a replacement tailpiece that would work, or could be made to work, as you order a new tailpiece for your model, to be shipped to you from Kolstein. Then you'd have a backup in case the new Kolstein tailpiece repeats the explosion of the original one.

I'd also be curious as to why the original tailpiece exploded in the first place. True, the mounting method and wood grain may have contributed to this problem, but is it possible that the strings might be too high tension for this tailpiece, and if so, for the DB itself? If this DB does turn out to be one you do want to keep, that answer might be important. I know in the smaller fretted instruments, many high-quality manufacturers specify only as high as "medium tension" strings.
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I don't know that it requires a Kolstein Tailpiece, but obviously it's a smaller/shorter model made for the bass, so it would be ideal. It would also be nice to have the original working if I end up selling it.

And it's entirely possible that the strings contributed. It was wearing Spiro Mittel 3885 strings when it blew. It shipped with Kolstein heritage, which some people like but which feel like rubber bands to me. The busetto I played at ISB was wearing Weichs, which is probably why I liked it. I think I had switched the Heritage out for S42 Spiros when I recorded the review video, but later switched to 3885 in an effort to get the amplified sound to pop more. If the Krivo experiment works out, I'd be perfectly happy with the S42s. They felt a little floppy when recording that video and I remember thinking it felt a bit like a Stratocaster, but on the road I think I could be pretty happy with that considering the alternatives I've been faced with in the past.
 
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#42
Drilling the two holes, sanding off a bit of the split lower part and remounting the tailwire in the correct length is a task any luthier can do. Indeed it shouldn‘t cost much. But this is nothing for a long time use (it probably will hold for a long time but doesn’t look very nice on stage).

If you think it would be worth the money, go to your local luthier and explain that you want the holes drilled through (this is typically not the case for smaller bowed instruments than basses). Show him a picture of a drilled through tailpiece if he is not sure.

I understand that you have not much spare time now, but drilling the two holes and reattaching the tailwire shouldn‘t take more than half an hour, about an hour until they are tuned up after the repair to get the tailwire length right. That’s an easy repair.
 
#45
Finally got the bass back (I had told them it was no hurry, and they charged me next to nothing) and it has an ebony 1/2 size tailpiece now. Seems to amplify better so far, but that's about all I can tell.

I'm going to do some screwing around with soundpost placement on this bass to see if I can get more weight out of the G string. The post seems further back from the bridge than on my other Nnick Lloyd set up basses, but that might mean next to nothing on a strange animal like the busetto.
 
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#49
Steven Ayres said:
Was the smaller tailpiece an affirmative choice, as opposed to 'that's all that was available'?
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Yes. Apparently the tailpiece the bass shipped with was essentially a 1/2 sized tailpiece designed to compensate for the fact that the bass body is shorter than a normal bass body. As it is, the silks almost reach the bridge from the tail piece side. If the tailpiece were normal size the silks would be too long and would go over the bridge notches.

The benefit in this case was an upgrade of the tail piece from an inferior wood to a regular ebony tail piece.
 
#50
TroyK said:
Maybe not in N. Carolina, but in Seattle that's all anyone can talk about. "I went to hear Christian McBride at Jazz Alley and his tailpiece wire was on-point!"
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It’s not just Seattle. At a recent show, I overheard two bassists in the audience assessing my performance. I overheard one of them to say, “yeah, he was OK, but his tail piece wire totally SLAPPED”.

At this point, I’ll take whatever I can get.
 
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#51
OK...so...did you notice the world falling off a cliff like many folks pushing lizard fur and snakeoil claiming that if it isn't a perfect octave and 1/5 length behind the tailpiece or 1/6 the string length or such that the entire focus of the bass fell apart and if it was brought back all of the unicorns and fairy dust would come back???

If you use Spiros, you can just burn the silks off with your hipster lighter!
 
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#54
james condino said:
:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:
NOBODY gives a $#!+ about how your tailwire looks on stage!
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I wouldn‘t care, but others might as you might have read. It was just a hint for them.

My first bass had a cello tailpiece that broke like Chris one … after about twenty years of use.
I rebuilt a broken bass (strings, bridge tailpiece) when I was 15 or 16 and needed a tailpiece for it and the music shop only had one for a cello then. of course this was my first instrument and still have my second one since 35 years.
 

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