Double Bass Upper bout wear

[FredH]

The upper bouts on my bass are warn away until they look like wood pulp. Its a older bass and I guess that it has spent some time on a rough floor. The damage is not deep and I don't believe there is any chance of the seam popping but I need to down something about it.

It’s a 1960's Pollmann with that yellow-honey finish. I have heard that German luthiers used rather cheap varnish in though days. My questions are:

What type of varnish can I use?
Should I sand the wounds down first?
How many coats and how long should it set?

Thanks

Fred

 

[Jeff Bollbach]

Hey Fred, welcome to TB! When you say "upper bout" do you mean the edges or the actual expanse of rib?

 

[FredH]

Just the edges, both of them. The wear does not extend all the way to the joint where the sides meet the top and bottom edge, which extend beyond sides.

 

[Jeff Bollbach]

Just the edges, both of them. The wear does not extend all the way to the joint where the sides meet the top and bottom edge, which extend beyond sides.

Well that's kinda easy then. Those basses usually had a basic spirit varnish and that's what I would recommend to touch it up. Lemur or International would have it. Just carefully brush it on and a light sanding[320 or so] between coats. 4 or 5 coats should be fine and spirit can dry in a few hours-wait until you can press hard with your finger and not feel any tack. HTH

 

[FredH]

Right on, thanks I'm on it