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Double Bass worth repairing?

#21
droo said:
Aaaagh.
Here's what I'm doing: putting a straightedge on the fingerboard (in the middle, between the A and D strings) and extending it off the board towards the bridge... Then where it meets the bridge I am measuring the height up from the centre of the belly to where this straightedge touches the bridge.
If that's still not right then I've been playing the bass upside down all along.... and no amount of re-reading the post is going to help me!
Cheers.
Click to expand...

But what would the distance be if the bridge were not there (straight-edge touching the finger-board…)?
 
#22
droo said:
Aaaagh.
Here's what I'm doing: putting a straightedge on the fingerboard (in the middle, between the A and D strings) and extending it off the board towards the bridge... Then where it meets the bridge I am measuring the height up from the centre of the belly to where this straightedge touches the bridge.
If that's still not right then I've been playing the bass upside down all along.... and no amount of re-reading the post is going to help me!
Cheers.
Click to expand...
You've done it right...you have way inadequate neck angle for a decent set-up. Sorry!
 
#26
droo said:
Aaaagh.
Here's what I'm doing: putting a straightedge on the fingerboard (in the middle, between the A and D strings) and extending it off the board towards the bridge... Then where it meets the bridge I am measuring the height up from the centre of the belly to where this straightedge touches the bridge.
If that's still not right then I've been playing the bass upside down all along.... and no amount of re-reading the post is going to help me!
Cheers.
Click to expand...

OOPS, sorry. I must have been reading your post upside down. :eek:
My bad... :hiding:
 
#29
Sorry to reopen this ancient thread - but I thought I'd update y'all on what I've done to this bass so far :)

I did a lot of measuring of the body of the bass - particularly "double the distance between the bass bar and the centre line" and decided that it could almost need a 1/2-size bridge (even though the string length is about 41").
So I bought a 1/2-size bridge blank, and with the help of my brother-in-law who is a whiz-kid with a plane etc and various bridge-fitting guides (including Bob G's adj-bridge instructions), we fitted it ...

My string heights are now from 6mm(G) - 10mm(E) and the instrument plays like a different bass! The sound has more body too, which could be due to [a] lower mass, harder, better quality wood, [c] thinner string contact area and [d] maybe the feet are better-positioned wrt the b.bar and s.post.

The slight issue now, predictably, is that there are a few buzzes up and down the fingerboard, cos of the lowered strings.

But at least I definitely feel it's worth spending money on getting a luthier to give the fingerboard a good planing...

Thanks goes out to everyone who cast an opinion on this! :hyper:
 
#33
iPlay15151515 said:
Please tell us the measurement from the center point on your bridge to the top of your base or how tall is your bridge?
.
Click to expand...

certainly, the perpendicular distance from the top of the bass to the top of the bridge is about 5.5"

also since I read in the Lemur catalogue that "It is possible that a 1/2 size bridge will be the best fit for your 3/4 bass" I don't feel so weird about having done this :)
 

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