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Everything But The Kitchen Sink...
This was a full restoration...on a budget. Real life, huh?
Not every bass owner can afford to do every repair as if it were being
documented for a text book. Especially after this owner just spent a tidy
sum of money on the bass itself.
After purchasing this double bass from another double bass
specialty dealer, the instrument was brought in to us for some minor
(ha!)
issues to be corrected. Famous last words...
The neck basically fell out and the top had numerous open cracks
(previously repaired). The glue of choice seemed to be Gorilla Glue.
Nice for outdoor Teak furniture, but bad for double basses.
This neck had shown evidence of being a lifetime issue. Lag
bolts, dowels, etc. had all been tried (not to mention the scroll itself
was in 3 pieces!!!) The real problem with the history of neck failure was a neck
heel that was not properly carved to begin with. We had to get a bit
creative and try to form a locking joint (like a dove tail joint) that would
work with the glue. Had budget not been an issue, we would have done a
scroll graft onto a brand new neck...but like we said...real life budget
required out-of-the-box solutions.
While we were in there...we shortened the string length down to
42 inches and increased the over stand.
42 cleats, a new neck block and some creative neck/heel tricks later and we have a wonderful bass that will provide MANY years of faithful
service, and it sounds great too!
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