A new project!--- Double Bass

[washernoob]

If you dont know, I am a double bass player. All state orchestra for 2 years in a row. School orchestra, and chamber group since 7th grade. 4.5 years experience!
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My current instrument is a year old fully hand carved 3/4 Chinese flamed maple bass made by a small chinese firm. (dont bag on it! Its the best double bass I have EVER played!) It was sent to the local store, A. Cavallo Violins here in Omaha.

They set it up with a new finger board. End pin, strings, and a custom $500 bridge.

Well thats my main instrument. Its my baby. I take extreme care of it. i nearly cried when I scratched the base when moving it across our auditorium.
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This thread is about another bass!

This bass is a retired (long overdue) school bass. My orchestra teacher, and bass professor, gave it to me to practice luthier work (which is what I want to get into)

This is a 3/4 (standard size) bass. It is a plywood bass, not carved.
This was the bass I played in 7th grade. Oh my it is so terrible. I was the last person to play it before it really bit the dust.

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ISSUES

-The bass is delaminating near the base.
-The fingerboard and nut (where the strings lay across near the top) are very worn.
-The bridge is warped badly
-The end pin is broken
- THE WORST damage is the end pin area on the base is warped very badly. The end pin will never be able to sit in it right.
- The top near the bridge is warped making the surface uneven.

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So I am going to disassemble the base. Repair what can be repaired. Sand down the finish, and stain it or even maybe paint it I will test my luthier skills on re gluing it, and repairing the lamination.

I already took the back of the base off using a carpenters knife and some wedges. Didn't come off too pretty but its reparable.
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Before pics. I will be adding to this with up to date pictures. Got some of the back off on another camera.

This is what it looked like when I got it at school. My bass is not here. I dont dare keep it out in the open at school!

 

[washernoob]

Next pic

This is kinda a front shot.

The instruments on the sides are school instruments. One on the left is a standard school bass from the 50s. The one on the right is a 1/2 sized bass that is newer.

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Some side notes. I play german bow. I am the only bass player out of 5 at my school that does. I prefer it to french bow (that of a standard bass, cello, viola and violin) It gives me more power under the bow. French is nice for being flexible but lacks power a bit.

 

[washernoob]

Notice on that 2nd pic how the F hole corners near the left side are slightly higher on top. Thats the warping of the top I mentioned. The sound post is in the wrong spot and the bridge was placed crooked for so long it bent the top.

The bass broke when I played it that day. I pulled it out, and the bridge collapsed and the end pin fell out.

 

[ksdaddy]

Old Kay maybe

Yours looks like an old Kay C-1. I wish you wouldn't refinish it but that's your decision.

Here's my 1940 Kay M-1:

http://www.angelfire.com/me4/ksdaddy/m1.html

 

[ksdaddy]

Inspiration for you

Just in case you need a little inspiration, here's a cello I rescued last year:

http://www.angelfire.com/me4/ksdaddy/kaycello.html

 

[washernoob]

Gorgeous!!!

Wow!

Those are both gorgeous.

Nope its not a kay. It is a copy of a Franz Joseph Pfretschner- prope Violino car Petpontenet. Faciebat Anno 1700 in Cremona. Made in Germany.

And on the bottom of the tag it has the initials B-K-K.

I used to have a Kay C1. Got it from CL for free a few years ago just after I started 7th grade.

It was the lighter color scheme with the sunburst like color. The corners and where the neck and tail piece connect were darker brown.

The bass had been left in a basement during Katrina and suffered bad water damage. Whilst it looked ok, the bass back would not stay laminated because of the high moister in the wood.

The front was warping as well, but didn't seem to be getting any worse than when I sold it at the end of Freshman year.
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I sold it because I had my new carved bass, and I needed a good bow.

I bought a 120 (one hundred and twenty) year old Ludwig Bausch bow (spelling?) Its a german style and made of Pernambuco wood and ebony.

I dont play rock or stuff. I play an NS electric upright in Jazz band as it has the cleanest sound, and more sustain than an upright.

The kay was nice but lacked low end and treble. I needed the power for orchestra and it didn't produce the sound I needed like a carved bass does.

 

[frigilux]

Looks like quite a project, Brandon! Are you concerned that refinishing it might change the tone quality/timbre?

Three cheers to another musician in the AW.ORG family! And a string player, too.

 

[washernoob]

Well I am going to mostly assume that this bass is no longer playable. Considering the state of the warping and all. But who knows! It will take a long time!

The bass never did have much of a sound, but that could be due to the warping issues and bad placement of bridge etc.

We will just have to wait and see!