Pinned blocks

[Thomas Erickson]

Any thoughts on this? I haven't seen a lot of basses made this way, really, but when I have I kind of scratch my head and think "hmmm, that can't be a big help"...

[Matthew Tucker]

it might help keep things in place in a humid environment

it won't make a bit of difference tonally

IMO

[Ken Smith]

Any thoughts on this? I haven't seen a lot of basses made this way, really, but when I have I kind of scratch my head and think "hmmm, that can't be a big help"...

Do you mean like small wood dowels thru the plates front and/or back into the corner blocks or just upper and lower end blocks?

Pinning anything with end grain dowel can cause a split in the wood at that very spot. When you see old basses that have had their back braces pinned in this way during its life, you will often find cracks coming off these very same wood dowels. You need to use 'same' grain plug-cutter-made dowels in order to prevent this.

On the end or corner blocks I think restorers do this to line things up when the plates go back on so they drill these holes 'before' the top or back comes off. I have also seen this on newly made antiqued Hungarian basses to fake its age as if it's been repaired many times in its life. The fact however in that case is that the bass is younger than the age of the dowels used!;)

On the lining up theory, basses after restoration do not always go back to where they were. If a very old bass, who is to say that it was lined up properly the 'last' time it was opened and closed? This could put unnecessary stress in the bass's alignment and cause a problem in time.

Of the basses I have had restored in the last several years, only one had holes drilled for alignment that I can recall but that was for fitting because the bass was almost in pieces for a lifetime when I had acquired it. The goal there was to get the bass back to a 'square' line up. Nothing was put in those holes but some small filler after the restoration as these were temporary tiny pin holes and not for doweling.

I would say to watch carefully any vertical hole put into a bass for any reason. It could be good or bad for the bass depending on how it was done.