Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles A Thomas
No, I don't claim to know anything about the history of this bass, I wish I did. I do know what a good stringbass sounds like. I have the bass in the shop of Robert Ross in Denver CO. I believe him to be a compitent repairman. He has sent me pictures of his progress, the ribs were shortend, and new block on lower bout, he has cleated some cracks on bass bar side of lower bout rib, he has leveled a sag in the top under g-string side of bridge, he has splined a open crack and it looks like all cleats have been replaced. The bass bar has been removed and some over thickness has been changed. The last time I talked to him he said he added some spruce to the area where the sag was. I went on his advice to do the work on this bass, I am hopefull on the outcome.
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I think he means that he pushed the Top out with one of a few methods and added some wood 'inside' to a thin area and 'feather graduated' it in. Sounds like your bass is in good hands and being what I consider 'corrected'. Many of these basses were made thin or thick in area for whatever quick-make way they used.
On my Tirol bass the top will be put in a mold to be corrected and pushed out. The bassbar and cleats removed beforehand and then all re-repaired after the top is back to its correct arch. Wood will be added back to areas that were either made thin in the making originally or thinned by over zealous repairmen down the road. Either way, this is the normal and correct procedure for bringing a bass back to life. I have had many basses repaired in this way. The results were always positive. Give the bass 2-5 years to settle in. Then, it will improved little by little over time with its new wood inside. Like an organ transplant, it taked time for the body to accept its new component.