Quote:
Originally Posted by Anselm Hauke
hi ken
congratulation, nice bass, interesting to see the pictures.
one question:
here:
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/double...that_bass2.htm
you write:
"The upper and lower Back have decorative raised plates added for structure as well."
was it the only possible way to add these plates at the outside of the bass?
i am asking only for my personal curiosity in luthiery, this is not meant as criticism to the work of mr. biase.
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In my opinion, there was no way to avoid adding them.
When I got the Bass, there was
no wood at all behind the bottom block, just some black colored wood putty or something. This Bass was not even possible to string up when I purchased it. Biase had to do an inlay under the external Inlay first to replace the missing wood of the Back for the lower Block fit first. Last Friday was the first time in just over 5 years I was even able to play and hear the Bass.
At the upper Block,
a piece was already added. Behind it was some original wafer thin wood with two HUGE brass screws going into the upper block under the Neck Heel. I had Biase remove the remaining screws that were not cut away from the Block and Back and plug the holes with wood. This area needed an internal repair as well. Now the Neck and Back upper Block area are free from metal and 'patch-type' repairs.
I made the Plates here in my shop from the same block of wood that I cut the Scroll Cheek wood out of and sent them to Biase. He faxed me a template of the areas that needed to be covered. When He got the wood (plus some extra pieces) he called to tell me he didn't like the grain pattern because it was flatsawn and the back was perfectly quartered. He took the wood that I sent him and made book matched looking pieces with more of a quartered grain and added an Ebony center strip to each plate to match the strip running up and down the Back which seems to be an old repair inlay from the joint expansion. These are some of the details this 'old schooler' went thru to make this Bass as close as possible to a 'period-type' restoration. I have seen decoritive back plates on a Busan and a Goffriller as well as some other Basses and if done right, they look beautiful. Some however do not look as nice as others.
The Neck Block/Shoulder area '
Cut' which I forgot to photograph for the website looks very similar to the Neck platforms on both
my Hart (100% original) and my
Block-cut ex-Morelli. This Bass is capped at the Block as well with some Macassar Ebony cut from our own lumber stock we use for Smith Basses, bookmatched pieces no doubt! The Neck Graft is from an aged European Cello Back billet that I purchased 5 years for the restoration job. The billet sat in Biase's shop untouched for about 4 years before he started the Graft process. The neck piece cut from the 'back stock also sat around for months until he got around to it. This was actually a good thing for the acclimation process of the wood once it's been cut from a larger piece of stock.
I took Neck, Nut, Fingerboard and Bridge measurements from 3 of my best and favorite basses here to give him the specs to ensure personal comfort on the final set-up. I think Biase left things a bit heavy so I would have room to trim it down later. You can't add it back once it's been cut away! The Fingerboard Camber is about the best I have had which is only about 1-mm end to end. This is also the thickest and longest piece of Ebony I have had on a Bass as well. The highest note on this monster is an F which is a 7th above the fingerboard previously on the Storioni.
This Bass is huge and has a similar punch and crunch of air movement to my Storioni attr. Cornerless Bass. The Hart use to feel a bit broad to me getting over the Maggini-like shoulders as compared to the Martini but after playing this Bass for a few days, the Hart feels more like a Solo bass in comparison. Whom ever ends up with this Bass, I doubt it will be used for Solo Rep.
Oh, and by they way with the current set-up with the Evah' Weich's, the Pizz for jazz is like 'Killer Joe' in your face..
