Ex-Riccardi Cornerless Bass Copy (formerly attributed to 'Storioni') (SOLD)

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer

Ken, I appreciate you stroking my ever-expanding ego, though my wife would disapprove.

The main thing I try to stay away from in my building is introducing tension into a bass' corpus. All my basses are a little asymmetrical because after I build the rib structure, I let it relax, and then match the top and back plates to it, rather than doing the opposite, which is more common. I look for good, stable, well-seasoned wood. I stay away from common blunders I see in basses I repair, such as ill-fitting or crooked neck joints, and plates that don't meet the blocks. The workmanship you don't see is more important than what you do see.

To answer your second question, I would say a few hundred.

Thanks for the answers. I never noticed the ego thing. Please tell you wife Barbara you're safe with me when we hang out in the shop or out to lunch..

I believe too in the relaxed theory. Wood itself releases tension every time it's cut. I agree that building slow allows the release of the tension as it happens allowing all things to settle down along the way.