French Bass full restoration

[Matthew Tucker]

OK so I've been a bit busy ... and now I need TWO pairs of specs for this sort of work



remember this? The cracked block needed to be replaced.







some twit used nails in the top edge of the ribs.



more ironwork for the collection!



A lot of steam, water, heatgun, leverage and cursing later, the block came away with the ribs unscathed.

[Matthew Tucker]

remember what it used to be like in there?



YUK! All that black crap had to be wetted, heated and scraped off.





here is the new block being glued in with temporary cauls.





Yes its a multi-piece block.

You can see how the upper edge has been damaged by those pesky nails.



I'll have to trim those rib edges off neatly. I'll lose about a cm off the top of the original rib, but it is no big consequence.

The block is intentionally oversized and will need some trimming too.

[Steve Alcott]

Thanks, Matthew-I'm sure I'm not the only one who's fascinated by and learning a great deal from your account of this major restoration.

[Matthew Tucker]

not least of whom is me ...

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

not least of whom is me ...

Matthew, at least the cracks in this Bass are minimal. Yes, it needs a lot of work and correction but it could have been a lot worse.
Arnold mentioned that he could have made TWO basses in the time it took to restore the Cornerless attributed Storioni. He turned the job down twice but that's all behind us. Jed who used to work for Arnold has my Gemunder and says it's the hardest job he's ever had. Going on 3 years now, maybe more. I can't remember by we passed at least two X-mas target dates for completion. Cleaning out the old and bad work was the time killer. Going forward should be more downhill.

Keep up the good work. Oh, and multi-piece and laminated blocks are not all that uncommon. I have seen quite a few now in my old basses. Maybe there's a reason for this in the makers mind as most were original that I saw and not a repair or accident.

I'm looking forward to seeing your Dodd model. Maybe start your own 'new' thread on it's make. You think?

[Matthew Tucker]

Thanks for that reality check Ken. Yes we have passed the one year mark on this one too. I have a patient client.

The Lott's coming on. There are a few pics on a certain social networking site ;-)

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Thanks for that reality check Ken. Yes we have passed the one year mark on this one too. I have a patient client.

The Lott's coming on. There are a few pics on a certain social networking site ;-)

Ok, I thought it was a Dodd. Lol.. By the way, Lott was trained IN the Dodd shop so depending on the period, it's either bass. But, trained by Fendt snr..