Show your Extensions!

[JoeyNaeger]

Looks great, I was thinking a two piece extension would make routing the string around the scroll easy. Glad to see someone implement it the way I imagined. Here is an extension I finished last night.

[Robert Anzellotti]

Originally Posted by JoeyNaeger

Looks great, I was thinking a two piece extension would make routing the string around the scroll easy. Glad to see someone implement it the way I imagined. Here is an extension I finished last night.

Yeah. It would certainly be much more difficult to do a multi-pulley design out of a single piece - at least with my skill level. I was able to do all of the slotting for the string path and pulleys with a table saw. I know most people consider it a crude tool, but I bet I could make a working clock with one if I had to! I chose this piece of purple heart because I knew that with a clear varnish it would exceptionally compliment the red varnish in my Geiger. It will be awhile before I can actually mount it since the bass is in the shop for another repair, but I'll post results when I can.

[JoeyNaeger]

Originally Posted by Robert Anzellotti

Yeah. It would certainly be much more difficult to do a multi-pulley design out of a single piece - at least with my skill level. I was able to do all of the slotting for the string path and pulleys with a table saw. I know most people consider it a crude tool, but I bet I could make a working clock with one if I had to! I chose this piece of purple heart because I knew that with a clear varnish it would exceptionally compliment the red varnish in my Geiger. It will be awhile before I can actually mount it since the bass is in the shop for another repair, but I'll post results when I can.

If I had a table saw, that's how I would do it. A router works fine too. You'll notice Mine goes around the scroll as well, but it's one piece. I took some trickery to make it all work, but the string intunates nicely.Your solution is very elegant looking however. I like how the holes are blind on the one side. Someday I'll do a two piece extension like you've done.

[Robert Anzellotti]

Originally Posted by JoeyNaeger

If I had a table saw, that's how I would do it. A router works fine too. You'll notice Mine goes around the scroll as well, but it's one piece. I took some trickery to make it all work, but the string intunates nicely.Your solution is very elegant looking however. I like how the holes are blind on the one side. Someday I'll do a two piece extension like you've done.

You can do alot with a router, of course. Did you channel from the back and then glue in a patch where it touches the scroll? Thinking more about it, this also seems like a good approach, whichever tool you use. Still, you're right. doing a two piece means you've got a nice flat surface against the table. It's gotta be easier!

[JoeyNaeger]

No, I just did some very careful drilling. One hole from the back of the extension, and then another connecting that hole to the tuning shaft.

[Ken Smith]

These 3 Extensions were made by Luthier Mike Magee near Pittsburgh, Pa.


These are very well made, as are the other extensions I have gotten from Arnold Schnitzer and Jeff Bollbach. These have very good mechanics but different than both Jeff's and Arnold's work which are different to each other as well. All 3 of these Luthiers now use tunable brackets with hand made ebony fingers.

[Matthew Tucker]

Here's an extension I made for my Lott model bass.

The stick is Jarrah, the latches are an extremely hard local desert wood called Doolalia. Harder than ebony.

I chose not to use ebony for the body or fingerboard, as I wanted the extension to look a part of the scroll, not as a chunky addition.