Guitar and Pear-Shaped

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

But why would this be a feature of cornerless basses?

I would have thought regular basses would have the same if not more issues with edge repairs with all those corners to catch on things.

A Bass with 6 separate Ribs and 4 Corner Blocks (2 per side) is much stiffer and moves or twists less than a Bass with only two very long Ribs and NO Corner Blocks at all. A Cornerless Bass has the sound it has because it vibrates more freely and without restriction of the stiffened center Rib construction. I will assume from this that the thicker edges are to prevent edge splitting since the Bass can twist more within its form. The greatly distressed Ribs of my Bass are evidence of this movement as they took the blunt of the damages over time rather than the Top or Back. Both the Top and Back has their share of cracks and splits but the Top of this Bass pre-restoration is in better condition than my Hart/Fendt Bass was. The Hart needed a complete mold made to fix the Top whereas the 'Storioni' is estimated to need only a fraction or Arch correction and can be done without a mold at all.

Old Basses tell their own stories but the language they speak is not always easy to understand or even listened to at all sometimes. Learning from the past is a great thing but that effort must be made.

On the Rib depth of my Bass the maximum at the bottom is only 7 3/4" (Ribs only). My Dodd being the other 'loud'/deep sounding Bass I owned was only 7 1/2" deep. I put this Bass up against Homer's Gagliano and Biase's (ex Homers') Guadagnini and it was deeper and smoother than the both of them on all 4 strings. The person who bought my Dodd also went to Biase's on my recommendation and played those Basses as well but still liked my Dodd better.

Rib Depth alone does not make a Bass sound deeper or louder in my opinion. It's the whole Bass and its woods that do this I believe.