French Bass full restoration

[Thomas Erickson]

I guess no one alive can tell you how this bass sounds

I don't know why you are doing that. Usually in a restoration of an old bass the oxidation is left in place to show its age. Cleaning the surface of the old wood is common but sanding or scraping doesn't make sense. In fact, if this were my Bass, I would be quite angry about it. Clean, don't scrape away wood. If re-graduation, I can understand. If not, leave it be.

if the bar is angled more outwards in the lower bout it will spread the sound much better. The current Bar whether integral or not should be replaced while the bass is apart. This is the best and easiest time to do it. Why take the chance?

Seems to me like if we don't know what the bass sounds like, are attempting to maintain as much originality as possible in a functional instrument, and the original parts haven't compromised the health thus far, than that replacing them might be presumptuous and destructive. Just saying. I suppose it is *just* a bassbar though.