"Cornerless Italian & Spanish Basses"

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

I'm interested to hear how Arnold approached stabilizing the burled maple ribs. They looked very fragile from the outside.

I don't think 'stabilizing' was an issue here. The two-part Ribs held up very well over its 200+ year old life. The thinner outer burled maple had cracked in several areas and with some blistering as well. A small piece or two around the sides were replaced. The inner Spruce layer was in very good condition as were the linings for the most part.

Arnold did point out one interesting thing here. The endpin hole was way off center. If measuring the long side, hole center to plate, then doubling that number comes to over 9" in depth. IF that were the case, then somewhere along the line before we were all born, the Rib depth of this Bass was cut down to its current depth. This is just a guess as we were not there back then and do not see enough evidence to certify that as fact.

Maybe Arnold will come up and explain in detail but I know he went around the Ribs working small areas at a time each day until it was all re-glued where ever necessary. I assume glue and clamps were used and maybe some non-stick material was used as a caul between the ribs and clamps for pressing any areas that were blistering. It looks very good now.

Maybe in 200 years it will need some more repairs so someone write this down so we don't forget how to when that time rolls around!

[Pino Cazzaniga]

Ken,
Is the hole nearer to the top or the back? How was the back edge in that area?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Pino Cazzaniga

Ken,
Is the hole nearer to the top or the back? How was the back edge in that area?

The hole was towards the front.

The back edge looked fine I believe but the center strip was falling apart at the bottom. Arnold repaired the center down there.

[Eric Swanson]

New photos? I can hardly wait...

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

New photos? I can hardly wait...

I am kind of busy between work and playing the bass. When the web page is up, I will post the link but, it will be the same page as now, just modified with new pics.

I played it last night after a few personal tweaks (I had to force myself to put the bass down and go home as 2am was rolling around). I wish all basses had this kind of tone. The new neck is beautiful and the bass plays so easy. Now I have to start practicing to get used to the bass and be worthy of owning an instrument like this to play personally.

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

The inner Spruce layer was in very good condition as were the linings for the most part.

Actually, the linings on the back side were shot and were replaced.

Arnold did point out one interesting thing here. The endpin hole was way off center. If measuring the long side, hole center to plate, then doubling that number comes to over 9" in depth. IF that were the case, then somewhere along the line before we were all born, the Rib depth of this Bass was cut down to its current depth. This is just a guess as we were not there back then and do not see enough evidence to certify that as fact.

I could not figure another reason why the endpin was so far off-center.

Maybe Arnold will come up and explain in detail but I know he went around the Ribs working small areas at a time each day until it was all re-glued where ever necessary. I assume glue and clamps were used and maybe some non-stick material was used as a caul between the ribs and clamps for pressing any areas that were blistering. It looks very good now.

I lanced all the openings, injected hot hide glue and clamped using lucite strips to flatten the areas.

[Matthew Tucker]

thanks. I assume the spruce doubling on the ribs was cross-grain?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

thanks. I assume the spruce doubling on the ribs was cross-grain?

The grain runs across Top to Back, bent along its grain lines from Block to Block.

[Scott Pope]

Speculation: if the ribs were narrowed, it would seem to me more likely that a luthier would narrow them from the back; otherwise it would take a lot of re-engineering of the neck block instead of just a trim of the button side of the heel, which unless there were grave structural problems with the "top" side of the ribs would not be a cost effective modification to the bass, or any bass. And if it were trimmed from the rear, then the peg, assuming centered originally, would be farther back than forward.

I vote for it "always having been that way."

Please correct me if my reasoning is not sound (pun intended).

[Matthew Tucker]

except that the front is flat, so to me it would be easier to re-engineer the front than the bent back. But I reckon it was installed that way. I don't always put the endpin dead centre. It depends how the bass balance feels.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Scott Pope

Speculation: if the ribs were narrowed, it would seem to me more likely that a luthier would narrow them from the back; otherwise it would take a lot of re-engineering of the neck block instead of just a trim of the button side of the heel, which unless there were grave structural problems with the "top" side of the ribs would not be a cost effective modification to the bass, or any bass. And if it were trimmed from the rear, then the peg, assuming centered originally, would be farther back than forward.

I vote for it "always having been that way."

Please correct me if my reasoning is not sound (pun intended).

I have no idea. In fact, when I got the bass it was such a joy to play sitting OR standing I never gave it an ounce of thought until Arnold mentioned it. I thought it was just that way! Also, it's not the first old Bass I'd acquired where the endpin was not exactly centered.

These are very old basses, made with 3 gut strings originally when playing bass music was much simpler. Mozart was new music then so go figure. What a particular repairman did later on while modifying some old bass to modern standards, who knows what alterations these guys did.

Remember, the violin in Strads time had a pitched maple fingerboard, not a pitched back neck with overstand. Many old Basses have the necks still just barely sticking out from the body and pitched back for the string height. Back then, who really cared about the 'fixed' peg endpin hole?

[Pino Cazzaniga]

I don't think this is the case,as the back edge was almost fine, but (maybe) some old instruments were played without an endpin, with the back edge on the floor, sometimes with a clog. A Busan bass in the Elgar book has a clog glued on the back, and I saw another one in person. If so, it make sense to move the endbutton towards the top to prevent it from touching the floor. They were not so tall, back then...