What can rattle/vibrate inside a double bass?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Bin Hire

A friend has a lot of rattle/vibration problems. He thinks it might be that the face isn't stuck down properly. Is this a possibility? I know there's a bass bar inside, bit is there something else that could be causing a rattle?

No way to answer this as anything can be loose. Look inside and count the pieces that are not outside and all them up.

I had a noise the other day on a recently restored 1840 French bass. 100s of pieces of wood in there. Then, I realized it was the downward angle of the strings to the tailpiece so I slight re-cut the back end of the slots and fixed it.

It can be anything so take it to a professional. Hopefully they will find it and not take you to the cleaners.

You didn't say what kind of bass or its age or condition. Pictures would help, maybe.