DILYSI Dave wrote:ditchdigger wrote:DILYSI Dave wrote: as the saddle is seperating from the instrument. It looks like a relatively simple glue and clamp repair, at least I hope so.Ummmm? Saddle? Uprights use a bridge that is just wedged into place.No glue anywhere around a bridge on a double bass.
Yep. Just puled out my violin making book and saw that before I saw this. Unfamiliarity with violin family instruments and all...
Interesting y'all played bass in orchestra. I did through middle school, but only because I was the tallest guy in the class. I played violin as primary and all through high school, but I never practiced enough to be 1st chair.
I dragged this back from the dead for an update. I finally got a chance to figure out what was wrong with the bass I got the other day. What I thought was going to be a 15 minute solder job ended up taking 2 hours and included a crash course in guitar wiring and pickup troubleshooting and testing.
It turned out both pickups were bad. Neither one would show continuity through the coils. Naturally I had to find out why. Let me tell you, a guitar pickup has some of the smallest wire I've ever seen wrapped around it. Both coils had broken wires on the positive side. After much cussing I managed to get them re-soldered using a pencil iron and a magnifying glass.
Right where the white wire is, there is a wire off the coil that is, no lie, smaller than a human hair.
I'm amazed I got it to stick.
It's done and back together except for some missing screws on the guard.
It was a fun project, now I just need to learn to play it.
Oh, and as an FYI, it's a Univox Precisely which was a copy of a Fender P-Bass. Manufactured around 1971.
The two new Fender-style solidbody basses were the Precisely and Naked. The double-cutaway Precisely U1971 had a single pickup under a chrome cover, covered bridge/tailpiece assembly, Fender-style four-in-line head, dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard, black-white-black pickguard with fingerrest, volume and tone. The Precisely had an outlined logo decal and a sunburst finish. The Naked U1971N was the same thing, natural-finished. Both cost $250. From here. http://www.vintageguitar.com/1952/univox-guitars/
In reply to Toyman01:
Very cool. Glad to see you fixed it!
And yeah, I was a band dork too, well, kinda. In my high school, there really wasn't a stigma stuck to band kids. We had lots of athletes in the band, including kids that were on the football team. A lot of the "cool" kids were in the music program. I was in percussion and was head of the percussion section for junior and senior year. I also played in the Jazz band too for those years. We did competitions every year all over the country, and we won a few awards.
I also played in a metalcore band outside of school too. 
So my wife surprised me for my birthday with the aforementioned upright. I'm stoked. 
Further inspection shows that when someone restrung it, they let the tailpiece get off center, which appears to have side-loaded the saddle, putting that joint in shear instead of compression.
I also think that poor re-stringing is the source of the G-string buzz, as it turns out the strings aren't centered over the neck, so the lower sitting G is being pulled towards the relatively higher area on the neck that is the D String's domain. So I think removing the strings, re-gluing the saddle, and then re-stringing it with everything in proper alignment might kill two birds with one stone.
In reply to DILYSI Dave:
I wonder if it got left with just one string tight and pulled everything off center.
Good luck, and BTW your post is worthless without pictures. 
So my wife surprised me for my birthday with the aforementioned upright. I'm stoked.
SWEET DUDE! Happy late burfday by the way. When was it? Also, +1 for NO GLUE on the bridge. I've only played two uprights, but neither had the bridge glued to the body. I think they're supposed to float. I may be 100% wrong.
Tim Baxter wrote: Ransom, you shoulda given me a holler. I coulda pointed you to the best places for Gretsch (better prices, and it gets to you when they say it will)
D'oh, missed this. Not that it would have made any difference at that juncture anyhow, but, um... Well, thanks anyhow! I'd take the info anyhow. Somewhere in the distant future is a green Double Anniversary for me...
My guitar did eventually show up, one day later than theorized. Mercifully, it was still on my porch when I got home; USPS was supposed to get a signature, but they decided not to be sticklers this time...
Plays great, sounds great. The only issue I have is that it's rather quiet. At an amp setting that would deafen everyone living on the same block with my Seymour Duncan Invader-equipped LP copy, the Gretsch is... at a decent level for band practice. I don't think I've ever had the master volume on the Twin Reverb up at four in an enclosed space before (individual channel volume pegged)...
Nobody's talking about gluing the bridge. On an upright, the bridge and saddle are completely different pieces about 18" from each other...
The new toy -
And the crack in question -
the upright bass is a very slimming shape...
In reply to DILYSI Dave:
Way cool!! Now I want one. 
That looks like a job for some thin cyanoacrylate glue. Clamp the crack back together and wick the glue in. Furniture repair places use it all the time for repairs like that. It will let you get everything back together perfectly before making it gooey with glue. A hardware store might carry the good stuff, otherwise try your local hobby shop.
AngryCorvair wrote: the upright bass is a very slimming shape...
For real.
Toyman01 wrote: That looks like a job for some thin cyanoacrylate glue. Clamp the crack back together and wick the glue in.
For the love of all that is holy please no!!!!!
That Bass was assembled with hot hide glue and it has made it a century and is still together. It should be repaired with it as well so that in another 50 to 100 years the next luthier who has to work on it will not have any surprises awaiting them.
Hide glue has quite a few things going for it as an instrument adhesive. The most important of which is that it is what they call "sonically transparent" but it is also very strong and also will release its bond with a little steam injected into the joint.
In reply to ditchdigger:
I'm pretty sure he said that one was made in China. There is a fair chance it was assembled with CA or hot glue.
If it had been the 100 year old German bass I would have recommended taking it to a pro.
It is a few year old china bass. That said, it's the only one I have, so if it needs a repair, I'd like to do it right. If that absolutely means a visit to a luthier, so be it, but I'd also like to DIY it if there's nothing magic going on here.
Just completed my refinish:
So has anybody played one of these "Modern Player" teles? Seems like it might be right up my alley.
No, but I saw an OK deal on an american made tele locally, and I thought of you. I couldn't remember which model you were looking for.
Man, I'd love an American Deluxe at fire-sale price, but I can't justify plunking the $1k that a standard used one brings. After seeing that band "WHORES" Saturday night, I'm not convinced that a humbucker is critical to get an enormous dirty tone. I talked to dude for a few minutes after the show. Should've done a gear-check on him. Thanks for keeping me in check though. $400 is kind of silly for a chinese tele when I can save a few more pennies and have the real deal.
That's right, the American Deluxe! I knew it was American-something. This one in an American Special. http://evansville.craigslist.org/msg/3661915385.html
poopshovel wrote: So has anybody played one of these "Modern Player" teles? Seems like it might be right up my alley.
Gabe got me thinking about a humbucker Tele. Damn him.
This be the one. In either this finish or white with tortoiseshell binding.
http://macon.craigslist.org/msg/3625769082.html
David S. Wallens wrote:poopshovel wrote: So has anybody played one of these "Modern Player" teles? Seems like it might be right up my alley.Gabe got me thinking about a humbucker Tele. Damn him.
Oh yeah? I'm guessing he meant in the neck position though. I know that boy ain't recommending anything not made in North America.
My brother has a beautiful American Standard sunburst that he bought either brand new or used but never used for $700. Keep looking, you might get lucky.
In other news, I've been playing my 67 B-25 exclusively lately. I love that thing, I have a total of $650 into it including gas money, and it is among the best that I've ever played. Interestingly, it has a rosewood saddle. Yes, the saddle is made of wood--as is the bridge, which again is interesting for a B25 as it is original and most were plastic. It makes for a very mellow tone. It also means that I have to mostly play it alone as just about anything else will drown it out short of a nylon string or ukelele.
poopshovel wrote: This be the one. In either this finish or white with tortoiseshell binding. http://macon.craigslist.org/msg/3625769082.html
That is my brothers exact guitar.
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