-
I woke up today and was sitting on the couch drinking my coffee. It has been one of those days where one thing after another went wrong. So I am sitting there and I look up at my bass and do a double take - there is a 4 foot long crack from the bottom up to the treble side of the bridge. This happened overnight and there was no sign to expect anything like this happening. I don’t have between 1000-2000 dollars to spend on having this massive magical crack that appeared by itself overnight fixed so I basically can’t take any upright bass gigs, record or practice with it until some unforseeable time in the future when I can afford to having it repaired and on top of that the resale value of the bass has now immediately halved with such a large crack in the top.
So I started thinking, although that it doesn’t make a great story (me running over my GB10 with my car by accident is more of an interesting story) I thought to take my mind off of it by reading other guitar and other instrument injury stories. Have anything to share? The more I read the less I have to think about this stupid crack and how much I have to scrounge up to repair it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
-
01-22-2018 07:41 PM
-
You're in NJ?
In your course of finding solutions, I have a friend in NY, Bruno Destrez who does find bass work for some of the top upright players around. His phone is (212) 929-1372 and you can at the very least talk to him about what should/can be done. Do you have your space humidified? With a room humidifier?
I'd add a good disaster story myself but there are too many to chose from. 3 cellos have come my way this season alone. It's a bad year for instrument cracks
David
-
Yeah it has been so dry and so cold. I usually leave my bass in my bedroom but last night it was in the living room and it gets much colder in there. I had a humidifier in the bass but the place I live is an open floor plan so there’s not any way to reliably humidify where I keep the instruments. I got the bass last summer and it made it through last winter ok and the temperature difference in the living room is only 5-10 degrees colder at night so I am really confused how such a large crack happened all at once.
Originally Posted by TruthHertz
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
-
I bought a Super 400, and didn't remove the pickguard to examine the top. It had a minor repaired top with cleats. It didn't hurt the value one bit, but still "damage" I had not anticipated when the guitar was purchased. I've been extremely lucky where guitars are concerned...too many purchased, and no damages to report. Well, there was an Eastman 810 that arrived with the pickguard and floater dangling against the top, but I don't count that because it occurred before I began buying higher end archtops.
-
The only instrument damage I've had was when my son stepped on the top of my J45 and put a crack in the top. It wasn't really bad, and it was my fault for leaving the case open with a 4-year-old running around. Years later he used the same guitar, with the same crack, and eventually gave it back to me. It has sentimental value, since I bought it with my first parachute pay way back long ago in Columbus, GA. Not a lot of real value otherwise, but I don't plan on selling it. That all happened more than 35 years ago, and no serious damage since. A minor finish ding here and there, but that's all. And I'm rapping my knuckles on wood as I type.
-
Y'know that crazy cold spell we just had? That took all real and imagined humidity into the next dimension. It takes that, and a heater to cook off any trace of moisture. That's why an uber amount of humidifying is necessary, to cover you through those spikes (or troughs) in humidity. Originally Posted by rio
A bass top is under a LOT of downward pressure, and a grain line is inherently a weak line of softer "summer" wood when the tree grew faster. Softwood trees have that alternating soft/hard growth wood that gives it the characteristic grain lines and great strength to weight ratio along the grain line. The first excuse that top has to follow a differential in pressure (pressing down on the bridge side, nothing on the other) it's going to give and nothing, save force of habit, is going to resist that split. That's why it's so long.
In my experience, take the tension off the strings, try to keep both sides of the crack as equalized as you can to prevent any further deformity in the arch of the top carving and have this attended to as soon as you can. When I'm repairing a crack within the season in which it occured, it's much easier. Once the moist air of the spring raises the arch of the top, the tendency of both sides to move equally is much less than if you take care of it fresh. If they have to pull the top completely, then not such a big deal, it's all coming off.
On the bright side, once it's repaired, if it's done right and well, it can and should play as well as it ever did. As a matter of fact, a fellow luthier took in a bass crack and he did have to pull the top off completely. While he did, he took the opportunity to re-tune the plates; they had been built very heavy. The bass sounded way better than it had before.
Hope it turns out well for you rio.
David
-
My heart goes out to you, Rio.
If it's any consolation, here's my One & Only (circa 1850 German):
As my luthier says: "Son, it's a double bass. You don't need a sponge -- you need a hose!" Originally Posted by rio
-
I told you before about putting the headstock of my '69 L-5 into a spinning ceiling fan.
one other, late for a gig, ran to my car, threw guitar in back seat, put in reverse and promptly ran over my '66 Fender Vibrolux Reverb.
was wedged under bumper, put car in neutral lifted back of car off amp [adrenaline, y'know]
barely a mark on the amp fortunately.
-
This guitar is currently for sale at the best known vintage shop here in the Netherlands as “all original mint condition” ;-)
-
I slipped on water (winter, lots of snowy shoes coming in and out of the house) and my telecaster (not in case) and I both tumbled down the basement stairs.
The damage was terrible. Both the high E and B were OUT OF TUNE!!!
-
Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to have to sell a guitar to work up funds for the repair because I know that leaving it like this will be bad for the bass in the long run. And thanks for the info about taking off the tension. I wasn’t sure about that and was hoping that I could leave the tension on so I could at least have the bass to play at home for teaching but I don’t want to make things worse than they are already. This is a photo of the crack - since it goes up under the bridge foot I was wondering if keeping tension on would keep the crack from spreading somehow by putting pressure on where the crack seems to have stopped? I know little pieces of bass repair info but this is way beyond me about what to do since it runs alllll the way to the bottom of the lower bout. I’ve never even heard of a crack appearing overnight without any trauma involved that is this large. I can feel with my finger that the right side (right looking at the picture) is higher than the left side of the crack. I don’t know how that is happening since I wouldn’t think there would be more pressure on that side given where the crack is and where the bridge foot is. Originally Posted by TruthHertz
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
-
The only real disaster I had was when I was 12 and into the second year of learning 'to play cello in for the school orchestra - instrument provided by the school.
On a particularly windy day the cello was whirled around by an enormous gust of wind and had a disagrgeement with a metal lamp-post. The ebony fingerboard was detached...... Brown trousers day !
After building up the courage to face the music teacher (a genuine ogre in my 12 year old eyes), he looked at me and said "take it to the woodwork shop and Mr Motram (woodwork teacher) will fix it". I had expected to be blown to kingdom come, and headed for the woodwork shop, somewhat relieved. Al ended well, because unbeknown to me, Mr Motram (part time teacher) was also an accomplished local luthier for violins and cellos, and set it right in no time.
When I started playing guitar a few years later, I was a regular customer (in school hours of course) for maintenance advice..... for which I am still eternally grateful !
-
TruthHertz ouch man! That is rough. I hope it is awesome once you get it back in one piece. Originally Posted by fws6
This guitar is currently for sale at the best known vintage shop here in the Netherlands as “all original mint condition” ;-)
Sam that is a great looking bass! They should make hosed sized humidifiers...I’d buy two.
Wintermoon wow, I thought I was the only one who backed over gear with my car by accident.
Frank, I take it “all original mint condition” means it left the factory that way?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
-
@ Rio
"Frank, I take it “all original mint condition” means it left the factory that way?"
A good example of Gib**n's current level of quality control?
-
Looks good to go to me haha. Originally Posted by Ray175
@ Rio
"Frank, I take it “all original mint condition” means it left the factory that way?"
A good example of Gib**n's current level of quality control?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
-
I had a 1938 Martin D18 that I was playing in the living room. I left the room for a couple of minutes and when I returned someone (a sane sober adult) had knocked it over and put a hole in the side.
-
I do instrument repair in my spare time as a hobby. I was offered a Hofner Committee in really bad shape. I did lots of repairs, filled lots of holes, touched in scratches, repaired the neck pocket, glued the neck back together and sprayed that, and even made parts for the tuning machines on the lathe. I was very excited to finally put it together after having had it for about 3 years, but when I did, I realised that somehow I glued the neck back on slightly at the wrong angle, meaning that to get it to play the fingerboard, bridge and tailpiece are no aligned. Only about 5mm but it is noticeable. This is completely my fault, and it pisses me off, as it makes me look like a complete idiot. Lucky it is easier to fix than on a guitar with a dovetail neck joint, but all the same I can't forgive myself.
I also once bought a cheap chinese 175 clone as I wanted a 175 type guitar. It was a really nice shape, but the lacquer was horrid so I started stripping it. After the stench of heat stripping the whole body I moved onto the neck, and realised that most of the heel was car body filler. I did a Pete Townsend on it which was most satisfying.Last edited by plasticpigeon; 01-23-2018 at 04:49 PM.
-
WAAAAYY back in HS, waiting to go into a band competition, a kid laid his trombone across a chair. And yup, someone sat right on the slide. We had a lot of names for it. The bananabone, the bonecurve, the bentbone, etc.
-
Oh man, “bananabone” is amazing. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
-
I was gifted an very nice 1975 Gretsch in the 1990s. I did not play it much because the neck had been damaged by a capo. Repair was not as difficult as I had imagined. Re-finishing the back of the neck fixed it.
-
Some one had tried to repair the back of this L50 through the f-holes...didn't work too well. Once I got the back off the guitar, the braces literally fell off. Odd thing ... one brace was missing, so I had to make a new one from scratch (#2 from the top; the shortest one). Where did it go? It would have been too big to 'fall out' through the f-hole. The back of the guitar had never been removed before.
-
I was playing a guitar I didn't like much on a series of gigs when I accidentally left it leaning against the back of my car. In reversing out the parking space, I ran it over (gig bag, mind you). Unfortunately, it came through completely undamaged!!
-
I like to keep guitars in the original case if possible. This 1970s Les Paul case was in pretty bad shape on the outside, but the inside fuzzy fabric was in great shape. So it was worth saving.
-
Apart from my very first guitar (harmony acoustic, my brother dropped on the Seaside Heights boardwalk), I've been pretty lucky.
Not so with my first really good jazz guitar. A 15 year old or so Guild X-500. Beautiful instrument in every way. Being new to the hollowbody scene, I couldn't get that comfortable with it. So loaned it to a good buddy in Bethlehem PA, to try and most likely buy. A couple weeks later, they came back from an out of town trip to find a foot or more of water in the finished basement - courtesy of the town raising water pressure higher than the hot water heater relief valve could tolerate. The Guild (in the case) was leaning against the wall. It seemed OK, but wasn't. Luckily covered by his insurance, so he did pay me for it. A miserable experience for him; we try not to remember that poor Guild.
MD
-
I happened to witness an early 60's ES-335 slip from the chair it was leaning on and crash on the floor.
Amazingly, the headstock didn't break.
I once had my Godin 5th Avenue sitting on a chair, it got knocked off and landed face down on the floor.
Fortunately it didn't cause any damage other than a tiny mark on the finish. That was a really good guitar, I wish I didn't sell it.
Reply With Quote
Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
Today, 05:20 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos