Workingman Posted September 1, 2012 Report Share Posted September 1, 2012 Let me know if you are interested in this as a progress thread. My brother found an old aluminum bodied upright bass in a dumpster behind a music store. I am a long time electric bass player but have been working on learning upright for a couple of years, mostly jazz and blues. So he gave it to me. It is in pretty bad shape but restore-able. Here is the good the bad and the ugly on it. The good: hey it was free; The body is is pretty good shape with all the internal braces solid; the neck is mostly in good shape; the tuners are dirty but in good shape, the strings are good ones (upright strings can run over $200 a set). The bad: The neck needs a total reset as the angle was way off and there was almost no over-stand (amount the neck is off the body). This meens I will have to rebuild the neck block and the heal to accommodate the over-stand. The button (place where the back meets the neck) is just a twisted piece of metal. I plan to straighten it and reinforce it with some maple. It needs a new tailpiece wire and a new end pin. The scroll has a crack that was badly repaired with gurrilla glue. The ugly: well the whole thing. It was originally painted brown than black. An attempt was made to make a foux finish that looked like wood but only the back was painted. One side had a yellow base coat put on. So the body is black and brown and yellow. Also it is filthy. Here are some pics of it with the neck removed but otherwise untouched. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r7pgmpnj2de5f2w/r6WtNVciFj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted September 1, 2012 Report Share Posted September 1, 2012 Polish it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 1, 2012 Report Share Posted September 1, 2012 This is definitiely a worthy project. You should post in hollow body and acoustic an dcarry it to completion. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Tim, I plan on polishing it if the dents are not to bad. I they are I will give it the brushed metal look. Scott, I didn't post it in the main forum as it is an upright bass. If people are OK with it there, I will ask the mods to move the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Yeah it goes in the projects section.I'll move it if you want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Man,you are really similar to an old High School guy I hung out with sometimes...he recently started playing upright bass as well.Back in school and after it was electric bass https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sorry-About-Your-Sister/477816302244213 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Yeah it goes in the projects section.I'll move it if you want? Thanks Wes, and yes please move it. Looks like your friend is a bit further along than I am, playing it in a band and all that. Its been a real challenge but great experience learning this instrument. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Oh and I am glad it will be moved by the Metal Mod As a standing joke I play the riff from Ironman on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 2, 2012 Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Looks like your friend is a bit further along than I am, playing it in a band and all that. I just recently learned he was still doing his thing,only in El Paso...I have not seen him since my best friend's funeral nearly two decades ago.He and my best friend were roomates for a while. There are some slow loading bits of performances on his facebook,but they aren't enough to get a real handle on how he's doing,but he looks like he's having fun and he seems to be the vocalist,which is a surprise to me. Takes a lot of balls to be a vocalist in front of an audience,but he always had confidence... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 Hell, I never even knew they made upright basses out of aluminum. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Hell, I never even knew they made upright basses out of aluminum. SR This one was made back in the 20's or 30's. All solid wood uprights can be prone to cracking. For the working bass player who was going from hot dance halls into the cold night this was a real problem. Now laminates are used on many basses but in the search for a more durable instrument a couple of companies experimented with aluminum. World War II and the resulting shortage of aluminum put an end to it. By the time the war had ended laminate technology had improved to the point where there was little need to use aluminum. I got some more finish stripped and will add pictures later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 4, 2012 Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Fascinating. That makes perfect sense. Thanks. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 This is going to be a slow project as the bass is up at the country house where I have tools and room that I don't in a NYC apartment. I masked off the neck pocket and started stripping the paint on the front. I thought that it would be just the black paint to remove making it the easy place to start. Well under the black paint was blue paint and under that was the original brown paint. I would have just taken it down to the original but it was in pretty bad shape. To bad as it was a real pain to get off. There are more pictures in the album here: https://www.dropbox....5f2w/r6WtNVciFj They show it after about three hours trying different methods to strip the paint. Tomorrow I am going to use hot damp rags to remove some of the old glue from the neck joint area as well as spend more time stripping the finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 Wow. That's a lot of work. It might have less work to build one from scratch. Not cheaper though--you can't argue about the price of this one. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 It is starting to feel more like auto-body work than lutherie. I finished strippoing the front and part of the back. Pictures are here: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Photos/Bass%20Restore I confirmed that the glue on the neck is hide glue by putting a warm damp rag on an exposed part. That is good news. Next week I hope to finish stripping the body and start cleaning up the neck. I may take the top off to reinforce the neck block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 10, 2012 Report Share Posted September 10, 2012 Your link wants me to sign in this time? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 Thanks, I will check on this. Been using dropbox for a while with no problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 11, 2012 Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 The first couple still work fine, it looks like the last one is a link to your log in page and the others are links to what is inside. BTW your last grillin' made my stomach growl. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted September 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2012 Thanks, I think I can fix that. (The pictures that is). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted October 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 Well no new pictures yet but some progress. I talked with a guy who had worked on these basses before. Turns out the top and the neck block are just held together with screws. I unscrewed the block and part of the top. I was able to remove the block. Good thing I did. It has a crack on the side that did not show from the top or from looking at the bottom through the f holes. I am not sure if I will glue it or try and build a new block. A new block would be good in that I could build it with the new neck angle and overstand built in. Than again where am I going to find an 80 year old piece of quarter sawn alpine spruce? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 More progress without pics (yet). Back up in Vermont and I am glad I got the stripping mostly done before it turned cold. 19 f last night with a high of 34 during the day yesterday. The only part of the finish left on the body is in little cracks and screw hole heads. The peg head and scroll had been cracked and badly glued with gorilla glue and then pinned with wood screws. I debated cleaning up the glue squeeze out and leaving it vs undoing the joint and gluing it properly. I went the latter route and I am glad. As soon as I removed the wood screws the glue failed. The joint was almost completely without any glue, it just had pushed put and formed a bead along the outside surface. A couple of minutes careful work with a scraper and its ready to do the repair correctly. A friend who is a bass luthier has advised me that hide glue is the way to go on this job so the neck and a bunch of clamps will go back to NY with me as I will have to make use of his glue pot. I will try and take some pictures of the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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