The Scroll Shop (Ed of H's Shop Thread)

[edwardofhuncote]

Here's a pretty cool thing I dropped off yesterday evening at Fret Mill Music... the store recently got a good deal on a few basses that just needed a good setup to be more easily saleable. I've only ever seen cutaway uprights in pictures... never worked on one, at least not that I can remember.

This one got its bridge and soundpost both recut, and I filed the nut slots. Just very basic setup. Makes a world of difference in playability though. These are fairly inexpensive, student-grade basses, but with a little work they can play and sound pretty good. (the store retails these at $895 - $1195 depending on the model and appointments and/or bag)

*this soundpost made me smile a little... must have been a Friday afternoon or a Monday morning. 

[David Houck]

Why are they called "student-grade"?

And when you played it, did you find the cutaway to be of any benefit?

[edwardofhuncote]

Essentially Dave, in this case student-grade = entry-level. I have a hard time referring to anything costing more than a certain amount as "cheap", but these are fairly inexpensive uprights. I was using polite terms. 

I could definitely see the benefit of the cutaway for access to the upper register, but I can also see the potential for a structural failure... it wouldn't take much of a side-shot to the neck to break the block.

[edwardofhuncote]

Getting closer on the King bass... last night's shop time was (mostly) spent leveling and dressing up the fingerboard.

First, I had to remove a layer of varnish or maybe polyurethane from the board... a shop rag with some lacquer thinner took care of that. Then, progressively using a long sanding beam with different grits of sandpaper on each surface, followed by a radiused sanding block, the playing surface of the rosewood board gets trued up. I'll then follow up with an electric sander with some 330-grit non-loading paper, and my small orbital sander with ultra-fine grit. (again, you DON'T want to breathe this stuff - wear a mask!) We're just getting it to a dull sheen here, so just a couple minutes with the sanders to get the scratches out.

This next step is another one of those probably totally unnecessary things that I just do because... I like to wet-sand ebony and rosewood. It raises the grain ever so slightly, and keeps the dust down too. Plus you get an incredibly smooth surface. After that, I burnish the whole board with some 0000 steel wool and rubbed in some lemon oil. I'm still not completely finished with this one, but it's inching closer to making music again.

Before I cut the lights out, y'all check out this next project they gave me at Fret Mill Music... it's the original hardshell case for this guitar: http://fretmill.com/product/epiphone-broadway-1937/ ...and as you can see, it won't hold that beautiful old guitar anymore. It was too cool to just pitch, so they asked me to take a look... I think I can fix it!

[growlypants]

Man, that orange power sander looks like it's been around awhile!!  Quick question:  Am I seeing things, or does that neck have a definite NON-curvature on the E string side?

[edwardofhuncote]

Man, that orange power sander looks like it's been around awhile!!  Quick question:  Am I seeing things, or does that neck have a definite NON-curvature on the E string side?

Yep, that's been a good one Growly... that old thing is tough as nails. Wish I could say the same thing for orbital sanders... that turquoise-colored 'Mouse' sander on the corner of the workbench has just about had it now... sometimes I have to give it a good thump to get it to run. (that can't be good)

Good eye, my friend. You have identified the E bevel, on a cello a C bevel, or more correctly, the Romberg bevel. It was invented by (and named for) Bernhard Heinrich Romberg (November 13, 1767 – August 13, 1841), a German composer and cellist. The bevel gives more clearance for that string to travel. With newer string technology, it's not really necessary, so a lot of builders have phased it out. Some players prefer it, some don't; it's probably just a matter of what you're used to. I kinda' like it on my bass and cello.

[cozmik_cowboy]

As always, your work is inspirational, Greg.
And I must say, I like current Epiphones a lot.  I love Kalamazoo-built Epiphones.  A pre-Gibson Epiphone?  Which one of my sons will they take for it?


Peter

[pauldo]

Nice!

[edwardofhuncote]

Thanks for the audience fellas. 

Have to agree Coz, those New York Epiphones are classy instruments. Every now and then they get some cool stuff in down there. It's dangerous having store credit sometimes!

Speaking of Epiphones... in my backlog of big projects-in-waiting is a 3/4-size B-3 model bass from the New York days. It's #749, and a pretty rare survivor today, so well worth fixing. It's got a badly broken neck that has had several attempted repairs, some of which held, some did not. I think this neck can be saved, but if not, I just happen to have the proverbial "needle in the haystack"; a New Old Stock replacement neck my Pops found years ago at a sale. It's been hanging up in a dusty corner of our shop for ages, so if bad comes to worse, we'll just fit this old bass with the correct replacement part. I may jump on this project this Fall. Got an old Kay with a collapsed top that needs to go next, but here's a sneak peek.

[edwardofhuncote]

Got in a full day in the shop today, and since the humidity was extremely low for the first time in weeks, it was a perfect time to load up the airbrush and fry to cover up some of these ugly old repairs. Sorry I didn't have time to stop and take more, step-by-step shots, but if you go back upthread and look, you can see the starting point was not a pretty sight. This was never going to be an invisible touch-up, or even close... just trying to make this neck look somewhat presentable again.

With the headstock stripped, (there you go, Paul!) there was no color to match, so I went with a mahogany/cordovan dye... chased it to the edges, darkened where I could, then shot a couple wash coats of clear to seal it. I'll pull the tape off tomorrow night and buff it out to a dull sheen. I still have to finish-sand, then oil-treat the 'playing' surface of the neck so it plays slick and fast. Probably tomorrow night.

[pauldo]

 


Looks great!

[elwoodblue]

Nice work Greg!

[edwardofhuncote]

The tuning machines cleaned up nice. Also trimmed and glued the tailgut nut back in place... nothing tricky here, just a couple little details. I did use hide glue on the gut-nut, since that's something one may need to remove again later. Rather than work the neck down, I quit early last night, in favor of playing bass! (seriously, I needed to practice) I figure letting that finish cure another 24 hours is probably best anyway. 

We're getting closer! I need to call this guy and see how he'd like his bass set up. I don't want get him all excited prematurely though. Many a slip, betwixt something and something, y'know...

[pauldo]

Amazing transformation taking place with this instrument.

The owner is going to think you had a shop disaster and replaced his bass with a completely new one!

It must really feel good when you do a complete restoration of an instrument.

[edwardofhuncote]

This one has been a big job Paul, bigger than usual. And that's the reason I put it on the backburner for so long... just because there's so much 'bench time' involved. To keep the trains (regular work) running on time, I can't tie up the shop that long, so I have to plan blocks of time for these big overhauls. And I can't possibly charge by the hour or they simply wouldn't get fixed. I'll end up just charging a rounded-off number for this one when I'm done. (I did tell the guy upfront he could just buy a new bass for what he'd have in this job...) Still no way in the world I'll come out with the amount of time I have put into fixing this bass, but like I was telling someone the other day, a hopeless case like this is where you sometimes learn where your limits are. There is value in that knowledge too. Part of me wanted to see if I could actually fix it. And the other part of me just wants to get it done and get paid, and get on to the next one. I'm happy it's turning out well. After last night, it's really taking shape.


Stay tuned.