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

[pauldo]

Great job!

That fiddle player who was always late?  He has that drummer blood in him... I have known far too many drummers who had issues with being on time (that’s chrono not rhythmic).

Paul (whom thinks 10 minutes early IS being on time).

[edwardofhuncote]

I haven't really had anything interesting to post about from my bass shop lately, but there's been a-plenty going on up here... so y'all will have to s'cuse th' mess.

I had to share this one though. It's been a nice, easy job... a real pleasure to work on after a long string of kinda' unremarkable [however welcome] busy-work.

This is a German import, labeled William Lewis & Son, of Chicago and imported (I'm fairly certain) by the Laurel Stringed Instrument Co. It is a very nice quality instrument, I think from the 1930's, and made very similar to my personal bass. I just had to cut a new bridge and soundpost, install a new set of strings and set it up. While working on it, I took notice of a beautifully done 'spline' repair to the top. This is where a split in the spruce top had opened, and wouldn't close all the way with a glue joint. A wedge-shaped piece of spruce is inlaid into the top and touched up. It's a fantastic repair. I took one picture of it close so you all could see it from my perspective, and another from a standoff distance so you can see where it is. Other than that, look at the inlaid purfling, the scroll carve, the tuning machines, the quality wood. Macassar ebony fingerboard.

It sounded every bit as fantastic as it looked too. Enjoy the pics...

[pauldo]

 

[elwoodblue]

Other than that, look at the inlaid purfling,...

But it's not centered !!?? 


That wood looks like it's made to vibrate... beautiful bass !!

[David Houck]

Looks like it's been well cared for.

[rv_bass]

Beautiful bass!  Do you make the bridges yourself?  Are adjusting bridges common?  Looks like you have to take into account the radius of the top for the feet as well.  Nice work!

[edwardofhuncote]

I order bridge blanks from one or the other of two well-established suppliers here on the east coast... the feet have to be fit exactly to the contour of the top, and the crown or the bridge has to be cut to match the radial arc of the fingerboard, then notched for string spacing. I also finish-sand bridges, just as a nice touch. This was a nicer quality bridge than I typically buy, (commensurate with the quality of this bass) note the nice figure in the maple. Adjustable bridges have been around for a good while... you can also buy the adjusters alone, and have them installed on your bridge, but it is a very tricky job the first dozen or so times.    https://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/3111-ADJUSTERS_FOR_UPRIGHT_BASS_BRIDGES_ASSORTED.html

The act of 'cutting a new bridge' as described here is a commonplace job when doing a full setup on a bass. It takes me about 2 hours, start to finish, but is usually combined with cutting a new soundpost too, and restringing. Turning one around in 3-4 hours makes me smile.   

[edwardofhuncote]

Things being what they are, I kinda' let the Scroll Shop thread go to sleep for a while.

First, it was the virus protocols that threw not only our staffing at work into a crazy spiral, but also the music store I do repair work for had to close up. Then, just as things began to smooth out, my counterpart at work got critically ill while on vacation the first of July. (not COVID related) We nearly lost him a few times. He finally got to leave the hospital yesterday, but returning to work is out of the question for a good while yet. Without any backup trained to run our Water Treatment Plants, basically, I've been on double-duty since July, seven days a week, 10-12-14 hours a day, so no time, energy or brain power left for solving various issues ailing upright basses by the time I get in at night. Gotta' load the coffee pot, set the clock for 5 am and... lights out. It's about to get better - they hired a couple young-uns for me to train. It'll be a while, but at least it's a start. Most of my days are spent either in WQ-413, (my rolling office) or the brick one in the background. I was telling someone the other day, this would be tough if I didn't like what I do. But I do. And lucky for everybody, I turned out to be pretty good at this Water Treatment Plant gig. Besides that, it's been kind of a blessing in disguise to be so busy this Summer... it's had the effect of somewhat isolating me from the constant barrage of All Bad Stuff, All The Time. I really only have time in a day for the problems that are specifically assigned to me... like there's an imaginary sign on it; Greg Handles This. Or there's a Greg-shaped hole in the wall, where I left in a hurry.

In the midst of that, I started losing the feeling in my hands again. This osteoarthritis is a ruthless nag... it just keeps chewing on you. After getting a second injection back in June, it was already wearing off by mid-August. I got another shot today, right between C7-T1. We'll see how long it lasts, but my next stop is another fusion surgery. (y'all check this needle out... this picture is from June) I need for that operation to be a while longer. Sometime in late 2021, ideally.

So as much as I miss my shop, it'll just have to stay on the backburner for a while longer. There's a couple projects up there really calling me though... two Cello Banjos with my Dad. A metal-bodied National Duolian. A Hyak fretless bass restoration. A Guild Starfire about to get some Alembic activators. And those are just my projects. I did break down and have myself a good Shop clean-up day a couple weeks back. You know it's serious when I roll the big trash can out there and start pitchin' stuff out the door!

I'll be back at it as soon as I can.

~Greg

[David Houck]

... since July, seven days a week, 10-12-14 hours a day ...

Hope they're paying you well for all those hours.   

[cozmik_cowboy]

... since July, seven days a week, 10-12-14 hours a day ...

Hope they're paying you well for all those hours.   

Or, if not, that you're building up comp time; at that rate, you could retire retroactively last year pretty soon!

Peter (who, as both a retired Teamster and a labor historian, actually hates the idea of comp time instead of overtime pay)

[elwoodblue]

What a beautiful picture, full(very!) of hope and intrigue.







I hope those young'uns do well so you can rest and play a bit more.

[edwardofhuncote]

Thanks Fellas. It's funny- in an email exchange with Mica the other day, she said almost the exact same thing as Dave.    With the shortfall of Operators trained to run these specialized systems, they haven't minded (or even flinched) at the timesheets I've been turning in. I think they're wondering how in the world I do it. The answer is, I can play 5 hands at once, and win, because I've been at it for 29 years, but it takes all day. One of my trainees looks promising. If he gets through his Class 5 (entry level) liscensure exams this Fall I can turn loose of some responsibilities.

So yeah, overtime. And I'm building up a huge pile of unused paid leave... anything over 300 hours of which will be rolled over into an extended illness leave bank on Jan 1st. That bank already has a bunch of time in it too. That will come in handy for when the next Titanium upgrades are installed.

Whatcha' gonna' do with all that OT? Well... next week, I'm sending #80-1684 home to California for Wizard Ron to work some magic, and Mica to love on her. http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=25753.0 That'll cover a little bit, but I was going to do that anyway! Like always; Pay the house down. Do other boring, responsible stuff. 

[edwardofhuncote]

While I've finally had some time off from the real job, it's been nice to get back to the Scroll Shop and find things pretty much like I left them last Summer.

Here's a 1949 Kay C-1 upright with a loose bassbar. I got the top off without much struggle, and glued this one up night before last. I'm patching up a couple ragged edges and tearouts in the veneer yesterday and today, I'll knock the clamps off this afternoon and put the top back on tonight or tomorrow. I don't like having a bass disassembled for long, because they will literally start to lose their shape, making it much harder to put back together correctly. That's part of why I put this one off until I had a week to work on it... I needed several days.

And here's a funny thing... with the occasional duplicate or missed serial number at Alembic, here's a dilly; this Kay bass has two different serial numbers on the same instrument. Not sure how that happened! There's the ink-stamped number and the hand-written one right next to it, on the same label. Oops.

And for my guitar-playin' buds here; check out this '54 Gibson LG-1... as near mint condition as you will see. I did a little setup and replaced the dry-rotted buttons on the original Kluson tuning machines, but we opted for a direct replacement set to go on the guitar, with much finer gearing. Great little guitar. This buddy of mine over here is the luckiest joker ever at finding items like that... no idea how he duzzit.

It's been fun up working on stuff up here this week. I've even been working on a guitar for ME! Back to the Water Plants tomorrow though. [sigh]

[edwardofhuncote]

Paddle Faster!

This cool old banjo came in the other day. It had been a family heirloom, discovered after a recent passing. Most of the time when I get these, they are just in sad pieces, destined to be wall-art. This instrument, though catalog-grade, is probably 120 years old, and after this afternoon's work, it is 100% playable again. I don't think it will be played. Though unmarked, I'm pretty sure it was an an S.S. Stewart. It's hard to say how many hundreds of thousands of these were made and subsequently destroyed over the next century. Once I saw this one's potential... it was mostly 'all there' I set about disassembling the pot, cleaned all the hardware, polished the metal, replaced a couple missing hooks and nuts, replaced the old calfskin head with a new Remo 'Renaissance' model, filed the fret ends where they had sprouted badly, then made a new bone string-nut to replace the original wooden one. After reassembling, I set it up with some new strings and tuned up.

Here's to a survivor. I can hardly wait to return it to the family.

[pauldo]

I bet the family will be very happy.