Hyak Scroll Bass - Rescue/Restoration Project

[dela217]

Here is a closeup of the logo.   Personally I would just leave it like it is.    The logo is brass, and is under the finish.   It looks like there is some relief with a black painted background.    Excuse the chips and such.   Thanks.   Michael

[edwardofhuncote]

Thanks Michael! Yessir, I have studied a couple of these logos, and couldn't quite see how they were wrought. They do appear somewhat identical, which makes me think he had them made somehow that was a machine-able replicating process. Whatever I did would be a one-off inlay, into an ebony medallion of sorts, inlaid into the headstock, of course at the very least a careful finish touch-up or overspray of the headstock face would be required. All of which is do-able. The facing veneer is attractive enough as-is, so as an alternate plan, maybe some kind of fingerboard inlay that evokes his logo? I dunno.... plenty of time to mull it over.

I picked up the Hyak for a few thoughtful moments last night, and to my joy, after a week of humidifying it and lower tension strings, by golly, that action is getting a little bit better! It is a measureable difference. I picked up the string pack and looked, and sure enough, T-I JF 364's are smaller gauged than 344's, because they assume you're putting them on a 36" scale bass. I just needed the extra length for that long pull behind the bridge.

[hieronymous]

Wow - very cool acquisition and project! That headstock design - whew...

Actually, the headstock is cool, it's the tuner placement that throws it off. I know I should do a search, but, do all Hyak headstocks look like that? Maybe he was experimenting with tuner placement and there didn't end up being room for the logo?

[pauldo]

Very pretty, that instrument is in good hands and will be rewarded!

I kinda am digging the head stock and the tuners... just weird enough for me!   

[hammer]

Beautiful bass. When you get it fixed up you’ll one one very nice addition to your tool kit. Seeing how much you like the scroll makes me glad I snatched up the shop night special with a scroll or that might have been yours.

[edwardofhuncote]

On the subject of scrolls; if you look at the few of these out there, every one is different... that's one of the hyper-cool things about scrollwork. It's very much like an artist's signature. Look at the scroll on Nick's vermilion Hyak and mine, totally different. Robert's scrolled purpleheart Hyak is closer to mine. I love those little differences.

[dela217]

I have seen 2 different shapes of headstocks on Hyak instruments.   One has more pronounced "points" on either side of the logo, and one more smoothed out.    All the instruments have the tuning keys on an angle like that.    I have seen 2 types of tuning keys used too.   The sealed Schallers like we have on our Alembics, and the ones with the open gears.   Mine has the open gears too.    Mine was the first one I saw with the open gears.    I thought it was a modification at first, but now I have seen others.

All of those instruments are quite odd in their own way.    Fretless must have been common.   I've run across 4 including this one.

Still searching for the elusive non-scroll Hyak bass in short or medium scale.    Probably does not exist.

Michael

[peoplechipper]

the logo is likely cast brass with paint or enamel...there is stuff out there that dissolves epoxy; there's one for jewellers called ATTACK and it lives up to it's name. If you get a whiff of the vapours you will see BLACK STARS, likely your brain cells winking out of existence...

[David Houck]

This will make for a great project.  If you decide to make this a shop thread, I'll be following in interest.

[edwardofhuncote]

Been spending some quality time with the Hyak. I think it's done all the moving it's going to be doing until we forcibly flatten the neck beam out. It's playable, but just. The really floppy T-I Jazz Flats and some saturation humidifying brought the action down enough to get some temporary enjoyment. And my, what a joy this bass is... the trick was to boost the signal up. Those original octagonal pickups (as I understand it from reading up here) were looking for a 36v feed, either from four 9v batteries or an outboard power supply not unlike our DS--5. I am a complete electrical Dunce, so part of this project for me is (hopefully) picking up some basic understanding of how the electronic components work, and why they do what they do.

Anyway, the output of the Hyak with just the passive circuit currently installed is so low, that I have to really crank the input gain on my F-1X beyond where I typically set it. So, I thought about it a few minutes. I almost always play active basses. Even the ones I have that are not active, say my old '67 Guild Starfire, have a much higher output than this poor thing does. They sound good... nice and clean, just... no power. So, what if I simply put another preamp before the F-1X... (?) not to overdrive it, but just to boost that anemic voice up a little. Extra gain stage. Worth a shot.

BINGO. I had a little el-cheap-o voiced tube mic preamp in with my PA stuff that did exactly the trick. Only other thing in the chain here is a tuner, and my MXR Stereo Chorus. From there, to input 2, on the F-1X. (my SF-2 is in the effects loop of it)

Here's a tune I've been messing with.

*as an aside, two very different basses, with a few things in common. Definitely some shared DNA here.

[elwoodblue]

Good call on the boost.
Wow...hearing it after just seeing pics is a real treat.
You make it look easy to play, it's going to play you once you get
the neck flatter.


Joy 

[cozmik_cowboy]

Most excellent!

Peter

[HyAlembicK]

I have a full and complete set of Hyak bass electronics. I think this is your lucky day Nickmiesle@gmail.com.

[lbpesq]

Nice looking bass you got there, Greg!

And always good to see you drop by, Nick.

Bill, tgo



Bill, tgo

[edwardofhuncote]

Thanks Coz & Bill. 

Great to see you too, Nick - I'd been hoping you'd drop in on the thread sometime. Pretty sure I still have your email addy squirrelled away, but I scribbled it down just in case. (you might want to scrub it offa' the public view here though... we still get a few n'er-do-well bots sneaking past) I'll drop you a line when I have a few minutes, as I have been wondering what to do about the electronics in this bass. One obvious solution would be to fit it with either Signature or Anniversary controls like yours, but not knowing whether I'd be able to use the old pickups or not, I hadn't really spent much thought on that path yet. There are other commercially available options, but I'd like to stay as true to the original design as possible. Definitely filters.