Just a little thread update on the Hyak... been a good while now.I haven't been in my shop in ages it seems like, but there was a gig coming up I wanted to play it on, and on the punchlist of things to fix was a series of scars in the outer layer of the treble side of the neck beam, up in the first position. They were just deep enough to be annoying when played over. They would still show, but at least they wouldn't be as much of a distraction if they were filled in and flushed up. And this bass... it's a warhorse... I just don't much care how it looks if I can get the playability issues squared away. These little divots were bugging me. Had to do a fix. I made some dust on the belt sander with a scrap chunk of mahogany, and collected it in a discarded string pack, (I save these, habitually) then carefully drop-filled the divots with CA glue and packed the wood dust into the glue, then cured it with a quick shot of accelerant. Some careful filing and a wet sand, followed by a little finish touch-up and buff-out, and it's pretty slick to the touch. If I were going to do a refinish on this bass, I would inlay pieces of wood here. They'd be seen, but not easily noticed, if carefully matched. And that's still a possibility. I'm just not there yet... I kinda' like the rough aesthetic. This Hyak has been there and done that.
While I was at it, I filed the nut slots deeper... all the way to within a couple thousandths of the fingerboard. There's enough relief to the neck that it works out with the geometry. This bass is just
barely playable like it is, no more adjustment at the bridge, of course no truss rods to decrease relief, but I still have plans to go all the way with the repairs. I have dreamed up ways of adding neck reinforcement to bolster the existing graphite laminates in between them. Even a plan to wedge in some draft angle under the fingerboard to get the bridge up off the deck. Just... need some time.
I
am starting to question whether I want it fretted though. It is so incredibly good as a fretless, that I hate to mess with that. I played it for 2-1/2 hours last night. Had a ball.
Pics of the work. *Maybe some video from the gig later. We were rusty, hadn't played in a couple years.
*Like I said... rustiness disclaimer: This is one of my go-to tunes. It's a Gillian Welch piece, that I learned from my friends Kenny and Amanda Smith, many, many years ago. Brian and I worked out the intro for giggles one time, and the tune found its way into the set. You can really hear how articulate the Hyak is here. I can't help but wonder if Mr. Smith ever imagined one of his basses would someday wind up in an Appalachian string band?
