Well we thumped on the bass for the first time since the back was repaired…WOW…every thing is making full contact once again. This bass has a large booming sound.
The dry fit and gluing process went well. Once again every clamp in the shop was put to good use and we ordered ten more. Is there such a thing as a clamp obsession? Anyone who has done serious wood working would answer…no, you can never have enough clamps or the right size for the job.
My final choice for strings is a full set of Velvet Garbo’s…these are some funky strings. Lonnie thinks the G string looks like a vintage Red-O-Ray string. The coppery color looks good against the dark brown AS finish. We put the bridge in place adjusted the new Hi-Tech tail gut and tuned it up. It sounded real good but Lonnie wasn’t happy with the sound post fit. After close inspection the sound post…most likely the original…was very old, dry and split at both ends. So with no hesitation at all he cut and fit a new sound post…this task went very well. In a few minutes (and very careful measuring) he had a new sound post cut and fit. The post just kisses the top and back of the bass…it was a beautiful thing.
He made some final adjustments to the rosewood nut which is also original. He shaped and fit the nut to the Garbo strings making sure none of the strings are choked. The grooves in the nut need to be open and smooth while the string height is the same across the fingerboard.
This weekend is set a side for some bass playing, bass tweaking and final finish touch up. My job is to give the bass a test drive and approval. Once we are BOTH happy I get to clean and polish the bass…my favorite part of helping in the shop.
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