And now on to repairing the rib crack from the endpin.

This photo shows the careful removal of the old hide glue in the crack. First, the glue has to be heated with warm to hot water to dissolve it. Then the glue is scraped out.

Glue removal from crack from double bass endpin.

This photo shows the pre-glue test. I was lucky enough to have a U-clamp that fitted into the endpin hole. Here, too, a wedge is used only on one side of the crack to get a flush surface.

Here are a few more photos of the Hofner double bass repair.

Removal of old glue from double bass seam.

The “blotting paper” (from a kitchen roll) was inserted into the seam after the hide glue was removed with hot water and various scraping tools. The paper is to soak up leftover water before it settles into the wood.

Another wedge test before “live” gluing. Here, as on the top plate, the wedge is to hold down only one side of the rib to make sure it is flush.

I believe in always testing before gluing, especially on cracks. So here is another example of a dry run (literally).

Here are photos of the glued and clamped top and backplate of this Höfner double bass.

The rib cracks – and there are many – are yet to be glued and I’ll show you that in the next post.

Clamping of double bass top and backplate.

Notice the padding under the cross brace at the ribs. This is to prevent slipping of the brace.

Höfner double bass clamping – endpin view.

Sometimes just an old rag will do as padding

Here is a photo of one of my pre-glue tests.

I made the cross brace with adjustable wooden clamps (via wing nuts) to enable wedge placement for center seam gluing.

The wooden wedge on one side of the center seam is to make sure the seam is flush with the bass surface. The other wedge (under the tailpiece) goes across the seam.

Double Bass Repair George Urbaszek