Here is a photo of the almost finished bass. Bridge height adjusters have been installed and the strings are on. Notice the blistering of the varnish. This is one of the features the customer wanted to retain … and I agree with that decision. “Remove the gunk – keep the funk.”

Hofner double bass almost finished

… and here is the bass all done.

Hofner double bass repaired

Now on to the peg box. This was a perfect time for an upgrade of the tuners. In my experience, single tuning machines make any double bass sound better. With “better” I mean more rich and woody*. I guess this is because the “two-plus-two” tuner combinations (two tuners attached to a heavy brass plate on either side of the peg box) are more rigid, have much more metal, and therefore make the bass sound more rigid and metallic.

(When I changed the tuners on my 170-year-old French Miracourt bass to single “hat peg” tuners, the bass immediately sounded much more sonorous.)

* Hat peg tuners (where the tuning pegs are usually made of ebony instead of brass) will help the bass sound even more woody than single tuners made entirely of brass. Hat peg tuners are, however, quite expensive. Single brass tuners (with brass pegs) are almost as good at half the price.

The photo below shows the peg box with the old tuners removed. The customer already knew that there had been some inaccurate work done on the peg box sometime ago. So we both knew the holes in the peg box would be larger than necessary, but this was going to be only a minor visual blemish. (You’ll see the outcome in the following photos.)

Hofner peg box with tuners removed.

The next photo shows the tuners on the treble side. Some of the old holes and scratch marks have already been treated.

Hofner head treble side

The next photo shows the peg box on the bass side. Here you can see the even larger holes for the pegs (from a previous job.) The pegs move freely, however, because the plates are held in place with four screws each. So, no problem

Hofner peg box, bass side

And now the top view of the peg box.

Hofner bass peg box top view

Now that the test stage is completed, comes the actual gluing of the crack at the endpin. To glue the crack beyond the end block (which is not visible from the outside of the bass body) I decided to use linen strips soaked in hide glue. This technique ensures that there is a good, yet flexible gluing surface inside the rib.

Linen is excellent for pulling the crack together … while the glue dries. This age-old method is still used – and for good reason.

The photo below shows me inserting two sticks inside the f-hole. One stick has the glue-soaked linen (I used two strips) on its end and the other stick is to move the linen into place while holding the linen with the other stick.

See the funky lighting! That is a LED strip I inserted into the bass. This gives an excellent view of the inside. An excellent view of my work area was essential in getting the linen strips in the perfect position.

Inserting linen strips inside the lower rib.

Now that’s done I glue the lower rib from the outside. See how the wedges are on different sides of the crack. This is to make sure the glue surface is absolutely flush.

Outside gluing of the lower rib crack.