One of my former students brought in this double bass – possibly a German-made Hofner – for repairs and some restoration work.

It was a joy to work on a bass of decent quality and excellent potential. So, here is a pic of my early prep work. (More reports and images to come later.)

Double Bass taped back

Note the gaffer tape tape strips barely holding the back plate in place. There were many open seams with lots of air, and therefore sound, being lost.

The wire sticking out of the treble-side F-hole is a contraption I made (similar to foreceps) to grip the sound post, with the ability to easily move it if required. These “foreceps” turned out to be a great tool, as sound posts have the habit to easily fall over during repair work …. and, even with a traditional sound post tool, can be a pain to get hold of.

The tailpiece “wire” is made from a gut string. The customer wanted to keep this … and I agree, it looks funky and actually works!