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Can We Save This 100 Year Old Upright Bass From The Dumpster?

Driftwood Guitars

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Three Essentials of Double Bass Setup Three Essentials of Double Bass Setup - In...

Watch as Matt and Chris try to fix an almost 100 year old upright bass.

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20 Comments

@carriecarlton6006 4 months ago

Plays WAY easier. Intonation was corrected and the action much lower. The fingerboard angle was subtly less which also improved playability. Plus all the fills and regluing mean I don’t have to fret whether it will come apart on stage under tension anymore. Chris and Matt helped me out a ton!

@adamherzing7330 4 months ago

Who knew Matt was so good at the fiddle too! Thanks for sharing the adventure!

@austinfranzwa1916 4 months ago

I’m gonna miss you guys working together on these videos! So fun to watch

@alistairwallace77 4 months ago

You should totally do a “tiny shop” concert series, featuring instruments you build or repair. If for no other reason than to keep Matt coming by the shop :)

Hope you and the fam are doing well

@matthewmoran3701 4 months ago

Ted woodford mention. What a guy

@d.j.williams-hello 4 months ago

I see quite a few "luthiers" that have no idea what they're doing. You have a head start.

@nella-yema 4 months ago (edited)

I'm happy to see that old bass get some love. The bridge looked like a giant tone sucker. I'll bet it sounds much better after reworking it. She's a boomer now! Good work, guys!

@flatpick904 4 months ago (edited)

That's a mean Cherokee shuffle there at the end, Matt

@jmooncraft 3 months ago

I bought a bass once that was originally put together with hyde glue. Someone later came along and re glued the top and bottom with PVA glue. I bought the bass for cheap because the new glue joints continued to separate.

I took it to a luthier that specializes in upright bass. He said that once an instrument is made with hyde glue, it should only ever be repaired with hyde glue. Modern glues might work for a while but won't stay bonded if it's on a foundation of hyde glue.

To repair my bass correctly, he had to clean out all the pva glue completely and then re-glue with hyde glue. So much for it being a cheap bass!

I'm not a luthier or a woodworker, but that's my understanding of what to do with older instruments.

@m.r.vanderburgh3757 4 months ago

Never use wood glue as a luthier repairing violinś or a bass. Always use hide glue!

@newstandardaccount 2 weeks ago

Now I understand the division of labor. Chris makes lots of interesting observations and gives us insights into instrument repair, and Matt's job is to frequently interrupt.

@adamthorsen2754 1 month ago

liked the hydra joke

@nelsonserrano8302 4 months ago

Great work. The following isn't meant to say you should do this one way or another. Since it's nearly 100 years old it's a safe bet that hide glue was used. Hide glue will reactivate with water or more hide glue. I would have simply used a dropper with distilled water to soften the glue where the adhesion issues were at the sides and followed up with more hide glue then clamping it shut. My journey into Luthiery was helped considerably by servicing the orchestra instruments at my daughter's school.

@gorgewashington1216 3 weeks ago

great team work now she is ready for 100 year +

@Metro_Gnome 3 months ago

Its crazy how i saw where you were going to put that shim before you said ‘this side’ because ive done this so many times

@steby123 4 months ago

Fiddlers and flatpickers with a solid bass fiddle: HOW GOOD !!!!!!

@vmann-jd5yw 4 months ago (edited)

Man, that bridge was an atrocity! On the serious side, I made a collet/caul devise that safely attaches my oscillating tool to "any" guitar/bass neck allowing me the introduce variable vibration to the disassembly process on neck resets. Absolute game changer.