#5 string upright bass full#
#5 string upright bass crack#

Make and fit new brass plates and fit new set of 'Hart' style machines.Bush peg holes in pegbox and fill in all screw holes.

#5 string upright bass crack#

Repair large open crack in upper-peg box - bass side.

Lighten bottom block and four corner blocks.

Replace bad repair to original bottom rib.

Replace outside linings to front where necessary (most of front).

Purfle where necessary (most of front).

Replace edges where necessary (most of front).

Half-edge entire front and correctly thickness.

Remove all other ancient studs and replace as necessary.

Repair cracks in the vicinity of the bass bar.

Replace additional outside linings to back where necessary.

Replace outside linings to replacement bottom rib.

Half edge, edge and purfle back as necessary.

Quite honestly it reads like a book but if you really want to know here is a summary This was quite a challenging part of the rebuild and in brief involved modifying the top block, shortening the upper ribs and grafting on a new back button. Doing the conversion at the same time enabled us to reduce the string length from about 110.0cm down to a really manageable 104.6cm. We felt that the proportions of the instrument were most suitable to a conversion. When you rebuilt the instrument did you convert it into a 5-stringer at the same time? Although the inscriptions were lost in the process they are included in the write up as they form part of the history of the instrument. As part of the rebuilding work the central and lower back braces and the studs along the back central joint were replaced. The large number of previous restorations were literally a mish-mash of poor quality work so we decided to completely rebuild the instrument. Well – there were some inscriptions as follows On the central back brace there was a pencil inscription which read 'Repaired in Edinburgh 1865' and in the same hand writing immediately below 'Repaired by Harry Young London N7 1962'Ī second pencil inscription just above the lower back bar read 'Len Skeat 1977' Why did you say 'there were some inscriptions'. The slightly darker appearance to the table varnish seems common to many instruments of the Hill family and is because the spruce - being a softer wood - has absorbed the varnish slightly more.

The light red-brown spirit-varnish applied artistically over a yellow ground is also typical.

#5 string upright bass full#

So too are the toothing plane marks left in the wood especially on the back, the thick band of purfilling on both the front and back and the full use of outside linings. As mentioned previously – both the model and English maple used in the instrument's construction are quite typically of the work of Joseph Hill. The work is however very typical of his output and there are many characteristics in the work that support the attribution. The table is of two pieces of fine to medium-fine spruce with flanks at the edges of the bouts. The back and ribs are of well figured maple with an almost horizontal medium flame. This instrument is of viol outline with flat back and upper angle break. The basses from the Hill family are some of the earliest, finest and most noble of all English instruments.