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American Standard # 788 c1941
This American Standard double bass had a problematic neck. American
Standard basses, however nice they are, were built with a fatal flaw in the neck
heel design. Two pieces of wood were glued and doweled, and the heel is
significantly tapered at this joint. If ever a bass heel is to break, it
is in this area. So why did H.N. White make the basses in this way?
Who knows.
The owner of this nice double bass elected to have a scroll graft instead of a
replacement neck. One could argue that a factory carved neck/scroll would
be sufficient on a factory made laminated bass, but being that this bass is in
such good condition and the market value keeps going up on them (not to mention
the owner absolutely LOVES this bass), we agreed that keeping the original
scroll with the body was in it's best interest.
The 43 inch string length will stay, but the neck set will be about 1/4 inch
deeper into the block. The over stand will be increased to 30mm and the
neck projection (angle of neck heel) increased as well making the bass easier to
play and more pronounced in tone.
A fun project, and in our opinion a 10 out of 10 in regards to degree of
difficulty. It simply does not get any harder than a scroll graft.
So many angles and aspects must be considered and must meet at the exact same
time.
This is the first of three scroll grafts we need to complete
in the next few weeks. Follow number 2
here and number 3 (soon
to be listed).
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