Just to follow up this thread, here’s what I eventually came up with.
I had left over some “Chicago screws” I’d bought for a small leather repair job. The ID of the female threaded half was just the right size to accommodate the braided stainless wire of the tailgut I wanted to cut down for my EUB project.
It was the work of just a couple of minutes to turn down the screw head to a better size using the crude but effective method of chucking it in a cordless drill and applying it while rotating to my handy little bench disc sander.
I have to admit, I took a couple of attempts at this. My first attempt using my sophisticated crimping tool setup (a 2lb hammer and cold chisel) resulted in badly cracked brass. I figured that it was work-hardened and needed heat annealing but I’m not sure the blowtorch blast I gave it was quite enough as it also cracked on the second attempt, although only slightly.
As the crimp nevertheless seemed strong I reapplied the blowtorch and ran some soft solder into it. A quick sort-of cleanup followed with a needle file- yes I know it’ll be hidden behind the nether quarters of the tailpiece, but you never know when I might fancy an inspection using a dental mirror or my endoscopic camera.
Anyway, I’m reasonably happy with the finished result, here pictured.
The EUB project is now well underway and without wanting to tempt fate, if I manage to complete it without embarrassingly terminal disaster, either for the bass or me, I’ll have to think about posting a thread.
