Double Bass How High&Low or just Low should I go.

[Fleo]

Hi,

Bit of a dilemma restoring a bass to become an allround orchester/ solo instrument.
The original mensure is 110 and I am in the middle of recurving the top and old fingerboard needs replacement and is off at the moment.

The following requirements for it to be an allround instrument are:

• C-extension
• Solo extension => Current available replacement is 89 cm, too short, even shorter than the old board.

I'm considering to shorten the mensure, in favour of it's solo capabilities or leave it being an orchester bass with a C-extension.
Question is ; Is it an disadvantage having 110 mensur and solo extension?
In other words, should I take the effort too shorten it ?

Thougth : leaving it won't shift the octave further across the body

 

[T_Bone_TL]

It reads from here like you want the bass to do everything, (go Low! go High! etcetera!) and need to source a larger fingerboard to suit that aim.

Mind, given that "solo string sets" are generally pitched higher than standard string sets, I'm not sure if the aim of being both a low-C extension bass and a "solo" bass are even compatible. I don't do either. I have considered restringing BEAD, given how and what I play, but the price of the B string (about equivalent by itself to the standard EADG 4 set) is a strong incentive not to.

 

[Fleo]

I’m referring to a Edgar Meyer extension, reaching a fifth above the second octave. This is beside having a solo -tuning or not.

 

[stefaniw80401]

110cm is not a solo instrument. Shortening the mensure with false nut and moving the bridge north will likely mess with it's bottom end response, or it could help to bring clarity if the instrument is overly boomy. Good luck!

 

[Matthew Tucker]

Im confronted with the dilemma of 110cm basses often. it's quite tricky to reduce string length and end up with something satisfactory. Doesn't sound like a solo bass at all.

 

[Fleo]

Thanks for your clear answers. Seems like a better choice to aim for a orchest setup keeping the mensure with a C-extension. The bass was originally used as a jazz bass, feather weight build , ,top (6,5 mm now 9,5) and also back (btw beautifull wood, one piece) too thin build by Wunderlich 1961.
The top was sunken and deformed, the back is also deformed.

@Matthew Tucker : Do you think the back will, or have you experience, deform even more, or even less, now the top has got stronger?

 

[Matthew Tucker]

How can i possibly form an opinion, based on a few pictures? Sorry i have no idea.

 

[Fleo]

So sorry, I can see that is impossible to make any of pictures alone. With the top enforced my hope is that the back will have less endurance from the weight of the strings.

 

[stefaniw80401]

Looks to me like part of the reason the top caved, besides the top being thin, is because the back didn't hold up against the sound post? That, and the bassbar is too weak?

Also what caught my eye ... is this a one-piece round back carved back plate?

My advice would be to forget about C-extension and shortening the mensure and focus on addressing the structural issues. Then, I would set it up with light strings, or solo strings tuned down to orchestra pitch.