Upright bass fingerboard

[thefishinmusician]

Working on a pal's Kay upright...The end of the fingerboard is ramped in the old ski jump fashion...He really doesn't play way up there , but does want the action to be lower...Of course , I'm pretty sure he will get buzzing if I lower it as is...I suspect my only option is to grind it on down...Any thoughts ?

[Mike Kolb]

I had an old Kay M-1 years ago with the same ski jump at the extension.  Planing it down helped a lot but, of course, it was thinner and more fragile than I was comfortable-with. 

However, the whole fingerboard (original rosewood) wasn't in the best of shape anyway, so, after living with it for a couple of years, I found a pretty good deal on a new ebony fingerboard from one of the trade supply houses.

The new fingerboard had plenty of thickness and gave lots of opportunity for action adjustment (with a new nut & bridge) and it almost became a brand new bass! 

That said, it might be more bucks (especially with the price of ebony these days) than your friend wants to invest, but it was a lot of fun to do and solved a few problems at once.

[thefishinmusician]

As it turns out , he's plenty cool about replacing it....Not as spendy as I thought , either...

[thefishinmusician]

He's actually gone at it himself with a  hand belt sander...Not the extension , but middle of the board...

[jbbancroft]

To simplify the repair, I’d first lower the action to where the player prefers, then have the person play it and see if it works for them.

if you get buzzing then you need to plane the fingerboard enough to eliminate it, if that is possible. If the fingerboard would end up too thin, then replace it.

Jim

[Carl Dickinson]

Hello Folks,

Have been following this forum and used Frank's web tips for years, but just signed up cause I thought I had something to add to this tread.

I have been resurrecting a 1960 Kay which was my bluegrass bass in the 1980s. It had numerous cracks across the neck heel that wouldn't close up with clamps or humidification. So pulled the fingerboard and neck, built an new heel and got it all glued back together. However I was unable to flatten the fingerboard (rosewood) because of radical runout in the grain caused a kink half way up the neck. Tried numerous applications of heat and moisture, no go.

I researched a replacement and found a carbon graphite one. Emailed the company and they made me one to fit the Kay. It looks just like ebony and has been preshaped with a proper scoop so all it needs is gluing on and a small amount of edge scraping/sanding to fit the neck. Here's the link to their website, http://mosesgraphite.com/sound-composites-com-classical-strings-parts/. Steve there was very responsive and helpful. It was also in the price range of a ebony board.

I still have to spray a new finish on it and the weather around here is finally getting out of the 40s with 65% humidity, so spraying is more feasible.

Hope this helps fishin.

Carl

[thefishinmusician]

Thanks ...He ordered an ebony one for about 200...It should be here today...