Welcome to The Bass Shop - Double Bass Specialists

Our Repairs & Restoration Dept. is headed up by Luthier Dave Ellis. Dave worked closely with Alan for many years and is advantaged not only as a master craftsman but also a master bassist having extensive experience in both classical and jazz. Whatever your setup, Dave is right on it.

Apprentice luthier Richard Greenup brings fine attention to detail as Creative Double Bass Artwork Designer.

Sometimes we get nice surprises. This fine old German bass came in for restoration. Originally looking through the f-holes, no maker's label or signature could be spotted. But once the top table was removed, we found two sets of signatures on the inside of the belly. The left side was written in pencil, while the right side was carved. The top lines read `J. Rubner'. The bottom lines seem to be a date, the first word looking like `May'. Two possibilities are Josef Rubner and Johannes Rubner (grandson of Josef). But due to the age of the instrument, this must be Josef's work!

Naughty, naughty!
After this bass was left in a hot car, one of the seams began to open. The owner thought he could do a quick fix by getting some cheap glue at the local hardware store and squeezing half the contents into the opening. This was the result.

Girls will be girls...

This bass came to us from one of Australia's exclusive girl schools. No one seems to know how the damage happened, but it looks like one of the little ladies used it as a trampoline (and we thought that sort of thing only happened to banjos, accordians or bagpipes). The knock was hard enough to cause the bass bar beneath the belly to detach, so this repair is going to require alot more than just `patchwork'.

The Susan Riley Award for `The Most Shocking Bass Damage' goes to a chap who came into the shop well over ten years ago. With downcast eyes, he sheepishly walked in with a burlap bag and a bass minus the top table. Inside the bag were bits of the bass belly, broken pieces of pottery and alot of dirt. Perhaps thinking that fate would be kind to him if he made a full confession, he told us that the damage had been done by his girlfriend after she had caught him cheating. She had thrown several heavy potted plants at the bass until there was nothing left of the belly. Sensing that my presence was making an awkward situation even more awkward, I made my excuses and left the fellow alone with Alan. When Alan got home, my first question was about the bass. Unfortunately, it was a write-off. Alan said that most of the pieces in the bag were just splinters. A new belly could have been custom-made for the bass, but the man was only interested in finding out if the original belly could be restored. We never saw the poor bloke again, but we never forgot him. For many years afterwards, if Alan and I happened to drive by a nursery with potted plants displayed, we would look at each other and immediately know what the other was thinking. Whenever I was on the receiving end of one of Alan's many practical jokes, I would threaten to go straight to the nursery and buy all of their potted plants. I won't go into too much detail about the off-colour jokes this incident sparked, but needless to say, the punchlines always mentioned something about the girlfriend destroying the man's instrument. So to that unknown fellow, thank you for some of the most precious memories of laughs I shared with Alan.