I recently spoke to a great room of teachers at the NYSSMA Winter Conference here in Rochester, NY. One of things I recommend highly to teachers who must keep their bass players standing (for whatever reasons) is to use a bent endpin. My favorite supplier is Slava.net but sadly the owner has decided to close the business. And my research for another supplier led me only to sites that sell a kit which you place on the bottom of the bass that provides for a spot for the straight endpin (which you also buy) to be angled back correctly. But those kits run about $250, which seems quite out of reach for most public school programs.
So today I'd like to share with you the directions, as given to me by George Vance about 15 years ago. Don't be put off by the need for a gas torch. Your facilities department may have one. I purchased one from an Ace Hardware store years ago and they are lightweight and very easy to use.
HOW TO MAKE A BENT ENDPIN
Any steel rod may be bent. Grunert uses the Gotz endpin assembly which has a sufficiently thick rod (10mm). If a thinner rod such as is found on cheaper endpin assemblies is bent it will tend to wobble. It is possible to bend hollow endpins such as the Ulsa model but the procedure is more complicated. The rod is bent so that it will hit the floor at a point lined up with the back edge of the bass when it is in playing position.
The bass cannot be carried around with the non-retractable bent endpin sticking out, so a sort rod with a rubber tip (or a wheel) is a necessary piece of equipment.
Equipment:
- Mapp Gas torch. Propane will work but more slowly
- Vise
- Bucket of water
- grinding wheel or hand file
- Endpin (I have purchased lengths of 10mm steel from the hardware store to do this)
- rubber cap - if you are using plain steel which you purchased
How to do it:
- The endpin will be bent at the point where it leaves the socket when it has been adjusted for playing. (Simple math here: measure how far out the student is using the endpin, then accommodate for the angle when deciding how far up to bend the endpin - ex: 4" of straight endpin will yield 5.6" of length before the bend)
- Clamp it vertically in the vise and heat the bending point to incandescence.
- Wearing a glove, pull the endpin back to the desired angle. (44 degrees is optimal, I'm told by George)
- Remove it from the vise and plunge it into a bucket of water to temper the steel.
- Grind a flat spot on the pin just above the bend. This is where the screw will hit when it is installed. Without this flat spot the endpin would twist in the socket.
Here is the page written by Francois Rabbath talking about why he developed the bent endpin idea and how it helps players.
My recommendation is still that players sit from the time they start learning to shift. However, I have run into enough teachers telling me that they aren't allowed stools or don't have room for stools that I want to make this possibility available to everyone.
Please feel free to contact me with questions! gmccormick@esm.rochester.edu
Happy practicing and happy holidays!
Gaelen
