Double bass machine repair

[Will Hughes]

Hey,

Recently one of the machines on my DB packed in so I sent the part off for repair..... repair it they did but it's been lost in the post on it's return journey - for some reason they sent it back in the standard post and not recorded post. Swine. They wanted the whole side plate with machines (D&G) which I promptly sent so now I'm faced with finding a whole new plate and machines.

After speaking to the shop and various other sources it seems that this maybe not so easy; the post spacing centres between the two tuners is 9.5cm - apparently not so common - and also I'm having trouble finding a plate of the same shape. I'm thinking that maybe the solution is to have a bepoke one made for me though how much this will cost me I'm unsure but I'm guessing much more than it should do if I still had my plate. It's possible that someone will be able to point me in the right direction of an existing replacement of the right size and shape - I've found plates with those centres but they look different and I love this bass so I'm eager to have it looking like it did before.

I don't know much about the instrument except that it's Romanian and up to 40 or 50 years old but probably no older. Also there's a sticker indside the body that says Cathedral. If anyone could suggest the best course of action for me to take it would be greatly appreciated because I'm currently sans-bas and to be honest is totally sucks.

The dimensions of the plate vary depending on where the measurements are taken so I've taken them from the centre of one end to the other and the centre of one side to the other:
End to end - 20cm
Side to side - 5.5cm
Length of D post - 5cm
Length of G post - 6cm

I've attached a picture of the now-lost plate so you can see what I'm on about so if you can help in any way or need any additional information then please do get in touch.

Many thanks

Will