Peter Wamsley bass?

[Greg Cordez]

Hi Ken and everyone,

Going to go look at a bass this week. Looks gamba shaped, flatback and labelled. The label says 'Made by Peter Wamsley at ye Golden Harp in Pickadilly London'

Friad i dont know much about him as a maker. In my basic searching, it seems he was a well regarded violin/cello maker. no real info on his basses though.

What do you know about him? Be great to get your thoughts on him.

Heres the photos i have of it right now. Will try get some better ones when i see in next coupla days. The asking price seems very reasonable for an old english bass, so its ringing a few alarm bells.

As always, any thoughts and advice greatly appriciated.

[Ken Smith]

Hi Ken and everyone,

Going to go look at a bass this week. Looks gamba shaped, flatback and labelled. The label says 'Made by Peter Wamsley at ye Golden Harp in Pickadilly London'

Friad i dont know much about him as a maker. In my basic searching, it seems he was a well regarded violin/cello maker. no real info on his basses though.

What do you know about him? Be great to get your thoughts on him.

Heres the photos i have of it right now. Will try get some better ones when i see in next coupla days. The asking price seems very reasonable for an old english bass, so its ringing a few alarm bells.

As always, any thoughts and advice greatly appriciated.

Wamsley is about 150 older than that bass which looks German to me from these pictures. If you like that bass and the price is good, check the conditions with a good Luthier and see how good the old repairs are. If it were a Peter Wamsley bass, it would be an early 18th century style model and besides being extremely rare, it would be very expensive. Old English basses these days start near the $100k range for the classics in restored condition. I highly doubt this is a Wamsley or English or from his period.

[Chris Shaw]

I'm totally with Ken on this - plus, look at the label. There's no way that hasn't been pasted in recently!

[Chris Shaw]

Just found this bass listed on eBay. Sorry, but anyone with a Wamsley bass doesn't put it on eBay at that sort of price.

[Ken Smith]

I'm totally with Ken on this - plus, look at the label. There's no way that hasn't been pasted in recently!

Yes, I agree on the label as those burn marks were put there to age what looks like a label taken out of a book. I tried this recently for fun and copied a label from a book and then on to brown paper from a paper bag and then aged it. To almost any eye, my label from the 1700s looks original. Fake and aged labels are very common in this business. Most old instruments do not have their original labels anymore that I have seen. We usually have to ID a bass from the actual bass itself and others like it as labels are no longer trusted anymore.