Steve Robinson
06-08-2013, 11:06 PM
Hello All:
I just bought a carved German shop bass that appears to be fairly common. I wonder if folks here know more about the company. I've stitched everything I know about it into these two paragraphs:
The English translation of the label (not as easy to figure out as you might imagine) reads: "Built under the guidance of the master Eberhard Meinel in the masterpiece sites 'Musima' musical instrument making Gmbh Markneukirchen." Gmbh is the German eqivalent of "Ltd." or "Inc." The label also reads--in English--Made in Germany. These words alone tell us that the bass was made after the fall of the Berlin Wall in a unified Germany for export to the US market. Markneukirchen is a former East German city about 3 miles from the Czech border.
As near as I can tell, Musima was a Soviet-era musical instrument factory in East Germany. "Eberhard Meinel" is not a real maker, but a label name put on a "factory" or "shop" instrument. After German unification in 1989/1990, this factory was still active and making basses. I believe they kept going until about 2004. So I am confident in saying that this is a German factory bass from the early 90s (it is stamped 10 Marz 1992 on the inside of the lower bout in blue ink). The bass has gamba corners, a wide grain spruce top and very lightly flamed maple back and sides; simple thin purfling around the edges; and a round back. Scale length is 41.5"; single plate tyrolean bass tuning machines.
I read some stories about the Musima company dissolving a while back which resulted in a bunch of them getting imported to the US at once, dropping their value. Anybody know about that? I've attached a couple of photos.
At any rate, this bass was imported to the US shortly after it was made in 1992; the woman I bought it from used it from age 14 through college and beyond. It needed some repairs, and I will be loaning it to a young player to use in high school orchestra. Let me know if you have more details about these basses. Thanks!
--Steve
I just bought a carved German shop bass that appears to be fairly common. I wonder if folks here know more about the company. I've stitched everything I know about it into these two paragraphs:
The English translation of the label (not as easy to figure out as you might imagine) reads: "Built under the guidance of the master Eberhard Meinel in the masterpiece sites 'Musima' musical instrument making Gmbh Markneukirchen." Gmbh is the German eqivalent of "Ltd." or "Inc." The label also reads--in English--Made in Germany. These words alone tell us that the bass was made after the fall of the Berlin Wall in a unified Germany for export to the US market. Markneukirchen is a former East German city about 3 miles from the Czech border.
As near as I can tell, Musima was a Soviet-era musical instrument factory in East Germany. "Eberhard Meinel" is not a real maker, but a label name put on a "factory" or "shop" instrument. After German unification in 1989/1990, this factory was still active and making basses. I believe they kept going until about 2004. So I am confident in saying that this is a German factory bass from the early 90s (it is stamped 10 Marz 1992 on the inside of the lower bout in blue ink). The bass has gamba corners, a wide grain spruce top and very lightly flamed maple back and sides; simple thin purfling around the edges; and a round back. Scale length is 41.5"; single plate tyrolean bass tuning machines.
I read some stories about the Musima company dissolving a while back which resulted in a bunch of them getting imported to the US at once, dropping their value. Anybody know about that? I've attached a couple of photos.
At any rate, this bass was imported to the US shortly after it was made in 1992; the woman I bought it from used it from age 14 through college and beyond. It needed some repairs, and I will be loaning it to a young player to use in high school orchestra. Let me know if you have more details about these basses. Thanks!
--Steve