Another request for help ID'ing Bass

[John Wheat]

Thank you for any help in advance.

I recently purchased this instrument on a prospective guitar buying wild goose chase. I know next to nothing about unfretted string identification or value and hope to become better informed by the obvious expertise inherent to this forum.

What I think I know:

-Recently purchased from a couple in their late eighties in central Indiana. It had belonged to a long deceased brother; the couple know nothing about the bass.
-Was repaired by T.G. White in 1969. The only other marking inside the instrument is a sticker from the Fuller Violin Shop, Fort Wayne Indiana, possibly where Mr. White worked. Both Mr. White and Fuller Violins are apparently long gone...
-Carved, most likely German or Bohemian late 19th/early 20th century.
-Plays and sounds very good in my limited opinion.


Dimensions:
String length: 41.75
Top length: 43
Back length: 42
Upper bout: 21
Lower bout: 25
Rib: 7.75
At neck: 6.125

Again, sincere thanks,
John Wheat, M.D.

[John Wheat]

Please let me know if any other specific views would be helpful.

[Ken Smith]

First off, it has had repairs in the past that are not the greatest. Also, the varnish was stripped or sanded off and re-finished. The finish is poor at best. So, you have a bass that was worked by less than professionals in my opinion. You have a bass that is as-is and sounds how it sounds. It would cost close to or more than its value to correct any on this previous work so just leave it as it is.

Origin?.. Most likely Germany near Saxony, Berlin or even the Bohemian border area. The tuners look original for basses made from before WWI and even after WWII. Gears can be in stock for decades so it is hard to tell from when the gears were first new. Gear companies do not change designs all that often. After a war, people need things and will buy what is available as opposed to wait for new production.

Comments that I have read on TB that German basses have outer linings and Czech/Bohemian basses do not is false. Outer linings take work and basses made on both sides of the Bohemian border that bore various brand names once arrived in USA or other destinations could have been made in combination with both sides of the border.

So, it is Germanic. Similar basses were made in Austria as well but not as far east as Vienna or as far east in the Czech lands as Prague. Prague and Vienna produced mainly flatback instruments. This is/was a common type commercial style bass.

The French comment is close because similar basses were made in France but the upped back area looks German. Also, the back wood looks more like what the Germans used rather than the French but, that's no method of ID as Wood can come from anywhere.