Bingo. Zachary Martin, who consigned the bass for the previous owner, told me the bass was originally blockless and a German neck was added at some point, I assume when the block was added. God knows what became of the original neck and machines.

The original top was THROWN OUT when it started to sag 40 years ago and a crude, thick replacement was carved and slapped on. Bunchasavages.

Maybe there are 4?
 

Here's another without the outer linings but with the button.

http://www.befr.ebay.be/itm/1870s-Ca...wAAOSwAYtWJZzP

That one is pretty much identical to mine, down to the label, although that one is in better shape and appears to be 100% original. Assuming it sounds as good as mine, whoever paid 5k for that got one hell of a deal.

I have much, much better pictures of that bass pre-"restoration." The photos in the eBay ad are deceiving. The seller is not a musician; his late mother bought the bass from her teacher 50+ years ago.

Serious belly sinkage, paper-thin edges on the top plate, ribs spiderwebbed with old cracks, 1/8" back seam separation from drying out in a closet for decades (gotta love air conditioning) and a partridge in a pear tree. Oh, and one of the four machines is not original if you look closely. The best thing I can say about it was that the neck was straight, and the maple was beautiful. If you look closely at the label photo, whoever worked on it didn't bother to replace the center seam cleats when they jammed the back plates together and slapped them onto the ribs. It's barbaric.

I was in the bank lobby ready to do the wire transfer to the owner's account while I was texting with my buddy in Florida, who was going to pick the bass up and hold it for me. I knew it was rough, but when the photos started coming in showing the extent of its' problems, I called the seller to bawl him out.

The seller cracked and admitted that he got a $5k repair estimate several years prior, but kindasorta forgot to mention that to me. He was desperate for cash, because he needed to pay a fine to settle a legal beef and leave the state. I told him to screw, kept my money and ended up with a beautiful Solano. There's more shadiness to the story, but that's the meat of it.

humm
 

If that bass walked in my shop, I might make an offer. Or, maybe not! :cool:

If he would have been upfront with me about the estimate, I would have paid his $3k asking price and rolled the dice. Rewarding dishonest behavior with piles of cash seemed like a bad idea.

It's all about the bass, not so much pride or honor. If you like the bass for a price, get it and have it restored. Afterwards, it's all old news and no one will care! :cool:

That's what Merchant told me after the fact, but like the saying goes, not with my money!

As I said above, I ended up buying a sweet Solano for less money from a very nice person who has since become a friend. I'm satisfied with the outcome.

Romano is a nice guy. I have spoken with him on the phone and have played in sections with 2 of his basses as well. ;)

Same experience here. I called him with the measurements, and he remembered precisely the batch of instruments that included this one. It's robust, sounds great under the bow, and was ready to play, which is just what I wanted. Not having to deal with cartage, restoration costs and shady people was the icing on the cake.

Ok, so it worked out for you. BUT, an older restored bass is something you wont know with the Solano as no one lives long enough to see a new bass get old.

True. It's not quite 20 years old and still moves around a fair amount as the seasons change, but it sounds quite good for what it is. I'm retired from performance for the foreseeable future, so I have no need for a world class instrument.