Contributes in a positive way or a negative way?

I read that a lot but I don't get what the length of the wood fibres/grains has to do with the price of eggs.

eggs?
 

Longer fibers uninterrupted by bout curves and blocks produces a deeper sound. The new copy bass proved that as it's the deepest plush sounding bass that Arnold has produced from similar woods.

Eggs? Price depends on where you shop..:eek:

One more think on sound. This bass before restoration had a similar sound to the attributed Maggini (now attributed d'Salo) that Tom Martin has beed trying to sell for some 300 GBP but will go to auction soon at a 150-200 GBP estimated return. Also, the Seraphin attributed bass (formerly attributed to Busan) that was traded to the Minnesota Orchestra a few years back for the Maggini?/dSalo? bass also had a similar sound.

The other two basses mentioned above are Large Violin outlined basses close to or at a 4/4 measurement depending on who you ask. My Cornerless bass although a 44+" string length then, fit in a 3/4 bag and has medium depth ribs. Still, it put out sound as deep, thick and loud as the others.

So, in this case, design beats size with no loss or sound.

Unless you play these basses, it's very hard to understand what I am saying as I myself thought I understood it until I played all 3 of these basses within the same year or so. It's a live and learn kinda thing in my opinion. Until you taste it, you don't know what I am describing. The same with sound and feel. My 2 cents.;)

Thanks for your 2c and I respect your experience with many fine basses, but I still don't see how one can make a generalisation like that. Or perhaps I'm not getting an important detail?

By that simple logic, the wider the FFs are apart, the deeper the sound, because there are more long fibres running the length of the bass. Simple as that. But it's not that simple is it? Your cornerless has ffs quite close together. So WHERE are the long fibres? At the edges? Nope, because they are "cut" by the arching at the C bouts outside the FFs. In the centre? Perhaps, up to the edges of the FFs and along the flat part of the long arch before it drops at each end. But then, a bass with more widely spaced ffs would be deeper. But you know that is not always the case, is it?

Or maybe are you talking about RIB fibres? A cornerless has way long interrupted rib fibres, yes. But i don't think this is what you mean.

Or maybe the fibres above the lower eye of the ffs? Yes, with wider centre bout there is more uninterrupted wood above the outside of the FFs, relatively speaking, but the fibres themselves are probably no longer as they have been cut by the arch carving.

The only way to get longer fibres is to BEND the plates a la Bill Fulton. But we don't see that very often.

So, I think that when it comes to doubles basses, one generalises at one's peril! :D

Well, I just thought, a flat BACK plate with wider C bouts would have longer fibres, yes. And you did say this. So perhaps THIS is where your theory is based. But not IMO on the top plate, or a carved back. It's too curvy to have many continuous fibres.

well..
 

I don't know. It's getting confusing. The Cornerless has a sound to die for and the Copy will get there in time and IT has corners with a round back. The only close copy part is the Scroll and the Top with the exception of the corners.

So, I will go to sleep tonight not worrying about this theory or science at all. Why, I have the bass to play on and for whatever reasons (if none that I've mentioned), it's one of the best sounding basses money can buy. :)

if interested..
 

On the Spanish family Guillami of 2 or 3 generations my C.Stainer book (over 100 years old dated 1/11/95 on the back) was a reference; "GUILLAMI, Spanish family of Violin-makers, about 1680-1780." This reference by date includes J.B. , the eldest listed maker also listed by Henley.

Just now I found a link on line listing Italian makers and found the exact same quote, obviously copied from C.Stainer.

2 cornerless clips..
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtIJq...mbedded#at=338

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGFD...layer_embedded

and just found this..
 

Such flat arching on that bass Edicson Ruiz is playing!

Also you get a bit better look at the other bass here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq5Vm...eature=related

big pictures of edicsons bass you can see here:
http://www.edicsonruiz.com/en/gallery.php

(also pics of the threestring version)

humm..
 

Edison's looks slight small and the other bass, even smaller.

My Bass although fits in a 3/4 bag is not that small of a bass. If the shoulders were wider, it would need a 7/8ths case.

Also, the sound of those basses do not sound like deep full toned Orchestra basses. Maybe it's the strings but with the speakers I have here, they both sound on the thin side.

Cornerless Videos..
 

Folks, it doesn't get much better than this..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMsGN...mbedded#at=304

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04y20...mbedded#at=271

yeah but can they swing?:cool:

countdown..
 

My new Desktop Background.. http://www.smithbassforums.com/attac...4&d=1299905555

is coming home today..:)

Nice work. That's quite a change!

http://www.smithbassforums.com/attac...4&d=1299905555

http://www.kensmithbasses.com/double...eel_detail.jpg

change..
 

Yes, indeed it is and thanks for the appreciation. I have been on the 'owner end' of a few 'Block-Cuts' by Arnold but this by far is the most beautiful. The wide Ebony Caps are reminiscent of my Candi which was done that way when the bass was originally made. Arnold had to repair and replace some of that capping when the neck graft was done.

Arnold is welcome to discuss any of the 'inside skinny' concerning this restoration but like surgery on humans, I doubt the patient wants all the gory details of what happened inside while he was asleep.:eek:

In this case, I have seen plenty and little scares me at this point as far as basses go. ;)

I recall Phil Manieri's comment awhile ago, that the "Storioni" was "just sick" to play (indescribably beyond good), even before the restoration.

I look forward to hearing about how the bass plays, now...

Such lovely work! Beautifully conceived and wonderfully executed...

Ken, thanks for sharing those photos...

Ken, was the bass slightly cut to make the shorter string length possible?

I've been curious, since I first saw it, about that before restoration button pic, the purfling, center seam strip, etc. are off center to the neck. Now everything looks on center. What's the story with that?

ok..
 

The Neck Block area was cut to reduce the string length and also the new neck is a regular size as opposed to the longer Eb length from before.

The old button cap is not original. The neck before this one had a different button and THAT was not original either. It had a purfled design in it still on the old broken neck but does not match the purfling of the bass.

The center strip is vertical grain maple with outer ebony strips. This is actually an inlay in the back and does not go all the way thru. Inside the back under the center strips we were able to see the clean jointed original back center. Only after the bass was taken apart did we find out that the center strip was inlaid 'into' and over the center joint of the back.

Arnold did a fantastic job modifying the bass and cleaning it all up to look at original and cosmetically pleasing to the naked eye.

The sound is still there. I took off the set of Original Flat chromes that were on as a test and switched it to Belcantos (both sets used). With the Bel's, the bass sounds amazing just like before but mush easier to play.:)

After consideration and knowledge learned about the bass, I am re-naming it 'back' to its 45 year attribution of Storioni.