Squared corners (Dodd)
 

Anybody have some good detail photos of those big squared-off corners, or want to comment on what the deal was with that? Was is exclusive to Dodd? I can't think of another bass that I've seen made that way, at the moment anyway...

no..
 

I have seen Forster Basses with them too. It was a style for a brief period.

Daniel Hachez builds his basses with a similar corner style, inlaying ebony between the rib ends.

The picture doesn't show it too well, but this is the sort of corner treatment that seems to appear on Forster basses - and that's probably why this one is attributed to Forster - not sure which Forster they're going for though!

nice bass, chris. do you have more infos?

corners
 

The corners are usually more blunt than that. These corners look quite pointy as compared to the others I have seen.

The bass was, and still is I think, for sale from Turner's here in the UK. I tried it when I was looking for mine. It's certainly a fine instrument with a great sound, but a little lacking in depth and substance I thought. They describe it as labelled and attributed to Forster, but I seem to remember that the "labelled" bit referred to some repair label. The reinforcements on the corners are certainly very similar to those on Forster basses shown in Elgar's book - but we all know how dubious some of his attributions are!

Many of the Basses made for Dodd were made by Lott Snr. This bass can be as easily by Lott as by Dodd. It doesn't look anything close to the few Forsters I have seen. The Simon Andrew Forster basses were actually supplied by Lott, 5 of them as listed in his own book. I have seen pics of one of them and it was just like a Lott I had here briefly.

The Forster Snr. basses (4 known noted) varied in size but have darker Varnish. The Forster Jnr. basses, all but one (about 6 in total) were made as Cello models and without Purfling. Also noted in the book by Simon Andrew. I think I have played one of these as the dealer thinks it's Forster Srn. but by all accounts it's exactly described as those made in the son's shop where S.A. Forster trained with S.Gilkes and his brother William F. IV.

Varnish color wise, Corners, Italian FFs etc, I would say this looks more possible as a Lott/Dodd Bass than anything from the Forster family's hands.

Like other English basses that are attributed to a famous name, this web is no less tangled than the others!:eek:

more like this?
 

Now these are what I call blunt corners! Is that what Thomas had in mind? These are on my bass - attributed English

Hard to see on that pic david but I think we're talking more like this.

Here's a pic of a Dodd from Kolstein's website

http://www.kolstein.com/mm5/graphics...in/b2687_3.jpg

This is from a plan from a Lott-attributed bass. I'm just about to start building one of this model. The ends of the bouts, as Arnold mentioned, do lend themselves to the possibility of a little decoration.

http://www.smithbassforums.com/attac...1&d=1298448810

That's cool - thanks for posting it. Do you plan to do the ends in maple (or whatever the ribs will be) or something contrasting?

Affirmative

nice..
 

I have played that Bass but the date of 1790 seems almost a decade too early as the makers in the Shop were Fendt srn. and Lott snr, trained by Fendt whom both started in 1798, a few months apart. It is also written that all of the squared cornered Basses were made and/or supplied by Lott. I owned a Dodd as well not long ago or rather a bass attributed to him. One of the best basses I have played. Mine had normal corners, not squared.

Ebony Corners
 

one of my basses has corners like this...
i'm still unsure of the maker of my bass tho... any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Those ebony 'wrap arounds'(?) look like they were added after. The Dodd and Forster basses I have seen with square corners finish flush with the plate corners, not overlapped. Also, they are rounded and not square not to mention ebony. Ebony was quite rare back then. I don't know what the fingerboards were but the tailpieces were stained black over maple or boxwood. So, ebony corners seem doubtful.

What do the shops over there think your bass is? can I see the scroll, all angles? If it's old enough, it could be from the Dodd shop or one of his out-workers.

I had one that was attributed to Dodd that looks vaguely similar to your bass. Tony Houska thinks it resembles a Craske her recently had. I think some English basses were similar back then but not uniform in size and details from bass to bass, even from the same maker. I have seen a few Fendts that varied in size and string length made on the same exact d'Salo model. You would expect them to measure up close to each other but they didn't.

Nice bass you have there regardless.

Thanks Ken, thats very interesting to hear.

it has ugly machines.. not original. i want to get them changed. are their any you can recommend that might be vaguely like the originals it may have previously had?

the previous owner who had the bass since the 50's thought it might be a Hawkes.

Ok, not a Hawkes. The Flatbacks I have seen were all German made and had outside linings regardless of what shop made them for Hawkes and then sent from Germany. The C bouts are too long as well.

The Scroll is later 19th century French and not to this bass. Some Hawkes basses were French before the Panormo model made by the Jacquet family. I have never seen a French model with an angled bent back.

It looks like a French head on an English body. Go see Martyn Bailey. He might know more seeing it first hand and also has nice English Gears for your French head.. lol :p .. Hopefully, War will not break out between the head and the gears.. :eek: :D

I'm with Ken on the ebony strips Jim. They look very much like later additions. I'm also with Ken on it not being a Hawkes of any type. I think I'm right in saying that all the Hawkes flat backs (the Professor models) have angled backs. The Concert and the Panormo are both swell backs. Other possible guys to try over here for information are Tom Martin, Martin Lawrence, Roger Dawson or maybe Adrian Warrick. Depends where you are?

Wow that neck looks crooked!

wow..
 

Yes.. Perhaps the restorer put the ebony corners on to distract attention from the mis-aligned neck set.. Maybe?