Tarantino
 

Does anybody know the dates of birth/death for Giuseppe and Marino Tarantino? Can't find anything online. Thanks.

I think the work period is early 20th century thru mid 20th. I would suggest you ask Sergio Scaramelli in Italy. He might know. Because they mainly made just D.basses, they were never listed in any of the books on Violin makers in any detail. The Jalovec book of makers just has Giuseppe as Naples 20th century. His label mentions in Italian Contrabasses and repairs.

I just got a reply from Scarmelli. He gives dates of 1878-1962 for Giuseppe, but nothing for Marino.

Marino is the son I think so add 20 years or so from the start but I don't know of any basses dating after '62 if that late.

Marino, lucky find
 

You know, I saw that page and blasted right by. Good sleuthing. I also found a reference to a bass by Marino from 1978:
http://annunci.ebay.it/annunci/strum...ntino/24132311
In addition, I found a label that says "Marino Tarantino e figli", so I wonder if there are still Tarantinos in the trade in Italy.

Also, given these dates, it's unlikely that my 1923 Tarantino is by Marino, or not from 1923. He would have been quite the prodigy luthier at age 9. However, I've seen a few references to Marino putting his label next to his father's, and my label looks defaced. I'm beginning to wonder if he tried to sell his basses as Giuseppe's and later owned up to making them ( or someone else figured it out) , or if he defaced the labels to make it appear that he made his father's instruments. This would have all been in keeping with the tradition of the Modern Neapolitan School. Sort of.

Let's see the bass and the label. Please.

A label that is pre-dated or false in a bass? More common than you think.

Sorry, can't seem to take a decent photo of the label. It looks like what I once thought was a "3" in 1923 has faded. There is some stuff written in ink all over the label, but that was never legible. I have now seen in person or photo 4 of this pattern bass.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...sTarantino.jpg

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...er/Label-1.jpg

pics
 

Can I see the Back and Ribs as well?

The label might look old but the bass and varnish look very new in comparison.

I have a former student coming over today with a Tarantino he is considering. Same model. It dates from the 50's. I'm going to photograph it and its label too.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Untitled-1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...r/Untitled.jpg

That looks like a modern bass, 1950's-60s. Same thin spirit varnish found on German basses from the same post war period. The Shamrock inlay is classic Tarantino.

How does it sound? 50 years old? 80-90 years old?

Difficult to say how it sounds in years, but I'd tend toward 50 years old. The marked 1955 bass my student showed me today looks older. I suppose there's no way to really know when my instrument was built.

Show it to Scaramelli. He might have a good idea of its age.

New info
 

So, here I am 7 years later. I recently had an extensive rehab of this bass by Arnold Schnitzer. He agreed it was a 50's bass, but what clinched it was that when he removed the bass bar to replace it, found that it had been glued in with white PVA glue, which wasn't available until 1947.