Rudolf Oberlander 1978
 

Interesting bass came in last week.

Rudolf Oberlander of Prague, 1978.

Very neatly and nicely made bass, signed inside. Some top cracks to repair.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6034/...cf6e9cb644.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6056/...fa86973e1a.jpg

neat, quite elegant scroll

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6101/...b8c66a835a.jpg

Beautifully worked inside, sealed with a yellowish ground - haven't identified what it is yet.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6106/...1a5efb739d.jpg

Dovetailed neck joint into very tidy blocks

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6226/...b6eaa80d16.jpg

Original raised saddle. Screwed in place with felt cushioning to both faces.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6095/...d9f4d8475a.jpg

Anyone seen one of these?

Oberlander Rudolf
born: 02 Nov 1932 Kopisty, Czechoslovakia
died: 05 Dec 1984 Senohraby, bei Prague, Czechoslovakia (Senohraby is a small town 30km from Prague)

From 1947-1950 he trained with the large "Cremona" instrument factory in Luby. After the apprenticeship he worked for Cremona in the production of double basses. In 1955, after completion of basic military service, took a place with a musical instrument repairman in Modrany near Prague. After the abolition of this workshop he became a musical instrument repairman for the Czech Philharmonic. In 1967 management of Cremona had offered to hold a championship for independently built basses, so he began to build a competition double bass. Oberlander moved to Senohraby, and became an independent luthier with his own workshop and tools, producing for Cremona. In 1977 he joined the Prague luthier's guild, The Circle of Violin Artisans . He built basses in three sizes and several models.

Reference: Pilar, Vladimir - Sramek, Francis: The Art of Violin Makers (Prague 1986, p. 140).

From another Czech work (translated for me badly by Google), it seems he was one of several makers to produce instruments sold by the famous bassist František Pošta; Rudolf Oberlander, Joseph Budil, Francis Zákopčanik, Jaroslav and Miroslav Lavicka Pikárt.

(http://is.muni.cz/th/215304/ff_b/DIP...CHAEL_MASA.txt)

After the Cremona factory's demise in 1989 it was taken over and privatised as the Strunal company.

couple of links online:

Double Bass (Contrabass) - 3/4 Czech Double Bass, Rudolf Oberlander, 1977, sold in NYC $5500 firm + shipping (netinstruments.com)

http://www.paganini.cz/en/double-bas...lf-oberlander/

Interesting information. My books are all too old to have this later more modern information, especially from the Czech school. Thanks for posting Matt.

Dunno if anybody's interested seeing inside this one.

The bracing pattern

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6240/...306173a0b2.jpg

nice neat work inside - bracing may be a little over-engineered I feel.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6112/...61ac6b8088.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6109/...8b4b78d374.jpg

signed inside the top:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6034/...d49ed1e876.jpg

Chunky, low bassbar.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6116/...3f400ca5b6.jpg

here's the raised saddle:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6044/...f072476017.jpg

Some of the failed cleats:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6057/...3328199ecd.jpg

these failed because the inside of the top was sealed with what seems to be a thin oil varnish - the hide glue simply didn't stick to it very well.

These ones held up a little better, a different kind of glue I think. It's obviously a repair done some time ago; these are cleats pulled through tiny holes drilled in the top, a thin piece of gut threaded through the cleat and knotted, then pulled back into place and the gut snipped off.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6099/...04d132032f.jpg

But they're all going to have to come off and be replaced with proper diamond cleats.

Here's the main crack opened up and soaking off the old glue and crud that got in there:

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6100/...e83efc75f2.jpg

The crack-clamping dry-run

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6042/...1c46b0d5e4.jpg

Definitely interested! Love to watch you work!

more..
 

I Googled him and got these links as well;

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f3/bass-bar-issue-753606/ (no pics)

http://www.netinstruments.com/double...erlander-1977/ (listing only)

http://www.yamamoto-bass.com/bass/S-305/s-305.html (pictures)

It seems that he made basses for a long time starting just after WWII.