My guess would be that the bass is about 200 years old. The reasons I think it is Italian, as opposed to English: workmanship, wood, linings, etc. Especially the top wood: it goes from quartered to slab in the outer flanks, is pretty mediocre, and it has knots. I have not seen wood like this on an English bass. The scroll is magnificently carved in the Italian-style; the workmanship is so good I think it might have been done in England, which is where the plates and machines were likely installed. Also, the scroll volute has twisted out of plane. English makers did not dry their wood adequately (England is too damp), and this may have happened after the bass was subjected to central heating in Canada or the USA.
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