Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Markus
Sorry about my terrible pics!! hopefully my wife did better job, as for measurements, upper bout reads 20.5 in lower 25.5 in from top to bottom, about 70 but, ive never done that before either! Anyway, thank you so much for your time! I will now attempt to load new pics
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Not the best pics there but better than before. It takes time to develop the eye for the shots like I took on my web pages but this will do for now. Making IDs on basses thru the internet is never a sure thing. Neither is in-person a 100% method or close but some idea is better than none.
The wood on that bass is rare. I have seen a few basses with wood like that. One was German 19th century. One claimed to be Italian 18th century but I think the appraisal was off by 100 years as well kicking it back to the 19th. The other was an American bass made by a German named August L.M. Gemunder, Snr. of which I happen to own and is now in restoration.
The Scroll looks Mittenwald to me. The wood looks either American or Yugoslavian which could be found then being bought and used in Europe.
At this point I can say the Tuning Gears are German but without close personal examination I can't say if they are original to that head. Also, I can't say if the head is original to the bass. So many basses today are with replaced Scrolls. Back in the day (until the last 40 years or so) it was not considered important (on a bass) to save the scroll so they would put a new or different one rather than repair the old one. Even today, some shops will tell you that it needs to be replaced. I have seen this twice in the last few years personally. One was on a bass of my own that needs a neck graft and scroll repair. A Luthier told me it's cheaper to just buy a whole new neck. Another Luthier said he would be glad to restore the bass as close to original as possible. That's a 360 degree difference in opinion right there.
In any case, this is a 3/4 bass from the late 19th century or early 20th century. Possibly German I would say. If the head is a match to the bass then it is not American. I think!
The internal work tells a story of its own as well. That's why only one on one inspections have a chance to make an ID unless it's a common bass that we've seen many of and easy to match up.