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Old 01-24-2010, 08:20 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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All of my comments are from the pictures. It looks like there were repairs to both the soundpost and bassbar side. The varnish mess is an indication that those areas were worked on. If not, why was the varnish touched there? The graft is visible and I don't think they made it that way back then. Scroll/neck parts were bought from carvers. They didn't need to make it themselves.

Your bridge height is very low even if the strings are touching the fingerboard. 6" height with 5mm on the G and more as you cross the strings is a minimum and still low. This is an indication of a low neck angel and shallow neck-stand combined. This will not be cheap to improve on.

Higher bridges put more pressure on the top. More pressure means more cracks on weaker basses. Many many German basses built on the cheap were set low including many more recent made basses a well. 6.5 inches is a good guide with some bridge height. Below that it's considered low as mentioned. The neck on this bass broke out some time ago. This is evident by the back button inlay. The scratched lines going under and around the button is a dead giveaway as well. The back center must have also shrunk and split and that 3 pic checkered guitar like repair was done then as well.

Refinish is obvious when you see sanding scratches and multi-directional colors. This bass looks like more than one person has touched it as far as the finish/varnish goes.

The age can be correct or slightly later. I had a bass that was in a car accident 2 years after I bought it new. It was in the importers shop a few years but the bass was younger than me and had a neck graft early in its life. I have another new bass that the neck failed from a hidden knot/defect in the wood and in under 2 years of its make got a graft as well. Repairs are not indications of age. The bass can be one year older than the oldest repair or 50 years. Labels prove very little at times. This style bass with scratched purfling as it appears to be is on the lower end of the scale whether before or after the first war. I can't say more without seeing in person.
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