I also mentioned bass specialist maker/luthier
Jeff Bollbach. He is in Long Island and one of the few that I trust with my best basses. Go see him with the bass being that he is closest to you.
On that pic of yours above you can see from the F-hole sticking out that the Top wood is below it. That means it has sunk by the bar. Some basses just settle a bit and safe to leave as-is. It is that needed trip to a luthier like Jeff that will let you know if you are safe or not.
On my bass the string length was also long and closer to an Eb neck. The only way to make it more marketable in todays world is a new neck graft shortening the playing length overall. My goal is for 42" or slightly less.
Is there any way to show a pic of that torn German label inside. There are many makers named Uebel in the 18th and 19th centuries but only one listed as
W.Uebel in the last quarter of the 19th century,
not listed as Wilhelm though. He (W.Uebel) was from Markneukirchen Germany which was later East Germany on the German/Czech border. I suspected my bass to be from that area rather than further south in Mittenwald mainly because of the roundback. Most old Mittenwalders are Flat backs. There is some slight possibility that his shop made these basses of ours but also a 50/50 chance at this point he either repaired it or the lable doesn't belong to the bass. The dates of the late 19th and early 20th centuries pre-WWI fits W.Uebel's period as does the area in which he worked.
Another larger Orchestra model Bass was sold not once but twice as a 1850-60's French Parisian Bass by another big shop in NY in the last couple of decades as well. I had a chance to examine that bass and could see just as with our basses how a dealer could 'loosely' call it French but in reality, the work is totally German. Style of design does not make it the nationality of its looks. It has to fit the work. When you see a bass like that regardless of size or design with outer linings and it is marked as French, be on the alert that this is probably 10 out of 9 times false.
Many fine basses were made in Germany that were not Shop or Factory basses but rather hand made instruments just like a fine French, Italain or English bass only it's German. Many of the nicer German basses are called something other than German, possibly for profit reasons but also due to mistake in identity. The countless factory basses imported to USA in the last century has clouded our judgment as to what a better quality German bass might be.
One more related story if I may. I was at the first rehearsal (of 3 or 4) for a Mahler 1 concert in which the orchestra was enlarged for this production and 3 new basses were hired in as subs. The guy on the end (I placed him there..lol) had a dark varnished sloped shouldered bass like ours but with a flatback. It had 100 year old Mittenwald gears on the bass like those I have seen on Neuner & Hornsteiner basses, the exact ones and the purfling ran all around the top and back as well like on French basses and our twins as well. So, to poke around I asked him on the break "hey, do you happen to know what pedigree your bass is?" asking him in a respectful manner as he was a total stranger to me. I was willing to bet my house that he bought it as a French bass. He replied "It's a Lupo!"..
.. Lol.. Ok, now he was not only lied to at the time of sale but his bass was placed up there name wise with the likes of Panormo and Strad. Lupo was the French Strad and was a violin maker for the most part if not exclusively. There is no such thing as a Lupo bass that I know of and Lupo predates his bass by about a century. Also, that style of Bass is mainly closer to the 20th century, however I have seen a couple of claims that some of them were Vuillaume basses that were actually French but sloped shouldered.
So, it seems almost a common practice that any nicer made German bass that looks French in design becomes one once it passes thru a dealers hands when it goes to market.
Please, don't sell me a Chevy Impala as a Lincoln Town Car. It just isn't, plain and simple, not even close.
In closing, my friend that was sold a Parisian French Bass that was 30-40 years later made in Germany was looking a bit disappointed shortly after hearing my assessment. I then went on to add, "be thankful that it IS a German bass. It sounds better than most of the French I have heard." On average a similar model French bass and a German made example of the same outline, the French for some reason sell for more. First off, it takes the idea of 'factory' out of the buyers mind if it's not German as that's what most of us know about German basses here and second, it implies it's higher up the pedigree chain. This is also totally false.
I have used several Italian and English basses in Orchestra but I have also proudly played on a few German Basses on the job as well. Currently I am gearing up to use my Mittenwald Bass for part of the season after getting it back from Jeff Bollbach with a beautiful C-Extension on it. It can sit beside my better basses and do just as well on the job.
I can just as easily call my Mittenwald bass English or Italian as I have seen similarities in both. It is just what it is and I am proud to label it as such.