Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken McKay
Beautiful workmanship and design. The varnish is superb and the best of all of Schnitzer's that I have seen. The scroll is slightly quirky and that adds a lot of interest to the clean workmanship in that area.
I would be pretty proud of that one Ken!
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If you guys only knew what went in to this bass!..
The Varnishing was something special and the wood all over has some tiny flaws and nothing was done to cover them up. The Scroll on the original is simplistically beautiful. The Copy is more elaborate but hey, she's mine so I get what I want. I loved the Teardrop on the Martini which was off center but the Candi Teardrop is perfect. Some natural flaws here and there in the wood and how the wood took the varnish in my opinion just adds to its natural beauty. It IS tempting to smooth everything out but I was not looking for 'plastic' and nor would Arnold (I assume) go that route either. The Top is done in a way that you can feel all the fibers across the grain known as Corduroy. Like the pants!..
Ground coloring was applied to the Back and Ribs and then sanded out leaving the darker flames highlighted. Then it was varnished over. This was done to add a natural look to the aging without using chains or tools. The Ribs themselves show some natural rippling which I have seen on a few newer basses as well as many old ones.
Yes guys, it's a beautiful bass and I thank you all for your compliments. The tone is so pleasing that playing Pizz with Belcantos, it pumps out air like Gut strings and they feel thicker under my fingers. Switching to the Hart back to back with the same strings on feels completely different so I know it's the bass and not the strings doing that. Although I was going for an Orchestra bass and it's great in that respect, it's also a fantastic thick punchy sounding Jazz bass as well.
Maybe Arnold will come in here and say a few words. He's a little busy trying to finish the restoration on the original. Maybe a side-by-side photo session would be in order up at his shop with both the new and old meeting for the first time all strung up.
