Kenny, Eric Hochberg dropped me a link of this thread on Facebook. Yeah, I played a Jacobus Hornsteiner from about 1959 to 1977. It was in a night club fire in Minneapolis when I ws there with Buddy DeFranco and Pat Moran (of Scott LaFaro fame). To this day, it was the greatest jazz bass I ever played. The fire claimed the top and the treble side ribs. I had Christopher Mayne, (an English luthier living here in Denver at the time, put on an English top plate on that he had laying around and he replaced the ribs. It sounded as good after the repairs as it did before. In 1977, a drunk in a club I was playing tripped and fell on it. That resulted in the bridge foot crashing through the top and bass bar. It just didn't sound as good after that restore so I sold it to a classical soloist who didn't need all the power it had before.
A quick rehearsal with Bill Evans urged him to remark what a great sounding bass it was. The size was pretty much standard 3/4....not so big, but very powerful, indeed. I have some pics of it with Bill, but they're too dark to make out.
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