"masterart" gamba?
I have never heard of a Master Art Gamba before. All the Basses Juzek called 'Master Art' were Violin cornered and highly figured maple back and sides. I have owned 2 of them personally. One was from the 60s and a few years later I found an older 7/8 size from 1936 with a label of 'Anton Wilfer' in it. It was about 43 1/2" string length and Eb neck. I made a long false nut to get it to 42". I sold it shortly after as I did with many Basses back then.
For both the 1955 and 1957 I would make a guess that they are Wenzel Wilfer aka WBW. My Bass was a 3/4 Master Art but had a Wenzel Wilfer label in it. I bought it straight from Juzek in 1971-72. It was there in the 60s when I was in High School as I had seen it many times over the years. One 7/8 Bass that was in the storeroom as well had WBW engraved in the back in Script under the back button.
If you have a Gamba and a 'Master Art' label I would be a bit curious as to how that got in there!
Since Juzek labeled them here in USA in NY anything is possible. On my own new Amati model Basses I made labels for them and put them inside only to realize that all of them were highly figured and could be priced as 'Deluxe' models but it was too late. The labels were already glued in. The Shops usually send what they have from abroad. The importer/seller is the one that decides what it can be called and priced as.
With Wilfer Basses I have seen several new ones and if not for high quality Basses made in China for less as well as Basses from Romania and Hungary, the Germans have a problem to deal with. They are no longer the best buy in town!
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