Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric Hochberg
One well known shop thinks this might be a W Wilfer, another says a Mittenwald factory bass, maybe E Wilfer as "he has his basses roughed out in that factory". What do you think?
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Nice tightly flamed Bass. Nothing like the Flame I have seen on Juzeks but wood is wood so anything is possible. For a Juzek model you would expect to see the Purfled design under the button but they have bought other Basses for orders as needed. For a Master Art model of that period, besides the high flame I would also expect to see Violin Corners, Purfled Design (maybe an ebony diamond in the center) and individual Tuners.
If you came to me to sell or trade that Bass in, I would accept it as a German Shop Bass with high flame mid 20th century(1955 as you say). It would not matter much where it was made within Germany as much as the condition and sound. The price/value would not differ much from Wilfer, Juzek or even Pollmann as much as what sound the Bass puts out as well as its past or future repairs done or needed (aka condition).
German Shop Basses today sell for a variety of prices and I don't see any pattern to go by. Some Basses seem over priced and others seem way under priced. These Basses may have sold from $100 - $900 in the 1950s thru 1970s so seeing them sell for 10-20x that price is difficult to swallow. I sold a Gustave Bernardel in the 70s for just under 4k and a Barbe for about 4k. With this kind of math then could the same people ask 40-80k for a 19th century French Bass? Well, there might be a few that would command that price but it would not be the norm. With that in mind, why should plain Jane Factory German Basses sell for the prices they are asking these days?
I have seen 3 nice older German Basses sell from about 20-25k recently. One was a big 7/8 about 90-100 years old, fully restored and could pass for an Italian Orch Bass. Another was a beautiful handmade German Orchestra Bass about 100 years or so and would also fit any orch. The third was a 200 year old Bass with many many repairs but in good health and sounded its age. I have not seen many Wilfers or Juzeks that could hang with the tone of those Basses.