Quote:
Originally Posted by David Moss
New to the forum - hi everybody!
I was interested to see the English "mystery bass", because it shows some similarities to my own gamba form double bass. Mine has a Thomas Dodd label inside, which I was sure was a fake at the time I bought it, because I thought the bass was only about 100 years old. But then a luthier who did a few repairs on the bass for me, a guy with an excellent reputation around here, told me that only the neck is that "new", whereas the body is at least 200 years old based on the workmanship he could see inside, maybe even older. He also told me that the bass bar is unusually close to the center line, so it was presumably built as a three-string and converted to a four-string with a new neck about 100 years ago. He didn't want to commit himself about the authenticity of the label, but he said it didn't feel like an English bass to him, more like Bohemia/Austria - but he said that was just a gut feeling, whereas he was 100% sure about the age.
Obviously this has got me wondering whether the label could be genuine after all. Ken's "mystery bass" description mentions that gamba form basses were being made in England at that time. Does anybody know if Thomas Dodd's workshop made any? Is Thomas Dodd one of the luthiers that a label faker would target? And can I read anything into the fact that the label is located above the level of the f-hole, making it quite hard to see - wouldn't a forger put his fake label in a more prominent place?
I've attached a picture of the label, happy to take some pictures of the bass and post them if anyone's interested. Thanks in advance for any opinions!
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First off, I agree with Arnold. The Label is not that old and probably put in the Bass some time later. An Italian Bass I recently bought has a 16th century label in it but the Bass is from the late 18th or early 19ty century. The label also looks recent. After all, it's only Paper. With hundreds of years of exposure, what would you expect it to look like?
On your Gamba Bass, PLEASE post some pictures of it here. I would love to look at it. On Dodd making a Gamba Bass or rather the workers in his shop, I have heard of at least one but haven't seen it myself. B.Fendt Snr. and J.Lott Snr. were the main Bass makers for Dodd starting in 1798/9 till at least 1810.
Dodd by the way is a very Famous name and copying his label is not that hard to do as they have been pictured in books. A new trend has been happening with labels from lesser know makers than Strad or Guarnieriin hopes they might 'pass muster'. Actually, they usually don't at first and eventually never do.
Most people see a Violin cornered Bass and think the highest order of it pedigree wise as compared to the Gamba models with the same attribution. I was just thinking about this corner style thing this week while playing
my Cornerless Bass. My thought was, "why does a Bass of even a Violin need anything more than Gamba corners or corners at all other than for the sake of looks and style"?
The
Violin corner Pluses are mainly looks and style to me. Also, it can show off the Purfling work of the maker as well as his rib Bending ability for what ever that's worth.
The
Minuses are, hitting the corners with the Bow, breaking them off or them stabbing you in the leg.
The
Gamba corner Pluses are smaller targets for your Bow to hit and maybe easier to make. The Corner bend is less work as are the making of the corner blocks.
The
Minuses are less fancy look than the Violin model and that's about it. Value might play here a bit as I think Violin models usually sell for more on both old Pedigree Basses as well as modern hand made or even factory Basses of any age.
Sound? Some think the Violin model is tighter and the Gamba model looser and the Cornerless model even more loose. The fact is that unless you start with ONE Bass and keep chopping it down to the other shapes, we cannot judge the sound if it's not the exact same Bass.
Arnold? Your thoughts please on this. I know you have some experience based opinions. Share them if you will.