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Old 12-02-2008, 11:33 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Join Date: 01-18-2007
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Cool Price?

The bass should only be valued after personal inspection inside and out as well as playing and listening. Measurements concerning playability are important in the pricing because changes or modifications can get expensive.

Arnold says Bohemian/Czech but I have my doubts because of the round back. There are some Bohemian Basses with a round Back but most of them are Flatbacks. I still think it is more Germanic and could be from the German/Czech border area which would make us both right..

Quote:
I asked about taking off the plates to see what might have been there before and he said it would take too much time & effort and might cause damage.
Taking the Tuners off can cause damage? Well if done by a 'Plummer' maybe but not any decent Luthier. It is one of the easiest things to do. The worst than can happen is that the sound post falls. At that point being this time of year, you will know the Post is too short for the Bass. That can cause damage, the Post being too short not the tuners. IF the removal of the Tuners will damage the Bass then something is wrong with the Bass.

We have many many old German and Czech basses here all over the country. Many or most of them were imported shop Basses of various grades. Some of them are nice handmade basses that found their way over here one way or another. Some of the Shop made basses can be very good but unless the condition is very good before hand, the needed restoration work is often not worthwhile. Unless you have 'your own' Luthier there looking and advising you stay away from Basses that seem OK priced that have bassbar or soundpost cracks repaired or not. Very often, the repairs are poorly done and will cost a pretty penny to re-restore. Older more valuable pedigree type instruments are another story. Those are usually worth fixing at almost any expense.

On the Tuners, look inside the pegbox with a light and see if the upper holes look like they were altered or not in the least way. Use a good light and get real close. If holes were plugged and re-drilled, it should be easy to see.

The Scroll, Scroll Button and the F-holes are very nice and non typical in my opinion. This is not a shop bass.

If the Bass is free from major cracks like I described, in good health and has a good orchestral sound, then the market price could easily be in that 10-20k range U$D. The sound must be there, must.

What are the measurements of this Bass? Use one of my templates for the DBs on my website and give all the same type numbers as shown there.
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