Continued...
Several TB members made guesses on this bass when I started the thread. Thanks to those that have so far. For interest, I have made a tally of countries mentioned as the possibilities. I will leave out the Makers names and just list the countries for now. The period from your guesses seem to be between c.1750 and c.1850 according to the makers that were mentioned. Again, the internal examination will tell us more (pre-restoration comment). Here's the tally in no particular order.
French - 3
English - 3
Tirol - 1
Yankee - 2
Bohemia - 2
Italian - 2
Some people made more than one guess and that's fine as we need to think out loud a bit here.
It would be nice to hear from all the luthiers out here tell us what points of a Bass helps them determine or guess the maker or school of making.
When I first showed the Bass to Paul Biase back in Marck of 2004 he used a 'black light'/ultra violet to check the Varnish. The Bass has an 'extra' coat of Varnish over the original Varnish completely over the entire Bass.
The top layer of Varnish seems to be Spirit based. Originally I gave the 'go-ahead' for Paul to take off the junk on top and let the original lighter golden Oil Varnish see the light of day again but after 3 years in restoration I have decided to leave it as-is and touch it up to match the Red-over-Gold as it does look beautiful.
Paul seemed at first glance to think it was from Northern Europe and not Italy as guessed by some. Most likely it's believed to be from England or France as they are just across the channel from each other.
The Purfling in the Top is European and so is the Back 'n' Rib wood. USA is most likely ruled out except for the 19th century repairs in New England with the Yankee X-Brace in the Back.
The Period of this Bass is estimated to be between the latter 18th century and early 19th century by Biase as well.
The Bass was about a 44'' String Length with its current neck. The Top Bout being 22in. across and with only about a 15mm neck-stand makes it extremely hard to play as well. This is maybe why the Bass was put aside for the last 80-100 years and not touched...... It's just too BIG! It is a very large 7/8 or small 4/4 Bass a.k.a. 'Full Sized'. You Guys can tell me from the measurements posted on my website just what it is. Originally I thought a 42" String length could not be achieved unless the Bass was "CUT" from the shoulders. Oops...... I said a 'No No' word... Sorry guys.... BUT, After Arnold restored both my Prescott and Morelli (two HUGE Basses) and was able to reduce those lengths, I took my newly acquired knowledge I picked up from Arnold and told Paul we can do just a Block-cut and get the job done.
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