Is it possible to learn anything more definitive about the age of the top, perhaps through dendrochonology (I think that's the word), you know the way they look at annual rings and match them to the pattern in instruments with known dates of make.
It is plausible from the shape that it could be a converted violone. The back construction is more like a double bass though. There were not too many standardized forms of violones and there are records of very large violones with mensurs of up to 114 cm. In Bach's time in Germany the violone grosso was a four stringed instrument tuned in 4ths from low C. These were definitely double bass size instruments. Probably the reason not too many of these large violones are still around is because most of them might now be living out their lives as double basses. But were any of these in use in England and at what period and what configuration? Isn't the first reference to the "great dooble bass" pretty early on in England?
I'm thinking if there were a way to nail down the age of the top within a few years. Attributing the bass to a "best guess" builder would be easier if we knew when the tree lived. Even then, the wood could have been seasoned for many years before use. The age, the remnants of the original methodology of construction, the origin of the wood? I guess if there is no documentation at all, this is real detective work.
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