Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer
Ken, I think you paint Lamy basses a bit one-dimensionally. I have seen Lamy's that would compete with anything in terms of workmanship and sound. There is a magnificent one in National Symphony (you can see its lion-head scroll on my website). The plates on that bass are not thick, the detail work is excellent, and overall I'd give the bass a spirited thumbs-up.
|
Now that I have one in my hands and fully restored with the necessary modifications, I can see that these basses can sound as good as any other French makers bass, possibly better. It's like re-making a bass using 120 year old seasoned wood. Mine is a bit more on the plain side with medium figured maple back, lightly figured ribs and scratched purfling lines around both the top and back plates but has beautiful original French red varnish. According to an old 1891 Lamy catalog page I found, this was the middle grade flatback model. The next model up had the Purfling inlaid, same wood. This was made originally as a 3-string and remained that way until 2 years ago when it was finally modified to 4 strings. The bottom end is quite powerful.
Although not labeled or stamped, the Scroll, FFs and overall model is identical to other confirmed/marked Lamy basses. Others as well as myself estimate this bass to be from about 1890 comparing it to other similar examples.