[quote=Ken Smith;26737]There are many people around the world as well as shops now trying to pass off these fakes as real. I was just offered several basses from Italy and each of the basses claiming to be old Italian were in my opinion new Hungarian or slightly older Hungarian or German.
I hope that there is no italian luthier involved in this kind of deal, which is unfair to both musicians and makers.
About three years ago a customer of mine bought one of these basses from Hungary, which he found on the internet.
The seller said him that it was old, "probably" italian, found in a Church. The musician did not tell anything to anybody, went in Hungary and bought the bass, for a very low price.
The instrument was new and quite heavy, but the sound was good enough to give it a try.
We did some minor repairs and waited an year to be sure not to waste time, then I did some other small repairs and a massive set up work, and at last the bass was good.
So good actually that the musician wanted to contact the seller to let the original luthier make another one, new, not antiqued, and with his label inside.
Now, the musician is a good and well known one, so there was an opportunity for the luthier to get a better market and develop his work.
Well, once he was contacted, the seller disappeared, no more email address, no phone number, nothing.
The musician is still playing that bass, but he paid it much more than its market value, if you consider repairs, waiting time, set up, travel to and from Hungary. Besides, the sound is luckily good, but the bass is heavy to carry around.
The original maker earned, I think, a fraction of the original low price, and did not have or even know of any chance to develop his work.
So, nobody is really happy with that deal.
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