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Old 08-09-2013, 10:29 AM
Ruben E garcia Ruben E garcia is offline
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[quote=Ken Smith;26555]The purfling design on the back button according to one German shop is called 'Blume', meaning flower.

I have seen about 4 different but similar designs on basses with Juzek labels.

Some of them look exactly like Hofner's so I am confused there because I think if labeled, these could be put in by dealers and if not labeled, mis-attributed. Also, 100 years ago, both Hofner and Framus (then just Franz Wilfer) were violin shops in Schonbach. The second generation of these families I believe brought them into the Guitar business. Germans did however always make guitars as well but before the electric craze, these were just local brands. The Beatles made Hofner famous and at the same time, killed their name in as much as concerning the violin business internationally from what I see. So, a Hofner is as good as any other shop brand in my opinion.

The next and most common design is the regular Juzek Flower seen since the earliest basses that look to me like Lang basses because I have seen them on Lang's as well.

The other early design is more squashed in design and not as much upright. These might be Lang or even another shop. I have seen a similar design in a larger shape on some Bohemian basses of the period. So that one might be early Lang.

The last of them is the fancier one we see today on the E. Wilfer basses but also on the Wenzel Wilfers and the earlier Anton Wilfers. These are all the same. So, that design whether Gamba or Violin shape in plain, medium or high flame are the Wilfer family made Juzeks or just, Wilfers.

Ok, I have collected some pictures off the internet, 2 of them were mine so I borrow equally. Here are 5 designs, 2 of them are not Juzeks, Wilfers or Langs in my opinion.

1, this is a Czech flatback I had. I have seen many basses from Bohemia with similar but not exact designs.

2, this is a Hofner and I have seen people calling these Juzek's but in error. If they had a Juzek label in them, then they were probably put in there by someone other than Juzek in NY. I have no knowledge of Hofner selling to Juzek and I even once asked Hofner and they said 'no'.


3, this is the most common type design we see and I think this is from Lang;


Hi Ken I cant help it but this last two specially the 3th looks similar to my bass:

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