Little Bass ID

[Chris DeMarco]

So, I just bought this bass for all of fifteen dollars, I haven't picked it up yet but there are a lot of pictures from the seller.

I was origonally thinking about attempting to restore it (amateur "luthier") but after thinking about it, I realized that a restoration of any kind would not even break even on this bass and I have no way to make ribs which aparently were lost some time ago, so I thnk I will just hang it on the wall, maybe put an LED in it or somehting and it will be a conversation piece in my music room.

Anyways, that being said, I still want to know more about it. I am sort of a geek for antiques, especially bass stuff. My guess is that this is either a church bass or an amateur attempt at a cello that somebody in New England made sometime in the 19th century. The scroll looks to be a three part, with one of the sides missing sort of like kay scrolls. The other articularily unique thing about this bass is that the sides are carved into the back. I don't know how else to say it other then that, somebody routed almost like a thick purfling on the inside so that the sides would fit snugly, you can see it in the photo's. Also, if you look at the fingerboard there are gaps, I can't tell if this is just worn tape or if there were actually frets on this bass at some point, it certainly doesn't look like any Viol da Gamba I have ever seen!

Does anybody have any other ideas about the origin of this bass?

Here are the mesurments according to the seller:

Total height: 4 ft

Upper Bout: 12"

Lower Bout: 15"

Depth: 3 1/2"

As you can see, a very small instrument.

Thanks
Chris