gypsy bass

[Rob Menapace]

I saw in another thread a discussion about gypsy basses, well I just happen to have one! However, I know little about it's origins, the who, where and when of this bass. It's pretty much been rebuilt, including a whole new neck. I do have a few specific questions:
-the top plates have a "bearclaw" grain pattern in several areas, is this common? is there a tonal advantage? disadvantage?
-I'm having problems with wolftones, the bridge is about 7" high, the breakover angle seems fairly steep. Is this a factor? Should I be using a lower tension string? I suppose I'll take it to a luthier, I did when I first got the bass, we fiddled around with the soundpost, of course it seemed to help at the shop, but when I got home and played it for awhile, the wolftones where still there, even worse. I decided to let out some of the tailpiece wire to shorten the afterlength, which greatly helped the wolftone problem, but now the bass seems a bit tight, not as open sounding.
-also, the tuning machines are reversed (?), meaning the G-D side is offset lower than the E-A side. Does this affect tone? resonance? I've been told it's French in origin.

Anyway, here's the link to the pics:

http://s561.photobucket.com/albums/ss58/mocorob/