J B Vuillaume

[Martin Sheridan]

I don't know which Bernadel made this bass. It was ID'd by a very well know dealer in the southwest. To me it looks like the factory copies I've seen.
There's a picture of a Bergonzi cello shaped bass in Cremonese Double Basses by Duane Rosengard, and there might be a picture of the Bergonzi that Vuillaume reworked?
The Vuillaume I saw looked similar to the pictures above; a nice amber varnish (not all of Vuillaume's varnishes are as succesful) and it had the double button. The outline looks just like the pics of your bass.

The owner of this bass keeps saying she'd like to find something smaller, but that's the problem with many large basses including Panormo.

I have a 3/4 double bass that someone ID'd as an early Vuillaume and said he played on one like it in Russia. It has a nice amber oil varnish but no label. There's a shop in England (Contrabasse) showing a picture of a bass they attribute to Vuillaumes workshop that looks nearly identical.

Vuillaume is such an important maker, you'd think we'd know more about his basses.