bass bar types ?

[Adrian Levi]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I don't think you will find many museum grade instruments with integral bars in them. This was usually done to save time and money as time IS money in manufacturing.

What do you consider a museum grade instrument to be anyway?

The Bar runs at a slight angle to the grain of the Top. An Integral Bass IS the grain but a Lump left in shaped like a Bar.

This reminds me of a Joke I heard years ago when I played Bass in the Shows for the Stars at Westbury Music Fair in LI NY. I believe it was Shecky Green who said.. "Ma, why do you make the Chicken so greasy?" .. Mom answers in a thick heavy Jewish accent.. "Shecky, I never make Chicken! I just make a Pot of Grrrease and shape it like a Chicken!!"

So, an integral bar is NOT really a bass bar for the function it was intended. It just looks like a bar!

I guess in my mind a museum grade bass would be one made by one of the masters ie a Panormo / you'd know the names a lot better than me. I may be wrong but I did read somewhere that some Panormo basses had integral bars.