Elgar's Paragraph on Factory Basses

[Steve Robinson]

I have an old photocopy of this book, so I figured I'd post this nice paragraph for people to reference. Perfect for this thread.

Double Basses are termed "factory" or "machine" made; otherwise they are handmade. The former descriptions are not accurate as in the making of even the cheapest instruments much of the construction and all of the assembly work is done by handwork. The three centres in the world where considerable production is still carried on of the Bass and violin family instruments are Mirecourt in Eastern France, Mittenwald in the Southern Tyrol of Germany and Markneukirchin near Dresden in the Eastern section of Germany. All are quite small towns outwardly showing little evidence of these activities. Much of the work is done by outworkers in their own homes and then taken to a large depot where the instruments are assembled and finished. It is quite usual in Mittenwald to see an elderly worker with several carved bass scrolls protruding from the haversack on his back as he sets off to the depot with his most recently finished work. The general construction of a "factory" bass shows a rough interior and no proper thicknessing of the top and back. The instruments are "got up" to look well on the outside, nice and shiny and superficially attractive, but they lack the qualities of a Bass handmade throughout and constructed in precisely the same way as its smaller relations, the violin, viola, and cello. At a first glance this wooden box with its "handle" certainly does not seem to be made up from over 60 separate pieces, so let us now see what and where these are, together with some dimensions and the method of construction.

Introduction to the Double Bass (1960)
Raymond Elgar, page 31

--Steve