History of the American Bass

[Arnold Schnitzer]

I think it's interesting that the Allen bass (the one pictured above) has a top made from 15 pieces of vertical grain white pine. I've often wondered if the individual pieces were pre-bent into the approximate shape of the arching, and then joined/carved, or whether they were all glued up as 2"x2" squares and then carved into the arched shape. When looking closely at the top it seems to me there is less end grain visible than I'd expect to see. And I know there were violin makers fooling around with a sort of "coopering" technique in the 19th century (similar to the way barrels are made). J.B. went all out with the decorative aspect of that bass, even inlaying the seams. And Robbie McIntosh did a masterful job of restoring the bass and keeping it faithful to the original while enhancing its playability as a modern bass.