The Lurker Speaks....

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Richard Prowse

Ah, thanks Ken for the vote of confidence. For me there is only one bass site... right here. Hey, I enjoy reading the serious threads too. Did you ever get to play that cornerless bass as a three string?

It has been a 4-string Bass for at least 100 years or more from the date of the Tuners in the Bass which are high quality Brass gears with Iron handles/worms with laminated with Brass plated laminated caps or something like that one the handles and a large Pearl inlay in the Gear itself. I have seen these before on some old Basses so I guess 1850 to 1900 or so on the date of the Tuners alone. That's also a good dating for the 4-string conversion as well with most of Germany and Eastern Europe playing 4 and some 5s with England, Italy and France partially or mostly switching over.