" Name That Bass " aka "This OLD Bass"

[David Powell]

Just looking at photos and not considering the other clues that point to England, the f holes are the most similar characteristic to the G. Corsby DB. The arching also looks similar. The outline just doesn't seem the same at all. The bouts are almost taken from a perfect circle on the mystery bass. The Corsby is much more anglular in the bouts. But shape alone doesn't necessarily mean that much. Weren't the shoulders of the mystery bass altered as well?

The Prokop bass certainly has a lot of the same general shape characteristics, but the other details of making don't really match at all. The shape is definitely heading the same way, but the mystery bass has bouts that are much closer to the same size. Also, I would reason that it makes sense that outlines might be copied more frequently than construction methodology. So you see borrowed forms "by the English hand" so to speak. In any case, it has one of the most pleasing outlines that I think I have ever seen. I guess there are only a few makers that could have plausibly made that bass given the factual evidence of it's origins, the wood type, etc. So it is at least narrowed to an English maker. If not Corsby, then who? That becomes the question. So we look at the f-holes again.....