Another mystery bass?

[David Moss]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

First off, on the Rib measurements, were they inside the Top and Back or including them?

8" is the rib measurements inside the top and back plates. Total depth of the instrument including the top and back is about 8 1/2".

On the wood of your Back and Ribs, again it looks like Slab or rolled cut Maple like you find in Veneer or Plywood. Maybe even Birch but the closeups are blurry and I can't see the grain clearly. Please, look with a flashlight and magnifier glass along the edges of the Bass and Rib-to-Rib joints and tell me if you see any hint of laminations there. I just can't see it well enough in these pictures.

Yes, the poor light was very frustrating. Thanks for your tip with the magnifying glass and flashlight, I'll do that and report. There are places at the edges of the back plate where I think I'm seeing wood grain running across the edge, indicating solid wood, but I really want to post pictures of that to get your opinion. I also want to get some good closeups of the purfling on the top and back plates, to see if you think they match. I'll try to deliver better pictures at the weekend.

On the origin, looking at the angle break side view with the outer rib linings it looks Germanic/Bohemian but even more so now than before. The Varnish also looks fairly new so I would guess it was re-finished not long ago.

Then the re-finish was presumably part of the major restoration in the mid-90s, commissioned by the previous owner when he acquired the bass.

The wood on the Back and Ribs are very unusual for a Bass from this region.

Do you mean unusual for Bohemia, or unusual for the entire German/Bohemian school?

The purfled design in the lower Back is similar (but not identical) to Basses made by Pfretzschner or rather Markneukirchen shop Basses.

Yes, very interesting - Markneukirchen was also my bass teacher's guess. There's a similar design on this one as well. Was this teardrop shape a Pfretzschner exclusive, or did other makers copy it?