newbie.. help I.D. my upright

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by glenn selwitz

hey all first time in Kens corner, i just got a nice plywood bass perfect condition, label inside says "a copy of Karl Bruckner" lower right of label says made in west germany lower left says vox
in the same type font as vox amps, it looks exactly like the Josef Bitterer
bass on this site in every detail, any thoughts on the value and what would be good strings i think i got a good deal for $150 it also has a nice canvas cover a fishman bp-100 pickup thanks in advance...Glenn

Some side by side of pics might help over just the above statement.

A few things to consider. Germany has a different language than America. If the label is written in English it is a good possibility that it was an export product. Vox I believe is/was an English company. Like the USA, England also imported student grade Basses for their market as well.

To put 2&2 together, I think that there are many many more labels and brands of German Plywood Basses than there were ever Factories that made them. Factories, not shops. Plywood Basses were made to meet a cost goal. To keep costs efficient, a minimum lever of production is required.

The fact that you have seen other Basses with different labels that look the same validates this point.

I would settle on a mid 20th century German Plywood (laminated) Bass. The Juzek firm sold them as well. It was my first ever Bass as well bought directly from Juzek. About 20 years later, I learn directly from Juzek that the Lang factory in Germany was the maker of all of their Plywoods and the Wilfer Family (several generations) were the makers of their carved Basses.

I don't thing Juzek was able to buy every Bass that Lang could make so there must be others that bought, imported and labeled them for marketing in at least 2 countries, USA and the UK as far as English written labels. I know for a fact that in the case of Juzek, the labels were inserted in NY during the set-up process. Some of the better grade Basses had the makers label, Wenzel B. Wilfer. One even had 'W B W' engraved in black under the Neck button. A Juzek label on that Bass would not be needed.