Xavier Jaquet ?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by ChrisTurner

Thanks for the swift reply sheds abit more light on it. Just wish i could know everything. I always imagine some old guy working away in his shop lol.

With regards to the photos i had trouble because they were quite high resolution and im not really sure how to bring them down. Any ideas?

All i have been told in the past with regards to date is that it points to mid - late 19th century. In your mind what characteristic gives it that indication ?

It would be wonderful to know who carved the 1940 in it at some point and why as that is during parts of 2nd world war.... where was it etc etc lol stuff i will never know.

Cheers once again great forum you have here much better than anything else out there.

For Pics, read my son Mike's post here!

On your Bass dates, I am just comparing it to others I have seen and that is quite a bit of them. Most of then attributed to one of the Jacquet's, some to Barbe and some to Claudot.

I have played many French basses and owned 2 nice ones myself. One was attributed to Gustave Bernardel and the other to Barbe. The 7/8ths Violin-Cello model Bernadel was quite typical but the big Gamba 7/8ths Barbe could have been something else. We will never know as we were not there to watch them being made. That's the only 'real' way to know. Seeing IS believing. A Brand on a Bass does NOT mean that is the actual maker. It just means it's their Brand and selling AS.

Shop basses in Germany from the Wilfers and others labeled in this country as Juzek, Pfretzschner, Morelli and others are just that, Brands that were imported by Marketers. This manufacturing style was not limited to Germany. This I think is the reason we see so many French Basses that look alike. Oh, did I mention Lamy? That was another big shop that exported many Basses in both Violin and Gamba shape. In the turn of the 19th-20th century USA catalog from the importer, the 4-string model was an additional $6. That's SIX U$D extra. The 3-string was basic model offered and some French shops offered basses in 3, 4, or 5-string. Would you like 'Fries' with that?

From 20 feet away (maybe even closer), a Lamy, Jacquet, Barbe or Claudot Gamba model basses can all fit in the same mold. What does that mean?

[ChrisTurner]

Photos Attached as requested

[ChrisTurner]

Sorry for some reason i can't send private messages and since its nothing really private i didn't worry about it rather than not replying



James.

I am located in sydney.

With regards to your basses being dull it on the E and A, it is a common attribute of french basses. For some reason my bass has an amazingly powerful lower end. I think who ever put in the current bass bar did a really good job because i get comments on it when ever i take it to someone to look at it. Eg dave ellis Neil brawley.

Do you have any photos of your basses? I would love to have a look?

With regards to basses in aus they aren't so difficlt to find, you just wont find them in shops. The shops tend to rip the seller off with high commissions and bullshit about gst so its easier to sell privately and in the tight knit bass community in sydney there is always something available. Also to mention in sydney particularly SSO there are amazing world class quality basses eg my old teacher has a Kennedy Lott and Vincenzo Panormo and many other basses of the same makers amongst other professionals in sydney with many other famous makers names. Otherwise you just have to travel and if your after a good quality italian or english bass the cost of the travel relative to the instrument is insignificant.

Cheers

Chris

Does your bass have an attributed maker?

What do you reckon a Jacquet Bass is worth in todays market in AUS?

[Ken Smith]

Ok, after doing some research as well as having a few Jacquet's in my hands I have looked up enough information from various sources to report what I know.

The Family of makers of the main 4 Jacquet's of the 19th century does not have an Xavier Jacquet unless it's the 3rd generation towards and into the 20th century.

The Makers were;
Joseph Xavier Jacquet, aka Jacquet-Pillement, as he married Cecile Pillement (daughter of Pillement Pere' ?, I think) in 1837.
One of his labels is marked;

V.X. Jacquet
-Pillement-
and signed
Jacquet
Xavier

... as that's what the signature looks like to me. HE was the father of the other 3 makers and the first Luthier of the Family. I have seen 3 basses by him. One of them I own now. All 3 have the same shape, varnish, scroll and ffs as best one man can duplicate himself. They date from 1840-1850.

His eldest son was Gabriel Xavier, b.1838.

His next/middle son was just Gabriel, no Xavier in the name, b.1848. Gabriel married Marie J.S. Gand (daughter of the Gand family) in 1878 and was then known as Jacquet-Gand, using his wife's maiden name and NOT associated with the then Gand & Bernadel firm..

His 3rd son was Jean Claude Joseph, known just as Joseph G. b.1850 and again, no Xavier in his name either. He worked for a time with his brother Gabriel but then married Justine M. Barbezant and took over her brothers firm and became known as Jacquet-Barbezant. They supposedly made the French basses for Riverie-Hawkes in the 1880's until that firm dissolved in 1889 and became Hawkes & Son and then made mostly a Panormo model in Germany.

So, of the 4 makers, the wife's maiden name was used on 3 of them. lol

Now Gabriel Xavier's wife's sister married Luthier Paul Bailly so I guess you can say they were all chopping wood on both sides of all of the families.

More interesting genealogy is that Gabriel's daughters married into 'wood' as well. One daughter to Leon Mougenot, son of Georges of whom I have a Vuillaume model bass from and the other to Eugene Sartory the 'God' of Bass Bows, in my opinion.. In later sale advertisements we see a combined advert of Leon Mougenot - Jacquet-Gand as one.

Back on the Xavier Jacquet, The Father J.X. or V.X. as he called himself is known by one source as X-Jacquet and 'O'-Jacquet by another. One source has Gabriel Xavier as 'X'-Jacquet as well. Maybe being 10 years older the Gabriel, he used his fathers stamp after taking over the shop. Who knows?

So, 'X' marks the spot but WHAT spot? That is the question.. lol

Hey, they all made nice basses. If well restored and taken care of you can play them in a professional Orchestra. What more can you ask? Oh, play it on a Jazz gig. Forgot.. My Jacquet-Pillement here sounds good with the fingers and loud with the Bow as well. It's a doubler...