I've slapped on the world's most expensive bass!

[Brandon Tuomikoski]

--- "neck possibly replaced in the 1700s"----

So how old is the bass?

Is it even the same company?

I bet if the bass sounds superb, the violin must be great too.



I thought Stradivarius were expensive. Am I wrong? I guess so.

Wish I had access to a bass that was 1/10,000 of the value of Dragonetti's bass.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Brandon Tuomikoski

--- "neck possibly replaced in the 1700s"----

So how old is the bass?

Is it even the same company?

I bet if the bass sounds superb, the violin must be great too.



I thought Stradivarius were expensive. Am I wrong? I guess so.

Wish I had access to a bass that was 1/10,000 of the value of Dragonetti's bass.

That Violin ad is a fraud. made maybe 3 weeks ago in Hungary. Worth maybe $300., period.

A real d'Salo Voilin, Bass, Viola, Cello.. anything from him or Maggini, upwards from $500,000. A Strad Violin, upwards from a Million$$.

These instruments do not sell on Ebay and if advertised there, is from a BIG and Famous Violin shop. There are not that many of them. There are probably 10x more Strads than Maggini's and d'Salos combined that have survived or that were made as only half the Strads survive.

You ask about the bass and the company? These are People, not companies that made them and that is a Violin on Ebay, not a bass.

Wish I had access to a bass that was 1/10,000 of the value of Dragonetti's bass.

No you don't. Do your math. A set of strings will cost more than 1/10,000 of any bass, Draginetti's d'Salo included and the Bass in question in this thread was Bottesini's. Still, I doubt either of their former d'Salos would fetch more than a Million$$. Two of them sold after that Expo I posted and they were closer to Half a Mil' than a Mil' from what I have heard. Maybe I could ask the appraiser who I know that did the Papers for those sales.

[Brandon Tuomikoski]

Ok I see.

But a strad did sell on ebay for $3 mill a long time ago.

thanks for the info.

I need to read up on Bottesini and Dragonetti.

Any good books out there?

[Joel Larsson]

For Bottesini, Thomas Martin has a neat bio at http://www.thomasmartin.co.uk/about/articles.html.

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Brandon Tuomikoski

Ok I see.

But a strad did sell on ebay for $3 mill a long time ago.

thanks for the info.

I need to read up on Bottesini and Dragonetti.

Any good books out there?

Dragonetti in England is good...very expensive but worth it.

[Martin Sheridan]

I imagine that when Gary Karr's bass, the "Amati" is sold, it will fetch a record price. It was always referred to as an Amati of 1611. The last time I saw it a couple of years ago it was in the posession of The Guarneri House in Grand Rapids, MI. Gary had donated it to the ISB and I think it is supposed to tour several shops and then be sold at auction to raise money for the ISB. All of the fine solo players I know want this bass and don't seem to bothered one wit that it is not by the Amati. It's a damn fine sounding solo bass, and I hope that it will end up in the hands of another Gary Karr.
There should be at least one day a year when bass players the world over bow in Gary Karr's direction. Thank you Gary for taking the bass to where it is today and for being such a fine human being.

[Ken Smith]

The last time I spoke with a world leading expert, we discussed the fact that there are no confirmed Amati Basses period. All the Basses claimed to be Amati are so far unconfirmed as far as everyone agreeing on. Testing the age of the Top wood is another way of disproving but not always. The Bass can still be old, made in the same town and decade as one of the Amati generations but made by another local maker just 'influenced' by Amati at best.

After 300-400 years, it's hard to tell if all the parts of the Basses are original to itself including the Varnish as well much less the exact maker.

If we could list all the Basses claiming to be Amati's, one might get the impression that they specialized in them. Like with Strad, it was much more lucrative to make and sell Violins and the occasional Cello. After all, who could afford a Bass back then from a living legend?

We see more Basses coming out of early Brescia, Venice and Milan than Cremona. Why is that?

By the way, we see many erroneous claims for d'Salo and Maggini as well. More by Maggini by far as the English made so many copies that some of them are somewhat convincing. Actually, erroneous claims are more common than not.

[Joel Larsson]

Martin, I hope I was clear on that this bass is the one currently INSURED to the largest amount of money, which isn't exactly the same thing. Bottesini's Testore would also be up there but it's in Japan now and I don't know how they decided on insuring that one... and if Dragonetti's monastery d'Salo was to hit the market, people would go crazy. And yes, the "Amati" will probably sell for quite a neat little sum, being Amati or no...

Speaking of Maggini, how many confirmed are there out there? I only know of two, one in the Stockholm Royal Opera and one which is actually passing through the last stages of restoration in order to be sold by Thomas Martin. Quarrington is said to have one, but I think that is a "Maggini."