" Name That Bass " aka "This OLD Bass"

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Anselm Hauke

thanks for the detailed answer!

I'm just getting Started!

[David Powell]

And so it is! This bass and the restoration of it brought me into bass forums as a participant instead of a "reader", for better or worse. What an inspiration, Mr. Smith. Thank-you for doing this one so proud.

I think the process on this bass encapsulates what I have felt about musical instruments ever since my father passed several years ago and I adopted his old Harmony 173, a rather humble classical guitar, but with one of the most beautiful spruce tops I've ever seen. It too was unplayable when I brought it home, and now it intonates quite well after my efforts.

We don't really own these instruments;- ever. Once created they have an immortal potential that humans do not. We are at best humble caretakers that can make some art from them in a single lifetime, but these instruments are just getting started on their many journeys, however old we perceive them to be. You brought it back to life, Ken. Now it's your turn to create with it. Best to you always,

Silversorcerer

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by David Powell

And so it is! This bass and the restoration of it brought me into bass forums as a participant instead of a "reader", for better or worse. What an inspiration, Mr. Smith. Thank-you for doing this one so proud.

I think the process on this bass encapsulates what I have felt about musical instruments ever since my father passed several years ago and I adopted his old Harmony 173, a rather humble classical guitar, but with one of the most beautiful spruce tops I've ever seen. It too was unplayable when I brought it home, and now it intonates quite well after my efforts.

We don't really own these instruments;- ever. Once created they have an immortal potential that humans do not. We are at best humble caretakers that can make some art from them in a single lifetime, but these instruments are just getting started on their many journeys, however old we perceive them to be. You brought it back to life, Ken. Now it's your turn to create with it. Best to you always,

Silversorcerer

Well, I agree about the Caretaker position. Besides all the work that has been done, it is still not where I want the Bass. I have it packed up and am sending it down to Jeff Bollbach to have a few things tweaked as well as having him make and install a Chromatic C-Extension like the one he made for my Bisiach labeled Bass.

The Neck heel was way higher than what I wanted but Biase wanted to stop at that point and have me play it for awhile before removing any wood that can't be replaced. I had giving him the Neck/Heel specs off of my Martini to sort of copy but still he left it a little heavy.

After a single rehearsal I put the Bass away until I could have this done. Last week I made the decision that driving back and forth to NYC a minimum of 2 times is more work and expense than if I just cut it down myself to what I really want which can only be done here by tweaking it daily as I play the neck in an unfinished state until it's just where I want it. I now have the neck just about there but the top of Heel and throat underside under the Peg Box needs to be Varnished back up to match. I decided that it would be best to just let Jeff finish this off from here as well as a few touch-ups along with the Extension job than driving into the city which will cost me more in time that it's worth even thought the work will be free of charge from Biase.

So, there will eventually a whole new set of pictures taken on this when the C-Extension is done and the re-carved Neck & Heel are all varnished up. The Heel will look about half the size as it does now as well as the neck and profile being thinner overall to better match the Martini.

It's not over till it's over..

[Eric Swanson]

Dear God, that is a beautiful bass.

Congratulations, Ken, on having the faith and vision to make this happen.

I hope that playing it gives you many hours of joy.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

Dear God, that is a beautiful bass.

Congratulations, Ken, on having the faith and vision to make this happen.

I hope that playing it gives you many hours of joy.

I should know in a day or so if I have my booth/room set for the June ISB. If so and all goes well with Jeff's work, 'Big Ben' will be on display at the Show along with a few of my other Basses that are fully restored and sale-ready.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I should know in a day or so if I have my booth/room set for the June ISB. If so and all goes well with Jeff's work, 'Big Ben' will be on display at the Show along with a few of my other Basses that are fully restored and sale-ready.

'Big Ben' is sitting in the rack a few feet from my desk. I picked it up Saturday and even stopped by Arnold's to show him the Bass as well. My Evah's were there to be put on my Lott model Bass after the Extension but that job was put on hold so I put them on 'Big Ben' instead and used ones of Arnold's benches while he touched up my modern Lott Bass which is now ready for the ISB as well.

Big Ben, aka Gamba Supreme will be at the ISB. It's a Bass NOT to miss! Trust me on that. The sound is in the class of my attributed Storioni. An Organ with Strings on it!

The C-Extension came out beautifully as well so a big thanks to Jeff Bollbach who also did a few tweaks on the Bass to say the least. "Dr. Arnold" had the last word as I had him look it over just in case he had any thoughts of his own.

This is a Bass I could keep and use for everything short of a tight spaced Pit job as she does have some girth on her to contend with, upper and lower. She measures about 60"-48"-86" in case you were thinking of taking her out for a spin..

[Ken Smith]

Ok, I am back from the Show now a few days and recovering from the long hours I have been putting in over the last few weeks between my two branches of the business, the DB's and the Smith products.

Big Ben as we now call it (or is it Gamba Supreme? I forgot..) was a HIT at the ISB. Everyone who played it stopped after a few notes or just after the 'A' sting and paused before continuing. I was told by many people that it was the best Bass at the ISB. Just about every dealer came over to check it out as well after hearing all the talk about it.

Several of them examined the bass carefully trying to figure out what it was. They all were puzzled and said things like, 'I'm not sure", "Very difficult, very..", I'll have to think about it", "ENGLISH".. the usual call and then I heard one dealer whisper to another, "Gagliano?"...

So, even after several first hand looks at it, we are about where we started some 5+ years ago. The Bass even has some old Mittenwald qualities to it but we are not sure what exactly is original on the bass as well as the lower bout shape which one dealer/maker thought it could have been cut down even in that area as well as the outer Bouts which do not have any purfling left either.

So, she is big, she it powerful, she is beautiful, sweet sounding, colorful and complex sounding and she's big.. I said big twice, I know.. lol

What is it? A big and quality sounding bass that is actually fairly easy to play. One of the European pros performing at the ISB mentioned that it's a very special bass as fat as good basses go and was playing on it as if it was a solo bass hitting the high harmonics and double stops with the greatest of ease.

I was told by two pros there giving me separate informal private lessons in the booth that I needed to pick ONE bass and play it. Part of my problem in playing is that I switch back and forth between basses which have different lengths and measurements making hand position training impossible. Maybe I should just play this one and leave the others in the rack just for sale. In NYC when I made my living playing bass, I used one instrument primarily for about 15 years. Maybe that's what I really need to do again. Play only one bass for the most part, practicing and performing. Sitting, standing, classical or jazz, whatever. Just one main bass..

This was the second old bass I bought this time around when I started playing again about 8 years ago. The Batchelder was the first and that was just sold. My intention was to have this fixed and use it for myself. Sounds like I should stick with that original plan. These other basses I have been buying for my hobby/business has become such a distraction....

[Joel Larsson]

I am happy about your successful restoration and the pride you seem to feel towards this bass. It doesn't sound like using this one as a main bass would be a bad idea, does it..?
You should allow yourself to have a special relationship to your main bass, that's my opinion. Despite owning at least one da Salo and countless other excellent instruments, and having to sell off almost everything he owned in times of financial difficulty, Bottesini kept his Testore to the end. You certainly seem to have a less "professional" approach to this instrument already! And just imagine what the BB might sound like after it's had some time to break in and open up..! How about you go for it??