The Great English Double Basses

[Ken Smith]

Last year I saw and held a beautiful B.S. Fendt Amati model Bass with a golden brown Varnish. Nice and sweet, rich and colorful sounding Bass. I also tried a handwritten labeled English Bass from a J.Wilkins, 1893, London. This was a gamba shaped Bass and had a sweet English sound as well. A few years ago Kolstein had a James Brown gamba shaped English Bass that reminds me very much in shape, size and color of this Wilkins Bass. I believe the J.Brown Bass is still on Kolsteins Archives but I don't have access to it.

Since the Basses were not mine and were only brought for comparison purposes as my Dodd and Martini were tried out, I didn’t take any pics of them.

Just prior to that I looked at a Maggini model Fendt and had similar style FFs but was covered in a deep rich Reddish Varnish over Gold which showed thru in some warn areas. and. Usually the Maggini and d'Salo model Fendts have the Brecian FFs but I have heard of another Maggini model Fendt as well still bearing the Amati style FFs. It turned out that the Red colored Fendt had 4 tiny stamps inside the back that said J.HART. Only after the Back came off and was being cleaned did we find this hidden treasure.

[Ken Smith]

John Thomas Hart born in London in 1805 (d.1874) went to study with Samuel Gilkes at the age of 15 (1820) just 6 years after Gilkes completed my Bass. Hart was known mainly as a repairer and connoisseur of Violin Family Instruments and Bows. He got his start as a pupil of Samuel Gilkes who died in 1827. This Hart is believed to be c.1830 or maybe earlier.

Now, we believe the Bass attributed to Fendt for almost 40 years is actually made by J.Hart. Hart is listed as being in the Gilkes/Forster School of makers in at least 2 of the books I have written by and about the English makers.

Any other spine chilling stories out there to be told as far as the English? (Basses I mean)..

John Hart founded the famous Hart & Sons Makers & Dealers of the 19th century and later succeeded by George I and II, the son and grandson of John.

[Ken Smith]

Laminated to the bottom Rib at the tail-block is a business card/label under the Varnish. This is actually a separate piece grafted/spliced wood to the bottom Ribs at the Block and looks to be a very old repair. The business card is under some very dark varnish and hard to read but seems to say;
__________________________________________________ _____

Messrs. Bird & Sons
56 Berwick St. 1 Door from Oxford St.
for instructions .............................
50 Double Basses on Sale from 8 to 100 guineas
The Double Bass and 40 Music Stands can be had on hire
Professional Gentlemen have a double bass at a moderate price
__________________________________________________ _____

When I told this news of the "J.HART" stamps to Duane Rosengard he responded by saying how rare a find this was. 'Olde' Bird as he was known had personally introduced Samuel Allen (19th century English Bow maker) to W.E. Hill himself! Allen actually set-up the Hill Bow making shop and was one of his top Bow makers. Bird was a 19th century dealer and connoisseur of fine Double Basses in the 19th century.

This Bass was apparently at one time in the possession of 'Bird & Son' as the outer laminated label suggests.

Some of the names we discussed in the old TB thread included; Forster, Hill, Panormo, Dodd, Fendt, Lott, Gilkes, Kennedy, Betts, Tarr, Cole, Devereaux, Baker, Furber, Smith, Allwood, Davies, Wilkins, Brown, Gough, Briggs, Corsby and maybe a few others.

Some of these I introduced and some by others looking for help with IDs on Basses they were looking at.

Please re-introduce those here with 'only' the most current info and get a few names and pics on record of these great English Basses.. Once known as 'The Poor Mans Italian'..

[Ken Smith]

I took some pics a few days ago while visiting Arnold. Here is a couple of them;

More can be seen here on the Hart page. Or, is it a Fendt? The Jury is still out on that by the way.

[davidseidel]

Furber got a mention in your history pages Ken so here are afew pics of my attributed to Furber bass.......

[Ken Smith]

Dave, that's a beautiful Bass. When I was researching John Betts concerning a Bass I had here from London, John Furber was listed as one of his makers or 'out workers'. It's still unclear to me if Furber actually worked inside the Betts shop on his own supplying Betts or a combination of both. Later on, Tom Martin tells me my Betts is actually a Dodd. I believe it was T.Martin that ID'd your Bass as well, no? Either way, it held a similar value if not more. I sold it in less than a year to a professional Symphony Bassist. Next to my Gilkes and Storioni, it was one of the best Basses I have played. I am sure your English Bass is right on par with it.

I hope to be able to try your Bass one day. It looks beautiful.. Enjoy it..

[Ken Smith]

The Hart is done now and resting beside the Gilkes..