Where are they??

[nick weldon]

Hi Ken, thanks for taking the time to look - the evaluation was from Thwaites, I think, a very well respected luthier here in the UK

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by nick weldon

Hi Ken, thanks for taking the time to look - the evaluation was from Thwaites, I think, a very well respected luthier here in the UK

Thwaites is a shop that deals in all strings instruments and they have handled many great basses over the years. Like I said, from the pictures, it can go either way but I have seen at least one Mittenwald bass that looks similar to yours. Not all Mittenwald basses have a specific look. After all, they are German as well and most of all, German makers usually follow the Italian and/or the Tirol school in one way or another.

I have done a bit of business with Thwaites as well over the lase few years but thru personal meets here in my shop with Bill P.. Next time you are in there, give Bill my personal regards.

[Ken Smith]

I have seen this huge bass (116cm s.l., 45.66") on-line many times and it's listed as an old English bass played in the Finnish Radio Symphony. A few weeks ago I noticed the small ebony arrows inlaid in the upper gamba bout corners of the Top. The only maker I know of that does that is Josef Rieger of Mittenwald (19c.). Rufus Reid has a bass by him as well. This one has a lion head as well.

[Gerry Grable]

Great looking instrument.
I can understand the lion's head, but why the arrows?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Gerry Grable

Great looking instrument.
I can understand the lion's head, but why the arrows?

I don't know why but that maker put them in his basses. I have seen 3 or 4 of them like that. Maybe it was his personal trademark.

[Sebastian Nordstrom]

Hello folks. There has not been so much activity in this thread for a long time so maybe it's time to revive it.

To answer the question in the topic:
Well, one is in Copenhagen. I'm doing my masters here and for this weeks orchestra production, one of my class mates brought his work bass; 1830s Neuner. He's doing his trial year in the DR orchestra and the bass belongs to them. BIG busetto. The sound is not "in your face" but it literally shakes the floor. And when you go out in the hall, it is more and more present.

I think the label says "Johann" something "Neuner" 183something. It's super hard to get a decent photo but I will try. I'm also a horrible photographer.

[Sebastian Nordstrom]

Some more pictures. I don't know why some are upside down.

As I said, really tricky to get the label. We try not to handle each others basses so much at the moment, due to covid, otherwise I would have taken it out of the stand.

The bass has a little rosette under the fingerboard in the top, I also post a picture of that. And a photo of the basses next to it for size comparison. The first from the left is mine, since recently. Also an old mittenwald, but much smaller. It looks like a baby bass next to the neuner.