Interesting bass (and history reminder)

[Joshua Phelps]

I love violin corners & round back. Visually the bass is beautiful but I tend to like a darker varnish myself. What do you think of the lighter colored instruments like this one?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps

I love violin corners & round back. Visually the bass is beautiful but I tend to like a darker varnish myself. What do you think of the lighter colored instruments like this one?

It was a tradition that all better instruments were done with transparent amber varnish so as not to hide a single detail and to pass your masters test, it was a requirement. I have owned a few master grade instruments with various shades of amber and they were beautiful.

In researching Kreutzer's history, his teacher J. Werner came originally from Schonbach and trained there with V. Lutz whose brother made Double Basses. So, I can't say who made what for who from the earlier generations but Werner later headed up the Lidl firm in Brno as well. Kreutzer is also listed as one of the masters that passed thru Lidl so it was there I assume that he worked and trained with Werner.

Kruetzer seems to have had a rich life in violin culture working for firms, associations and shops from Zurich, Germany and Brno (Czech/Moravia) as well as being directly or indirectly associated with various Court makers from Vienna to Schonbach (Luby).

I am thankful for having spent good money on my collection of books. I hunted all of them down within the used market because they went out of print almost as fast as they were written. The Henley book unfortunately is limited when it comes to the vast majority of makers from the German, Czech, Moravian and Austrian schools. It seems only the majors and a few others get listed. I have two complete books for just these areas (German/Austrian makers and Bohemian/Moravian makers) and also another 2 book set of all the makers worldwide by Jalovec. The only two books I need to open my own Violin Library is one on Hungarian makers and one on the Spanish makers. At about $300 or so per book IF you can find them, it gets expensive. To list what I have already took hours and 4 books from Jalovec. The Henley book gave no additional information on the Brno/Moravian makers at all. I am still not done tracing all of each of the named makers/shops roots but the a nutshell, this guy Kruetzer didn't just crawl out of the woodwork. He crawled INTO it..

[Joshua Phelps]

You are Always well educated on all the instruments you own & NOW I see why. The Internet is great but I miss the days when you had to go out in the world to seek knowledge & retrieve a book or seek out an individual that possessed the information you were after. The Internet is loaded with false information as well not like neatly packaged books that are either credible or not & if not then quickly written of by the community of whatever area of interests it contains.

Nice bass & neat to hear about the books.

On a side note it would be nice if you put up sounds clips or video with audio of the new basses you get. They are Simply eye candy for readers on the forum. It's like someone making a beautiful steak dinner then only allowing you to look at it w/o taking a bite haha

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps

You are Always well educated on all the instruments you own & NOW I see why. The Internet is great but I miss the days when you had to go out in the world to seek knowledge & retrieve a book or seek out an individual that possessed the information you were after. The Internet is loaded with false information as well not like neatly packaged books that are either credible or not & if not then quickly written of by the community of whatever area of interests it contains.

Nice bass & neat to hear about the books.

On a side note it would be nice if you put up sounds clips or video with audio of the new basses you get. They are Simply eye candy for readers on the forum. It's like someone making a beautiful steak dinner then only allowing you to look at it w/o taking a bite haha

You cannot tell from clips which basses rattle the walls or shake your guts inside because of compression used to fit the speakers. Listen to some Jazz records with big name players. Then go play their bass in person. You will be disappointed. It is studio magic and amplifiers that make some of those basses sound good on recordings and in concert, not the basses.

The smoothness or sweetness of a bass cannot be felt thru speakers. You are limited to what the speaker can do. You need to play the bass and hear it live.

The Kreutzer feels great inside my body when I play it. It goes thru me. I can feel it on my knee and stomach depending on how I hold it. That is what I look for in a bass. Not a recording that is doctored up or compressed to fit a speaker.

Several years ago when I first fit my pickup to the Martini bass I had, the speaker nearly broke when I played the A string and the E just distorted it totally. The true fundamental was too thick a signal for the speaker to handle. THAT is what I am talking about. It it amplifies well and easily, it's a thin sounding bass!

[Joshua Phelps]

What type of pickups do you prefer for double bass?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps

What type of pickups do you prefer for double bass?

I have been using a Shadow dual Piezo, similar to an underwood.

[Ken Smith]

Ok, I took her out Wednesday (10/10/12) for an Orchestra rehearsal. The Principal there asked me to cover his spot because he was unavailable. There are from 6-8 basses in that Orchestra, this concert is 6. Although I just sit in the back there, the Principal felt there was no one in the section that could lead other than me and I am basically just a guest when I am available.

The bass was more powerful than I had imagined and the lower two strings, more than adequate. The bass has a set of Pirastro Permanents now that are usually too bright for my ears but sound nice n smooth on this bass. I will keep them on for now.

I think for a mid 20th century made bass, it is as nice as anything Italian that I have seen. This is basically a Strad model in a true sense of the art.

Now I need a name for the bass, a nick name. Joey maybe?