Where are they??

[Sebastian Nordstrom]

It might be refinished, I don't know. I agree that it is not the most charming brown.
If the top has been switched it would probably have been done a long time ago. I'm no expert but personally I think it is the original top. Is it a common thing to do, make a new top?
It's hard to capture with my not so good phone/bad photographic talent but it does look quite old when you get close, and look at the wear, texture (? maybe wrong word) and grain. The arching is very high. F-holes are nice I think, to bad I don't have a proper picture of the front.

About the rosette - I have only seen this on the internet, on super old italian basses. Maybe the "Johan" something "Nuener" who supposedly made this bass got inspired and decided to ad this feature?

[Ken Smith]

Well, usually that rosette is seen in a few small Maggini basses and old Viols. This is a big German bass. Totally out of character for that decoration. My guess is a new top as it doesn't have the wear and tear of an 1830s bass in my opinion.



New tops are made for basses that have accidents. I know one Panormo bass with a new/old top, a Strad violin with a new/old top, both mentioned were done shortly after they were made. Then I know a French bass that has a new top made and I had a bass that was new but the top was damaged in shipment so it got a new top from the same maker. So, new tops do happen when it seems the old one is too far damaged to repair or destroyed into splinters. Imagine that big bass taking a fall or the player falling on it for some reason. I have heard of that happening more than once.

[Sebastian Nordstrom]

It might be so I suppose. I will try to get som closer pictures next time I meet this bass!

Here is the same bass in action playing Brahms 2:
https://youtu.be/5MfuE50OrSk

No super good close-ups of the bass section, but for example at ca 4min and 7:35isch, the bass is a little more visible.

[Ken Smith]

Wow.. Nice.. The principal is a 4-string? Italian or English bass? Also I see mostly big 5s and one bass with Extension.. Nice mix. Great orchestra.. Which one is you?

[Sebastian Nordstrom]

They are great!

I will ask the principal, Joel Gonzales, what his bass is next time I meet him. He is one of the teachers here at our school. The player behind him in the back row, Michal Stadnicki, was principal for ca 30 years I think. I'm studying with him.

I have heard being able to play the low notes, below E, is more or less mandatory in DR Symphony and at the royal danish opera orchestra. So you basically have to play 5-strings or extension. Unless you are principal, then you can play whatever you like. But maybe this is common practice worldwide? I know that in germany and austria, 5-strings is what you always play in orchestra. In Sweden, were I'm from, I think it varies from orchestra to orchestra.

I'm not a professional orchestral musician (yet!) but I hoping to elbow myself into that world. I have been freelancing as jazzer (and a bunch of other stuff) for about a decade, orchestral music is relatively new for me and I'm in my 1st year of masters. I try to work as hard as I can and trust that it will lead to something.

[Ken Smith]

Ok, great.. keep at it.. It will come..

[Sebastian Nordstrom]

While on the topic of large, german, old basses, maybe these are interesting. They belong to the opera orchestra, I believe. I "stole" the pictures from the principals instagram. I don't know him, but I don't think it's a horrible crime, the profile is public.

First is a "Schnabel" second is a Leopold Widhalm. Never heard either name before. The first bass' label-picture, are all danish repair labels. Second is manufacturer and year(1795?) and a old repair label from Mannheim.

(I'm currently sick and have to isolate myself so this is how prevent dying of boredom...)