Colors..

[William Stephens]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

On your Viennese bass looking German, show some pics of it. In later years they did look more Germanic than the old Vienna and Prague classics of the 18th and 19th century.

Here are some pics of the bass. I apologise for the standard of the photography!

The name on the label is Franz Xaver Güttler. Having done a little bit of net-based research It appears this maker was better known for producing guitars and zithers, although he does seem to have made violins too.

I was wondering if maybe it was a german instrument he might have purchased in the white or something like that.

It's a pretty overgrown bass, with a back length of 116 cm and a normal string stop of 110, although it has been shortened to 108 via a big bridge cheat.

The f holes are very wide apart (almost 7" at the narrowest point), and the bass bar is very far out from the centre, so much so that when I had a new bridge put on it by Mike Hart earlier this year he to use a 5 string blank, and even that isn't wide enough! He had to set the bridge slightly off to the bass side to get the foot to sit on top of the bar.

Could this maybe be an error made by a guitar maker trying make a bass...hmmm


Thanks

Will

[Ken Smith]

Can I see the Back of the Bass, a close up of the Back Button meeting the Neck and more angles of the Scroll?

I need straight on plain and simple shots.

[William Stephens]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Can I see the Back of the Bass, a close up of the Back Button meeting the Neck and more angles of the Scroll?

I need straight on plain and simple shots.

Well at least I now know if the bass playing doesn't get me anywhere I can forget taking up photography....

[Ken Smith]

Franz Xaver Güttler?? Is there a year on the Bass?

This IS an actual maker/repairer in Vienna b.1857, d.1924.
Founded his own shop in 1889 after training earlier with Carl Franz Schmidt (from about 1869-1876) and then worked in shops for other makers till 1889.

The Bass however looks Germanic and Czech. The Scroll button looks Czech. The Gears look German. The Back looks Czech, the Ribs look German.. Help!!

I think this was a Czech shop Bass (Schoenbach), turn of the century and somehow, that Label found its way into the Bass. I don't see this Bass as being made in Vienna unless I need a refresher course on what a Viennese Bass looks like or the variety they produced. In that period, it was just as easy to buy a factory Bass and complete it in your own shop or sell it as-is out of the Box. .. Just my opinion..

[William Stephens]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

I think this was a Czech shop Bass (Schoenbach), turn of the century and somehow, that Label found its way into the Bass. I don't see this Bass as being made in Vienna unless I need a refresher course on what a Viennese Bass looks like or the variety they produced. In that period, it was just as easy to buy a factory Bass and complete it in your own shop or sell it as-is out of the Box. .. Just my opinion..

Thanks for the info, Ken. The year on the label is 1912. The czech attribution does seem to make sense: when I bought the bass about a year ago I heard the dealer mumble something about it previously residing in eastern europe!

Also I notice a czech bass on Gary Upton's site which is remarkably similar:

http://www.uptonbass.com/used-czech-...-upright-bass/

compare the backs of the 2 instruments - they are virtually identical!

Well I think I'm gonna try and covince (or delude) myself that Güttler acquired this instrment in the white rather than the label being false.

Thanks a lot

Will