Where's This Bass From?

[Ken Smith]

Neck/Scroll Grafts are quite common on old Basses. Actually I have a Shen from 1997 that had a Graft because the Neck was back bowing had a Knot in the wood and broke while trying to be straightened. Sill, a graft is on par with age for most basses.

The fact the the Varnish is the same on the Scroll and body points to being original. The added wood in the Heel of the Neck is a button to possibly make it longer for the overstand you have now. This is common even on newer Basses when the wood itself isn't long enough in that area. String length and Grafts are not related unless a longer or shorter neck itself is grafted. How long it grafts into the scroll is how long the Luthier decided to do it. My Candi goes almost all the way up the peg box while some other basses are grafted in less than half the box length. This is just how it was done and not related to any length factors.

When a new Neck is grafted it covers some of the old tuner scars 'inside' the peg box. The best way to look for signs of previous tuners is to take the plates off the outer cheeks and see what scars or plugs you find. Replaced Tuners are quite common but that Bass looks to be much nicer than the average bass you will see with those tuners. Like a man wearing a business suit and tennis shoes on his feet. A German Bass of that era would have had either Hat peg gears, nicer metal gears or possible even a 3-string if made for the English market as they were the last to go to the 4-string uniformly. That could explain the hasty choice for that grade of half plate German gears.