My New German

[Joel Larsson]

Without having heard or played the bass, 5,700 does seem very reasonable. I had probably bought it myself.
AND that's way cheaper than what my friend will end up in, and minus the risk-taking, but of course, he will have a bass in top condition once it's finished - I know the luthier. As for regraduating the table, the very same luthier did that on my shabby little shop bass (you'll find it in the 'speaking of restorations' dir) and it did make a huge difference - before it sounded like you were playing through a door, afterwards it had a voice. But this has to be discussed with a luthier (and the luthier should have done it before) as a bass' shop origin does not necessarily indicate that the wood is too thick or thin. It could perhaps be difficult to estimate how much need of graduating there is, without opening up the bass, and you don't do that without a good reason. Perhaps you might as well just save your bucks until next year. I think this was very recently discussed, but I can't be arsed into looking it up for you.