Czech / German ....?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Levi

Thanks for the reply Ken.Is it at all possible to estimate the age of the bass by the pics by any chance ?

Well, without seeing the scroll the only thing that tells me later than earlier are the edges. They look a big 'beaded' which we see more of starting in the early 20th century from about 1920-30 or so. The Varnish looks spirit on the ribs and that shade seen on German basses after that date as well. Many of the earlier commercially made basses (as I suspect this one to be) had a lighter golden varnish. That darker red-brown is later I believe after WWII.

That's my guess for now. The bass could be earlier but if so, not by much. The other modern feature I see is that Back. Round and sloped in at the bend. I don't know what to call that but I have seen that on basses slightly over 100 years old and I think it's German all the way. I have one now in restoration and it's so comfortable to play. Angle bent Backs date way back from before the DB used on Viols and Violones. Basses like those by Panormo have a round back but the Rib depth stays constant up until the break. These smaller Germanic style basses with this sloped back make it bass look as if it's slightly bent gradually from the bottom up almost in a quasi bowl shape. I had a Pollmann like that recently and it was so easy to play.

Show the Scroll and Pegbox as well as all of the normal measurements of the bass, Ribs measures alone without plates please.