Czech / German ....?

[Adrian Levi]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

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.

Hi Ken , I am not with the instrument at the moment but these are the measurements I got today.

Total length is 113 to 114 cm
Centre bouts are 20cm (end to end)
Top bout is 17,5cm
Bottom bout is 21cm
Back to top (with out plates) is 17,5cm

Also attached are some pics of 'a scroll' .The previous owner is not sure that it came with the bass even/doesn't look like it. There is another head that Ill get soon ,one that is removed from a neck and I think that may have belonged to the bass ! Ill attach the existing pics anyway !