"Cornerless Italian & Spanish Basses"

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Have we seen this one before? Supposedly Italian.

Sorry for the late reply Matt...

Yes, to my eye it looks very Italian or could be Spanish as well.

Where is this bass?

[Matthew Tucker]

It is, or was in Bruno Brett's shop in Paris. He calls it 18th C "Storioni school".

I have asked them for more information, but none forthcoming yet ..

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

It is, or was in Bruno Brett's shop in Paris. He calls it 18th C "Storioni school".

I have asked them for more information, but none forthcoming yet ..

Ever since the Elgar book came out with a Cornerless bass shown and the write-up about him making these, anything similar is usually named after him one way or another. I have head Rogeri as well on at least two occasions.

I was told that the bass in the book is NOT Storioni and there is another bass known as a Storioni in another Museum not far from the one that has the Cornerless. The other bass is not Cornerless. I also saw a smallish Italian bass, very old over here that belongs to the Curtis Institute that they call a Storioni as well. Violin cornered bass..

With my bass is restoration, looking inside it now and even before the bass was opened, it looks to be too old to be by Storioni but who knows?

Keep us informed if you hear anymore about this bass.

[Adrian Juras]

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but how is the restoration going on your Storioni Ken? I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it when it is complete!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Juras

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but how is the restoration going on your Storioni Ken? I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it when it is complete!

Old thread start maybe but never ending I am sure.

What looked like a minor treble side Top pressing has been re-evaluated into being a total Top re-shaping. The Top is off and the neck is out with the Scroll/pegbox detached. The Neck is toast and incorrect so it's firewood. The Scroll is to be fully repaired and then grafted into the Block-cut carcass when it gets to that point. Time is our friend here as some of the stress and depression has come back on its own just getting some rest without the string tension on it. The rest of the Top shaping will be a major job. The Back and Ribs need total restoration as well.

Ask me again this time next year if I haven't already posted on it.. lol

You are welcome to ask Arnold BUT this may also fall under 'Doctor-Patient Confidentiality'!

[Carlos Villarreal]

i,ll just add this youtube link for those whohave not heard Edicson Ruiz videos on youtube with his 1750 cornerless Landolfi. Btw he uses 3 diffrent bridges, one for 3 string Bottessini stuff, another for low action vieneese tuning and another one with higher action for modern playing. I had a chance to hear this bass for a whole week when Edicson came to solo with our orchestra. Its a dark sounding instrument, that projects really well at far.

http://www.youtube.com/user/doublebassVenezuela

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Carlos Villarreal

i,ll just add this youtube link for those whohave not heard Edicson Ruiz videos on youtube with his 1750 cornerless Landolfi. Btw he uses 3 diffrent bridges, one for 3 string Bottessini stuff, another for low action vieneese tuning and another one with higher action for modern playing. I had a chance to hear this bass for a whole week when Edicson came to solo with our orchestra. Its a dark sounding instrument, that projects really well at far.

http://www.youtube.com/user/doublebassVenezuela

I have seen 2 other Basses named Landolfi. One was a 3/4 Gamba and the other a 7/8 Violin cornered. I don't remember if flat or round back. None of them including this cornerless look alike one bit.

He is a great player. The sound you describe could be the same if it were my bass as I've heard this from others in the past. Is this bass a Landolfi? Who knows as he even mentions 'possibly by'. The shape of his bass looks a lot like mine but not the FFs, just the body outline.

By they way, as my Bass is apart and in restoration it is looking about 50 years older than Storioni's period by two professional opinions so far. One thinks the Scroll has a Cremona flavor. The other thinks it's simplistically beautiful at the head. A third opinion as well as Arnold's and even mine now is that the rounded bottom of the pegbox is very possibly a later but very old modification. It was maybe done for a needed repair to a broken button. There are about 4 grafts visible in the back there. Arnold will leave a similar 2mm or so line across the button area showing the current graft as part of the bass's history. The rounded button area is there to stay. What's done is done!

[Adrian Juras]

Originally Posted by Carlos Villarreal

i,ll just add this youtube link for those whohave not heard Edicson Ruiz videos on youtube with his 1750 cornerless Landolfi. Btw he uses 3 diffrent bridges, one for 3 string Bottessini stuff, another for low action vieneese tuning and another one with higher action for modern playing. I had a chance to hear this bass for a whole week when Edicson came to solo with our orchestra. Its a dark sounding instrument, that projects really well at far.

http://www.youtube.com/user/doublebassVenezuela

Beautiful bass. There really is something pleasing about the shape of a cornerless(or guitar shaped) bass. Very intriguing. I look forward to hearing more about yours Ken as the restoration continues!