History of the American Bass

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer

I was in Mittenwald several years back, and walking around this most amazingly picturesque Alps town, I came upon a beautiful statue in the center of town. Who, you ask, is portrayed there? Matthias Klotz. Maybe somebody with better internet skills can find & post a picture here. BTW, Ken, I think you are right about Hornsteiner. I believe I was thinking of the more modern, commercial Neuner & Hornsteiner basses.

Well, like I mentioned in my other Thread Where are they??, these old Mittenwald basses are hard to find. Yes, the commercial ones made for export over the last 100 years or so are not so hard to find but the ones from before 1850 and back a century or so more are mostly still over there I would imagine.

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Here is the statue.

http://www.matthias-klotz.de/img/3-0/3-0-Denkmal200.jpg

[Martin Sheridan]

The newest Howard Core catalog has the picture from another angle.

Klotz was such a big name and there were so many of them that they were also 'copied' in the 19th and 20th century; mass produced crappy violins containing Kotz labels and of course basses too. I saw one about thirty years ago that was clearly a commercial bass with a false Klotz label. It was a good bass however.
Ken, I have a feeling that you're right and that many of those basses are still in orchestras over there. Maybe our German friend can enlighten us on that.

[Eric Hochberg]

So, Ken, on the TB discussion about the now Upton Prescott in the Hawkes thread, looking at the scroll of that one, it has more turns than the few other Prescott scrolls I've seen pictured including yours, Nahrmann's, etc. It reminds me of the Batchelder scroll a bit. Do you think that is an original Prescott scroll, and if not, who might have made it, assuming it's original to the bass' time period?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eric Hochberg

So, Ken, on the TB discussion about the now Upton Prescott in the Hawkes thread, looking at the scroll of that one, it has more turns than the few other Prescott scrolls I've seen pictured including yours, Nahrmann's, etc. It reminds me of the Batchelder scroll a bit. Do you think that is an original Prescott scroll, and if not, who might have made it, assuming it's original to the bass' time period?

I think it's Yankee but Darricott and Willard and many others made basses too. Where are they and all the other makers? Masquerading as Prescott's because it's easier to sell if it is.

In my opinion, I have seen more NON-Prescott's named Prescott than actual Prescotts themselves.

A customer came over once and showed me his Prescott. Oops.. Sorry, Not a Prescott that I can see. Shaw, Scotty, Reggie and now this as well as the other bass they have in pieces. How could Prescott have made all these various bass models, F-holes and Scrolls and the other maker's basses are still in the closet?

The early Cello models with sweeping FFs, one with those FFs and rounded cornered 4/4 (aka Busetto) and the other patterns with the short wide FFs that are connceted. Those are Prescotts. The long medium FFs, not his I think. Scrolls for sale? Why not! The French and the Germans did it!

If these were Strads selling in the Millions, it would all be sorted out. At these prices it's still a bass for the money and not a Pedigree purchase. A bass with no name is worth less than a similar grade bass with a name. That's just how it goes. Ca ching....

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by wayne holmes

As far as I know, I only have one older American made bass. The label has G. Kschier- PA-I found Kschier in one of my books-George and son made basses in the early 1900's using domestic wood- You have anything else on the Kschier basses?

What Book are you reading this from?

"Kschier, George & Sons; Vln maker, repairman and dealer. Firm was est. c.1855. Later was named Kschier bros. George worked there c.1907-1915. Broad Strad model. Brown oil Varnish. Domestic wood. Primarily repairs." (Wenberg)

I would say better than a 50/50 chance that they imported basses from Germany and re-labeled them like the Gemunder's did in NY from what I just read. Does not sound like Bass makers to me.Show me the bass, please!