My "new" Tyrolean/German bass:

[Adrian Juras]

The back does not appear to be original to me. I have not often seen tightly flamed maple like this in a double bass. The color is slightly different than the sides(which also have a nice figure to them).

Another of the top:

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Juras

The back does not appear to be original to me. I have not often seen tightly flamed maple like this in a double bass. The color is slightly different than the sides(which also have a nice figure to them).

Another of the top:

Ok, do two things on the Back issues. Measure the purfling on the Top and see if it is identical. Then get a UV/black light and look over the bass in the dark and see if the opaque colors are the same on the back, ribs and scroll. You will see repairs and some purple from touch-up but check the hue between those areas. Look at the top as well. The varnish under uv looks closer on the top than under the eye.

I have seen many many basses with high tight flame from all over Germany from north to south of that country from about a century or two back. The back is a 'slip match', not a book match. This is more of a hand made instrument than a factory bass from looking at the back which shows repairs consistent with its age.

Scroll Pics? All sides please.

[Adrian Juras]

The purfling is different. Its uniform on the back about 3/32" all the way around, however the Top purfling looks hand made. Its not uniform, the ebony(or other) is thicker in some places, and the width of the purfling varies from around 1/8" to around 3/32 or 7/64ths of an inch.

Scroll pics are on their way...

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Juras

The purfling is different. Its uniform on the back about 3/32" all the way around, however the Top purfling looks hand made. Its not uniform, the ebony(or other) is thicker in some places, and the width of the purfling varies from around 1/8" to around 3/32 or 7/64ths of an inch.

Scroll pics are on their way...

Also, show some pics of the Top Purfling as well.

[Adrian Juras]

Ken, here are a few pictures of the scroll... The machine heads of course are not original. In fact they were recently added, taken from another German bass.

[Adrian Juras]

In this picture you can see some damage, and where some re edging was done:

[Adrian Juras]

I am not sure about what is original to this bass. The neck/scroll may not be. Here are a couple of side/back pictures. I'll see about getting a fairly high resolution picture of the purfling on the top and back.

[Ken Smith]

The Gears are old German as well. The Scroll looks to be beech, not maple. The slender pegbox is not typical and the button looks more Bohemian/Czech than German or Tirol.

[Ken Smith]

I can't compare it all that well from the Top pics but it does look different on the purfling. Also, is that all the original varnish or was the top refinished a some point?