Viennese ??

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Levi

Ken - do you have any idea when and where this scroll design originated from?
I cant decide if ugly or not ... looks kind of medieval weapon like ...

Viol d'Gambas? .. All over Europe from Italy thru Germany and spread east and west. I think the earliest I have seen these is the 16th century Viols, maybe earlier.

[Adrian Levi]

I've just noticed that this neck on this bass is sitting directly on the neck block and not supported by the rib sides at all it seems . The neck block face is flush with the rib ends / I'm just interested to know if any particular school subscribed to this way of building ?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Levi

I've just noticed that this neck on this bass is sitting directly on the neck block and not supported by the rib sides at all it seems . The neck block face is flush with the rib ends / I'm just interested to know if any particular school subscribed to this way of building ?

When or IF the Top comes off, you will see it is a dovetail joint in the neck block. The neck can't just SIT on top. It has to be supported. I have seen this on German Basses as a style but is also the old Gamba construction before the neck/block mortise became the standard.

Can you show some pictures of the sides/ribs? By the neck area and full shots as well, both sides and as many pics as you can post.

[Eric Hochberg]

Can you see a clue of the dovetail in the overstand?. I can on my older bass. It appears that filler blocks were added to hide it, or it might have been converted from dovetail.

[Adrian Levi]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

When or IF the Top comes off, you will see it is a dovetail joint in the neck block. The neck can't just SIT on top. It has to be supported. I have seen this on German Basses as a style but is also the old Gamba construction before the neck/block mortise became the standard.

Can you show some pictures of the sides/ribs? By the neck area and full shots as well, both sides and as many pics as you can post.

A dovetail joint never occurred to me . Here are some pics I have on my mac.

[Adrian Levi]

a couple more ...

[Ken Smith]

Please, straight side shots please. I want to see the profile form.

Like these;


and body only without neck like;


On the Dovetail with the Neck on top of the block I just looked back at some pics and see this on many German basses from all schools, some from Prague and some Viennese. These are mainly throughout the 19th century.

The problem in history search is that most good luthiers when changing the neck with a new graft will modify it and drop it into the block. Often, the block is either changed or wood added to the bottom of it to compensate for the deeper mortise. On occasion a luthier will actually 'restore' it and keep it original. I have even seen this with blockless basses. To me, this makes no sense at all because the best neck set is the mortise. Why drive with square tires when we have round ones now??

[Adrian Levi]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Please, straight side shots please. I want to see the profile form.

Like these;


and body only without neck like;


On the Dovetail with the Neck on top of the block I just looked back at some pics and see this on many German basses from all schools, some from Prague and some Viennese. These are mainly throughout the 19th century.

The problem in history search is that most good luthiers when changing the neck with a new graft will modify it and drop it into the block. Often, the block is either changed or wood added to the bottom of it to compensate for the deeper mortise. On occasion a luthier will actually 'restore' it and keep it original. I have even seen this with blockless basses. To me, this makes no sense at all because the best neck set is the mortise. Why drive with square tires when we have round ones now??

Ill send pics as soon as I can on the sides !
Do you have any basses of a similar style ?