"Cornerless Italian & Spanish Basses"

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Nice work. That's quite a change!

Yes, indeed it is and thanks for the appreciation. I have been on the 'owner end' of a few 'Block-Cuts' by Arnold but this by far is the most beautiful. The wide Ebony Caps are reminiscent of my Candi which was done that way when the bass was originally made. Arnold had to repair and replace some of that capping when the neck graft was done.

Arnold is welcome to discuss any of the 'inside skinny' concerning this restoration but like surgery on humans, I doubt the patient wants all the gory details of what happened inside while he was asleep.

In this case, I have seen plenty and little scares me at this point as far as basses go.

[Eric Swanson]

I recall Phil Manieri's comment awhile ago, that the "Storioni" was "just sick" to play (indescribably beyond good), even before the restoration.

I look forward to hearing about how the bass plays, now...

Such lovely work! Beautifully conceived and wonderfully executed...

Ken, thanks for sharing those photos...

[Adrian Juras]

Ken, was the bass slightly cut to make the shorter string length possible?

[Eric Hochberg]

I've been curious, since I first saw it, about that before restoration button pic, the purfling, center seam strip, etc. are off center to the neck. Now everything looks on center. What's the story with that?

[Ken Smith]

The Neck Block area was cut to reduce the string length and also the new neck is a regular size as opposed to the longer Eb length from before.

The old button cap is not original. The neck before this one had a different button and THAT was not original either. It had a purfled design in it still on the old broken neck but does not match the purfling of the bass.

The center strip is vertical grain maple with outer ebony strips. This is actually an inlay in the back and does not go all the way thru. Inside the back under the center strips we were able to see the clean jointed original back center. Only after the bass was taken apart did we find out that the center strip was inlaid 'into' and over the center joint of the back.

Arnold did a fantastic job modifying the bass and cleaning it all up to look at original and cosmetically pleasing to the naked eye.

The sound is still there. I took off the set of Original Flat chromes that were on as a test and switched it to Belcantos (both sets used). With the Bel's, the bass sounds amazing just like before but mush easier to play.

After consideration and knowledge learned about the bass, I am re-naming it 'back' to its 45 year attribution of Storioni.

[Matthew Tucker]

I'm interested to hear how Arnold approached stabilising the burled maple ribs. They looked very fragile from the outside.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

I'm interested to hear how Arnold approached stabilizing the burled maple ribs. They looked very fragile from the outside.

I don't think 'stabilizing' was an issue here. The two-part Ribs held up very well over its 200+ year old life. The thinner outer burled maple had cracked in several areas and with some blistering as well. A small piece or two around the sides were replaced. The inner Spruce layer was in very good condition as were the linings for the most part.

Arnold did point out one interesting thing here. The endpin hole was way off center. If measuring the long side, hole center to plate, then doubling that number comes to over 9" in depth. IF that were the case, then somewhere along the line before we were all born, the Rib depth of this Bass was cut down to its current depth. This is just a guess as we were not there back then and do not see enough evidence to certify that as fact.

Maybe Arnold will come up and explain in detail but I know he went around the Ribs working small areas at a time each day until it was all re-glued where ever necessary. I assume glue and clamps were used and maybe some non-stick material was used as a caul between the ribs and clamps for pressing any areas that were blistering. It looks very good now.

Maybe in 200 years it will need some more repairs so someone write this down so we don't forget how to when that time rolls around!

[Pino Cazzaniga]

Ken,
Is the hole nearer to the top or the back? How was the back edge in that area?

[Arnold Schnitzer]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

The inner Spruce layer was in very good condition as were the linings for the most part.

Actually, the linings on the back side were shot and were replaced.

Arnold did point out one interesting thing here. The endpin hole was way off center. If measuring the long side, hole center to plate, then doubling that number comes to over 9" in depth. IF that were the case, then somewhere along the line before we were all born, the Rib depth of this Bass was cut down to its current depth. This is just a guess as we were not there back then and do not see enough evidence to certify that as fact.

I could not figure another reason why the endpin was so far off-center.

Maybe Arnold will come up and explain in detail but I know he went around the Ribs working small areas at a time each day until it was all re-glued where ever necessary. I assume glue and clamps were used and maybe some non-stick material was used as a caul between the ribs and clamps for pressing any areas that were blistering. It looks very good now.

I lanced all the openings, injected hot hide glue and clamped using lucite strips to flatten the areas.