Scallopini...

[Anselm Hauke]

what do you think about that old "bononiensis" label?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Anselm Hauke

what do you think about that old "bononiensis" label?

The Label is old but that was a Lute maker. I don't know if the label is real or not but doubtful. Maybe the Label was faked when the bass was made about 200 years ago but not 420 years ago. That maker however DID produce Viola d'Gambas in Guitar Form as introduced a century earlier by Spain known as the Leg Viol. Perhaps he made this bass in the style of Brensio, his Italian name. He worked in Bologna.

On this Bass, one dealer said years ago that it looked similar to two other basses he had seen by the name of Lod Parisini. When I recently inquired about his assumption he told me about the two basses and who owned them. One of them is not far from me and when Arnold last visited me with the Storioni copy last December, he brought the Bass and owners husband with THAT very same bass to compare. The Bass has stamped on the tuner plates, Lod Parisini, Bologna 1813. It has the same body, shape, angled sloped shouldered roundback but more refined as far as the Violin shape.

About the writing on the label; http://dolcecano.blogspot.com/

[Anselm Hauke]

thanks for the info ken, very interesting!

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Anselm Hauke

thanks for the info ken, very interesting!

I just found this as well;

ANTONIO OF BOLOGNA (Antonius Bononiensis). There is a Viol da Gamba by this maker at the Academy of Music, Bologna.

BRENSIO, Girolamo (BRENSIUS, Hieronymus), Bologna. Reference has been made to the Viols of this maker in the first section of this work.

The second I think is related as well.

I also found these;

Viole rinascimentali soprano e tenore, copie di Fabrizio Reginato.
Dal modello originale della viola di Antonius Bononiensis (XVI–XVII secolo) conservata presso il Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna.


Viole rinascimentali basso e contrabbasso, copie di Fabrizio Reginato.
Dal modello originale della viola di Antonius Bononiensis (XVI–XVII secolo) conservata presso il Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna.


These are copies of instruments by the above named maker. I show this so you can see the primitive difference and the similarities between the old Guitar model Gambas and the cornerless Double Bass which came a bit later in time.

[Ken McKay]

Beautiful bass you have there.

Did you do the restoration work Ken?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Beautiful bass you have there.

Did you do the restoration work Ken?

No, it was Robert McIntosh. I will have more pictures when we put a page up. I will do my personal set-up tweaks as usual but only as necessary. I know Robbie's work is good as I have seen it on the J.B. Allen bass Arnold used to have for sale and also on one of Robbie's own basses as well. This is the first full restoration he has done for me and at the recommendation of Arnold as he was busy with my other cornerless bass around the same time.

Ken, I said in the first post;
"Next week I will pick up the Bass and bring it home, finally. Here are some shop pics I got thru email earlier."

I thought I made it clear that it was being done at someone else's shop, as usual. If I had the time and if I hadn't given up all my tools back in 1991 I might have been doing some of my own work from time to time. Projects like these that require Top re-shaping and major breast patches should be left to the surgically inclined Luthiers rather than the general practitioners of the bass world. I have seen only pictures of work in progress on this bass but both the Hart and Storioni went thru similar surgeries as well. This bass had less done on the Back than the other two but the Top needed some serious t.l.c.. I look forward to playing it in a few days.

Also, speaking of repairing sunken Tops, Robbie knows about stress and support from another unrelated/related subject. Have a look; http://coveredbridgebook.blogspot.com/

[Ken McKay]

Oh...Robbie, I met him in Kalamazoo and saw a fine bass he made.
Yes it takes a great restoration specialist to do the work right.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

The Label is old but that was a Lute maker. I don't know if the label is real or not but doubtful. Maybe the Label was faked when the bass was made about 200 years ago but not 420 years ago. That maker however DID produce Viola d'Gambas in Guitar Form as introduced a century earlier by Spain known as the Leg Viol. Perhaps he made this bass in the style of Brensio, his Italian name. He worked in Bologna.

On this Bass, one dealer said years ago that it looked similar to two other basses he had seen by the name of Lod Parisini. When I recently inquired about his assumption he told me about the two basses and who owned them. One of them is not far from me and when Arnold last visited me with the Storioni copy last December, he brought the Bass and owners husband with THAT very same bass to compare. The Bass has stamped on the tuner plates, Lod Parisini, Bologna 1813. It has the same body, shape, angled sloped shouldered roundback but more refined as far as the Violin shape.

About the writing on the label; http://dolcecano.blogspot.com/

I recently sent pictures of this bass to a very experienced and knowledgeable Bass maker/Dealer in Italy and he thinks it's from Bologna. So like the Parisini I examined from Bologna(1813) and the old label in the bass as well from Bologna (dated 1590) I think it is at least as possible that the Bass is from *Bologna so I will go with that for now. I still believe the bass is from 1790-1800 at the latest.

[Ken Smith]

Ok guys, look at these pics for comparison and tell me if the heads or bodies look at all similar. These are 3 different basses shown, 'borrowed' from 2 other websites on-line.

[Matthew Tucker]

Well ... I'll stick my neck out and say no, I don't see enough similarities between the photo pairs to think the basses are from the same model or form or maker's hand. Yes there are some similarities but enough differences as well to cancel them out, in my mind.

That long head is interesting; its length and line doesn't seem to match the body it is attached to! (and no I realise it's not attached to the cornerless below it!)

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Well ... I'll stick my neck out and say no, I don't see enough similarities between the photo pairs to think the basses are from the same model or form or maker's hand. Yes there are some similarities but enough differences as well to cancel them out, in my mind.

That long head is interesting; its length and line doesn't seem to match the body it is attached to! (and no I realize it's not attached to the cornerless below it!)

Both basses above, head and body are made by or attributed to members of the Marconcini family. I have pictures on file of another bass by a Marconcini as well, Giuseppe supposedly. Mainly they worked in Ferrara but one of them, Luigi, worked first in Bologna and then in Ferrara. I see only similarities myself but Luigi built lutes and Viols besides Violins and Basses. I was just on a hunt when I found these when looking for makers in Bologna that made Guitars and Basses as that's what my bass looks like, a combo of the two.

The Bass I examined that was stamped 'Lod Parisini' on the tuner plate is a puzzle as well. Was he the bass maker, the gear maker, an owner of the bass like with the name 'Dragonetti' we have seen on some plates? So, without confirmation on even Parisini being the maker of that bass, I am still looking. Bologna is what some thinks it resembles in style and the list of possible makers for style and period is short.

[Ken Smith]

Ok, we are working on the Page for the Scallopini. We have a basic page in the works but not yet linked for the public. Should be ready shortly. The Pictures did not come out as good as I would like in the color mainly. We will either work on the color of the pictures or take new pics and replace them.

In the mean time, Click here to see it. You will also notice that I have the bass attributed to the 'Marconcini School'. From all of my research to date including the pictures I have seen of Basses from Marconcini, I think this is a close match in the period of that Bologna/Ferrara style.

I welcome any comments from the readers here. I would love to know who really made this bass. It is a one-of-a-kind from what I have seen.

Here we go again, another 'Name that Bass' thread..