Simba meets Mufasa (The Bohemian Lion)

[Gerry Grable]

Wow! Neat, Ken. If only that lion could talk?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Gerry Grable

Wow! Neat, Ken. If only that lion could talk?

Yes, very neat. Today I saw pictures of a similar bass with an angled Flat Back and a different Lion but, the FFs were very similar as were the outer linings flush with the top and back. The shoulders were different but mine have been cut.

[Ken Smith]

I have since used the bass for a few rehearsals so far including tonight and last night. As of now, I plan on using it for my next few concerts over the next few weeks. I can get around not having the C-extension for the most part. I will be tuning down to Eb for Adagio for Strings by Barber that I am doing this week with my main orchestra.

The bass was just restored in Europe and is already starting to show signs of breaking in. It sounded good the first day I strung it up but it's getting smoother and deeper the more I play it. I still think I will make some modifications to the bass if I keep it long enough.

As far as the shoulders being cut as mentioned above, the lower bout as I see now was cut as well. The Purfling in the C-bouts look different than the upper and lower bouts. That tells me that they cut all but the C-bout areas, most likely at the same time. This is just about one of the nicest sounding German school basses I have ever heard. I would love to know who made it.

The bass is very comfortable to hold and play, sitting or standing, bowing or plucking as well as orchestra pizz with bow in hand. This is one of the great sounding German roundback basses made that is also not a big or cumbersome instrument. Many of the Mittenwald basses I have seen are quite large in comparison.

Currently, it is strung with 3 year old Belcantos that were also recently on and off a few basses before I put them on this old Lion.

[Ken Smith]

The Gears are something for discussion. First off, the brass shafts have a wooden sleeve over them the entire length thru both cheeks (I don't have a close-up of it at the moment, sorry.) These are very old, the wood, almost as if they were there before the brass gears were put on the bass. Old basses before brass or iron gears had large cello-like pegs. I think these could be from those pegs, possibly for a few reasons. One mainly, there are no other screw holes in the scroll cheeks from other than these gears that I was able to see when I was shown pictures during the restoration.

Now, look closely at he gear-worm brackets that attach them to the plates. On one side they are rounded and the other, more square like. Also, the side with the square type are each different. The screw mounting in the center of the gears are just slightly different on each side as well. Also, each handle shaft is also a bit different in one way or another. One of the teeth on the upper bass gear (E on top) was repaired as it was broken off. I requested they fuse a piece of brass in and re-cut the teeth. It's working fine now. Have a look;

[Ken Smith]

Note: C-Extension in progress.

There were no holes drilled in the Lion at all. His 12 teeth and long tongue remain intact and unaltered. This is the first Extension like this I've had with a double wheel where the string feeds back under the Ebony which holds the Extension in place by pressure and a single steel connecting Pin set into the top of the Fingerboard. The Pin is used in all the Extensions that Arnold has made for me. Now, I can use this in Orchestra and not switch basses because of the lower notes written on some pieces.

[Ken Smith]

Just brought back the Lion with Extension and full set-up. Now it needs to played. I will post pics in a few days.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Just brought back the Lion with Extension and full set-up. Now it needs to played. I will post pics in a few days.

Yesterday we updated the page with all new pics of the Bass showing the Extension that was just added.

I will probably play this Bass all next week instead of the Hart. The week after that I have a Pit job (West Side Story) at a High School so I will most likely play the Kreutzer with a pickup on it and keep the old Lion and Hart in the rack side by side where they will be safe.

I played the old Lion last night at an Orchestra rehearsal with 5 basses and the player to my right commented how much sound it put out. He has seen me there with several different basses in the past and this was the first time he said anything about my bass.