Simba meets Mufasa (The Bohemian 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;