Juzek Basses...(aka Lang or Wilfer or?)

[Ken Smith]

Looks a bit like a Lang or similar shop bass. About the same as the Gambas imported by Juzek.

[Adam Linz]

Looks like a Roth hybrid I had from the 60's. Almost exactly! My Roth always had some charm to it. As long as you like it that's all that matters. Get that beast playing. Very cool. Best, Adam

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adam Linz

Looks like a Roth hybrid I had from the 60's. Almost exactly! My Roth always had some charm to it. As long as you like it that's all that matters. Get that beast playing. Very cool. Best, Adam

Roth is also brand and not the maker from what my research shows. Although there are makers named Roth and there was a shop making instruments, there is no indication that they made double basses. I don't know what shops made basses for Roth but being that I have seen some variety in those basses, it may be more than one, like with the Juzek and other USA brand names. If it doesn't say Roth, it's not, unless the label fell off.

[Ruben E garcia]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Looks a bit like a Lang or similar shop bass. About the same as the Gambas imported by Juzek.

+1 it does, thanks Ken

[Eric Hochberg]

I just picked up this '30s Wilfer? no label bass. A bit squatter blume than some. Similar to the Czech flatback, I think.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eric Hochberg

I just picked up this '30s Wilfer? no label bass. A bit squatter blume than some. Similar to the Czech flatback, I think.

I have to say that I have seen two other basses recently that looked like a Morelli bass with the Juzek/Wilfer/Lang type emblem that had different labels in them. One was German and one was Czech.

What I can't figure out is how 3 basses or near identical modeling, wood, varnish, corners, and carving details as well as purfling can come from 3 separate shops around the German/Bohemian/Czech border area.

My only conclusion is that they are either from one shop that makes only basses or basses and cellos and then sold unlabelled to be labelled and then exported to USA under various contracts.. OR .. In every shop they made the exact or near exact same model.

Lemur has a c.1920 Morelli on his site, 44" mensur that is the same as the other two I found. One has a Czech label and brand and the other a German label which I have in my shop. Wood and model-wise, these would class as Master-Art models. On mine, even the linings are highly flamed with ultra tight tiger stripes.

So, I think the Germans in the Saxon area which many of them Bohemian that moved over, as well as the Bohemian shops across the border in Czech made various, similar or identical models of basses, possibly for export mainly as they all seem to be here.

It is a mystery but one thing is for sure. We have grown accustomed to these basses and like them.

Wilfer is just one of the makers known for basses and many makers with that name. Maybe one day I will start a list of all the makers I have found (and brands) that emanated from that area from the late 19th to early-mid 20th century. The list is big and some of these makers although known in Europe, are strangers over here.

[Eric Hochberg]

My new bass is kind of an oddball with highly flamed ribs, mildly flamed back, a dovetail mortise and, an integral bass bar. My luthier told me the dovetail made it more Czech than German school.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eric Hochberg

My new bass is kind of an oddball with highly flamed ribs, mildly flamed back, a dovetail mortise and, an integral bass bar. My luthier told me the dovetail made it more Czech than German school.

Many many basses from Germany were made with dove-tail joints.

In talking about Czech basses, there is a HUGE difference between the ones made and imported here and the real in-land Czech basses from Prague. The basses here are all Germanic in style made on either side of the Eastern German border or from down in Mittenwald.

The only big factory in the Czech area was the Lidl factory that 'was' in Brno/Moravia, way east of Prague but later moved up to the German border area. After the War sometime it was moved to Luby and combined with Strunal, Dvorak and Lidl. Josef Kreutzer was one of the masters in the original Lidl factory. A bass of his that I have looks to be a mix of German (construction), Italian (model) and Germanic-Czech (scroll).

The Bass I mentioned that looked like a Morelli with a different label has similar internal construction to my Kreutzer whom also trained in Germany. So it seems as if these basses vary mostly by model and grade of woods. The construction varies less than does the models they produce. It is all basically Germanic in style and make, a-la-shop/factory production.

I have owned a few older and possibly more hand-made Germanic type basses in my time and they sound only slightly better. But, re-graduate and restore an old German/Czech factory-type bass with good wood, figured or not and you will have a fine bass made with German wood. We have done this as well with excellent results.

On the neck, the dovetail is the old guitar method once again. Better than blockless but not as good as a mortise.

[Ken Smith]

For you Juzek fans, THIS is what a Master Art Juzek/Wilfer bass looks like. It was the last 3/4 they had there in NYC and I had my eye on it for years. Robert Juzek {Jan's/John's brother that ran the business) had a fit when I came in to buy it as they only had 2 of them in the vault, this 3/4 and a 4/4 (7/8) model left and there were no more nor would there be anymore being made or imported. Bobby Juzek, his son took care of the sale with me and because his father was upset about the bass being sold, I paid slightly more than the old catalog price had it listed for. BUT, they did not dare to paste a Juzek Lable in the bass over the original Wilfer label inside. It was not dated but it was 1966 when I first saw the bass years earlier so that date is on the label in blue pen by my own hand, written in thru the f-hole as a reminder. It is older than that though.



This picture is from early 1972 in the studio, recording with Buddy DeFranco/Glenn Miller band for Columbia House. I was a bit dressed up that day because I had a trio gig that night at the Pierre Hotel on 5th Ave. Central Park East. 'My Early Days'.. Very Early!