Pfretzschner & Morelli

[Peter Weil]

I was intrigued by Ken Smith's mentioning of a Morelli he had restored. The pics are no longer on this site, but I found them on the way back machine. I've got a 7/8 Pfretzschner/Morelli with a big, beautiful sound -- I got it at Chuck Traeger's shop way back when I was too young and naive to know what I was doing (except I knew it sounded great). Ken's (former) bass and mine are very similar. The dimensions are virtually identical (string length is nearly 44 inches, upper bout width about 20.8, etc.); the only clear difference I can see is that mine doesn't have the ebony at either side of the neck heel. Mine has a stamp "G. A. Pfretschner, Markneukirchen", a label that reads "Andreas Morelli, 1924", and what's presumably a repair label that says "Andre Fantoni, 27 West 46th Street, New York 36, N.Y." I've been playing jazz on this instrument as a weekend warrior type, but it's kind of a beast to play. I love the sound, but now I'm looking to get something smaller and more playable. I'm not sure what I'll do with this one.