"Ode to Sartory"

[David Powell]

I'm holding out for the restored "Mystery Bass"

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by David Powell

I'm holding out for the restored "Mystery Bass"

Lol.. Ok, but breathe normally in the mean time...

Today I had the pleasure of playing a beautiful 18th-19th Century Italian Bass. It was formerly played by the Principal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He retired from music and sold his Bass several years ago. He has 4 young daughters that all play Violin and have each won many competitions to perform with various Orchestras as soloists. I have had the pleasure of playing behind each of his daughters in the last 3 years in one of the Orchestras I play in. At the last concert with his youngest which was on the day of the Homer Mensch Gagliano auction, I went up to him on the way out and asked if he had known Homer. In the conversation he told me who now owns his Italian Bass which was once called a Maggini but is not however. Today that person walked in here by invitation and showed me the Bass. We got to compare it to my Storioni, Hart, Martini and Gilkes all side by side.

The current owner allowed me to photograph and measure his Bass so that I can present it on my Double Bass Page for display purposes only. It will be up in a few days when we find the time to get the page made. I will post some pics here as well in the Italian Bass section.

On the Sartory thing I let him try a blind fold test on all of my good Bows. When he played the Lipkins Sartoy his guess was Peccatte as the maker. He had never played a Sartory before but Sartory worked in Paris for Charles Peccatte before setting up his own shop in 1893. Good guess he made guessing the Bow was from Sartory's master. I believe his Bass teacher in the NY Phil. played a Peccatte Bass Bow as well and that's the impression the Lipkins gave him. He was playing the Hart Bass. I told him the strings were older than the Bow and he looks very surprised. We had 3 Lipkins Bows out and he only knew about one of them. Talk about a 'blindfold test' huh?

Ode to Sartory? Well, Ode right back to Sue Lipkins!

Oh and his Bow was a Fetique who worked in Paris with Charles-Nicolas Bazin. Of all my Bows he liked my Bazin the best maybe because it was made by the master of his Bow's maker and liked the feel.

Today was a GOOD Day for me Bass-wise..

[Charles Federle]

Every time I see and hear about Lipkin's bows I feel more and more inclined that I should try one out and seriously think about getting a new primary bow.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

Today I had the pleasure of playing a beautiful 18th-19th Century Italian Bass. It was formerly played by the Principal of the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He retired from music and sold his Bass several years ago. He has 4 young daughters that all play Violin and have each won many competitions to perform with various Orchestras as soloists. I have had the pleasure of playing behind each of his daughters in the last 3 years in one of the Orchestras I play in. At the last concert with his youngest which was on the day of the Homer Mensch Gagliano auction, I went up to him on the way out and asked if he had known Homer. In the conversation he told me who now owns his Italian Bass which was once called a Maggini but is not however. Today that person walked in here by invitation and showed me the Bass. We got to compare it to my Storioni, Hart, Martini and Gilkes all side by side.

The current owner allowed me to photograph and measure his Bass so that I can present it on my Double Bass Page for display purposes only. It will be up in a few days when we find the time to get the page made. I will post some pics here as well in the Italian Bass section.

Ok, that great Italian Bass I mentioned is not up and listed..

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by David Powell

I'm holding out for the restored "Mystery Bass"

Come and gone my friend. In the hands of an Orchestra professional now.

On the topic at hand, I have been playing this bow daily now and like a new bass, it has been breaking in and improving the more I play it. The balance was perfect from day one. The sound and smoothness has been maturing the more I play it. Now it needs a re-hair but I can't let it out of my hands.

[Eric Swanson]

What a lovely instrument! That design at the heel reminds me of pictures of the solar system. How many circles are in that oval? Are they in any sort of pattern?

Thanks for sharing this bass, Ken...

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eric Swanson

What a lovely instrument! That design at the heel reminds me of pictures of the solar system. How many circles are in that oval? Are they in any sort of pattern?

Thanks for sharing this bass, Ken...

Which Bass? I think David was referring to this bass which was always called the Mystery Bass originally. The Circles I think you are referring to is the Hart, which started as a mystery of some sort being originally purchased as a Fendt.

This one you mean?


By the way, the Hart is the main bass I play and the Lipkins-Sartory is its mate!

If this is the 'circle' thing you are referring to I can explain about the circles. The bass had a hole filled with dried red wax about 1" in diameter. At first I thought it was from a previous neck repair but when the back came off there was no hole on the inside. After the bass came back from restoration I received an email from England about a bass that was a twin to mine that was played for 30 years in a London Symphony but it wasn't my bass. This one had the empty hole as well. To top that off, he knew of 2 others that were the same as well BUT had inlaid emblems in the hold still intact. One was an ebony crucifix and the other a Madonna with a child. These 4 were made with that purfled design around the open circle with a wax head seal in the middle. I had a simple coin made as shown but by the time the hole was fully clean and round it was a little bigger. Jed Kriegel who was Arnold's assistant at the time made an Ebony disc and inlaid the coin in the ebony and the pair in the bass.

[Drake Chan]

I think Eric's referring to the Italian bass owned by the former HK Philharmonic principal bassist.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Drake Chan

I think Eric's referring to the Italian bass owned by the former HK Philharmonic principal bassist.

Yes Drake, you're right. I was mixing up Eric's latest post and David's earlier one from over 2 years ago. I had just come in from Shoveling Snow and was a little dizzy..

I posted that bass HERE on 12/07. It took Eric over two/2 years to reply.. Can you blame me? I have no idea what bass he was talking about as you can see now.. lol

Ok.. back on topic... I love my Lipkins/Sartory. After a 2 hour rehearsal earlier with one Orchestra I'm subbing in for the season I spent most of the evening practicing for next weeks concert with my main Orchestra, Beethoven 3rd. I caught parts of the Super Bowl on-line while having some dinner in the office between practicing... Althought I switch back and forth 'insanely' between the Martini and the Hart (that's another subject alltogether), I always play that Lipkins bow. I do try the others I have but it's always back to the best bow I have..

[Eric Swanson]

I visited Ken a couple of weeks ago and had a chance to try this bow, thanks to Ken's tremendous hospitality. It was revelatory.

The bow felt glued to the string, seemingly played itself, yet bounced effortlessly if I simply thought about it.

It was sort of like, "Oh, so that's what a bow is supposed to feel like."


This Lipkins Sartory copy is easily one of the nicest bows I have ever played. Thanks, again, Ken, for that eye-opening experience.

I am on Sue Lipkins' wait-list, now. I am sure that it will be worth the patience.