a new find !

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Adrian Levi

http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/viennnese/

Ok Ken... check the above link on your site
This is the scroll !! But without plates and with separate gear holders for each machine head .

What is the history behind this style of scroll ?

Viennese, Prague, Pest/Budapest Hungary, Italian and Spanish as far as the rounded pegbox bottom/back. The biggest I think overall are the Viennese as they made 4 and 5 string basses early on. The Czech/Prague school and some Hungarians are long and thin, some long and big! The Italian and Spanish are shorter usually. Mainly from the 3-string but like the earlier Brescians from Maggini and d'Salo when they were 6 string violones they were longer and with pointed cheeks. Many many variations of the rounded bottom pegboxes, with and without pointed cheeks.

That bass you link too is a bit of a mystery in itself. The Scroll looks Viennese but the FFs more Tirol. It could be a bass from the Austrian Tirol. The Back and Ribs are early 20th century and the Top and Scroll from the century before. The Top of that Bass was cut all around and the Back and Ribs made to fit it.

So, show the Bass. There is no one answer for you. Sorry.