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Old 08-28-2009, 11:34 AM
Adrian Levi Adrian Levi is offline
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Ok here goes / my first post on this forum and one with a never ending theme ie 'anyone know what this bass is' !?!

I got this thrown in with another bass that I purchased and was wondering what it was and if it is worth restoring ? It has already had a butcher head-graph(note the solder). Strangely enough the back and sides are 'ok-ish' condition.

It is a 3/4 flat back .
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  #2  
Old 08-28-2009, 12:24 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Exclamation yikes..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrian Levi View Post
Ok here goes / my first post on this forum and one with a never ending theme ie 'anyone know what this bass is' !?!

I got this thrown in with another bass that I purchased and was wondering what it was and if it is worth restoring ? It has already had a butcher head-graph(note the solder). Strangely enough the back and sides are 'ok-ish' condition.

It is a 3/4 flat back .
Well, after a 15k restoration, it might be worth half of that if they don't mind the fact that the original varnish was stripped away. The bass will sound possibly (no guarantee) better than its value or pedigree.

Those cross bars in the back look like it was done by a Junior High School Shop Class. Maybe 2 or 3 kids as a team did one bar each as no two of them look alike.

This is think is a Czech/German factory bass from before WWII from the Shoenbach/Luby area. I think if from Markneukirchen it would look a bit neater inside. It is a shame that the varnish is gone. Most people that strip basses like this do so without knowing much about values of old vs. new. Touch-up and re-coating is always the better way than stripping and Home-Depot'ing the poor bass.

From the looks of the inside up bu the Neck Block, it looks like the Luthier was a bit cross-eyed. lol

Other than that, the bass looks like it might have some potential..
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Old 08-30-2009, 10:07 AM
Adrian Levi Adrian Levi is offline
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Originally Posted by Ken Smith View Post
Well, after a 15k restoration, it might be worth half of that if they don't mind the fact that the original varnish was stripped away. The bass will sound possibly (no guarantee) better than its value or pedigree.

Those cross bars in the back look like it was done by a Junior High School Shop Class. Maybe 2 or 3 kids as a team did one bar each as no two of them look alike.

This is think is a Czech/German factory bass from before WWII from the Shoenbach/Luby area. I think if from Markneukirchen it would look a bit neater inside. It is a shame that the varnish is gone. Most people that strip basses like this do so without knowing much about values of old vs. new. Touch-up and re-coating is always the better way than stripping and Home-Depot'ing the poor bass.

From the looks of the inside up bu the Neck Block, it looks like the Luthier was a bit cross-eyed. lol

Other than that, the bass looks like it might have some potential..
Hmmmm ,if I understand correctly then you are of the opinion that this bass is not quite an example of a master-build
It looks to me as if the bass was totally 're-done' as I dont think that the neck block or all the cross bars are even original .
The neck must have taken a bad break too judging from the head stock.

I think that the bass was not a bad instrument at one stage but was 'stuck'
together by the Junior School Kids you mention after an apparent mishap with the instrument.

So in conclusion I think that It's best to leave the bass as is or embark on a project of self restoration over the next while / after lots of research etc

I guess that I dont really have much to loose
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Old 08-30-2009, 10:52 AM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Lightbulb well..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrian Levi View Post
Hmmmm ,if I understand correctly then you are of the opinion that this bass is not quite an example of a master-build
It looks to me as if the bass was totally 're-done' as I dont think that the neck block or all the cross bars are even original .
The neck must have taken a bad break too judging from the head stock.

I think that the bass was not a bad instrument at one stage but was 'stuck'
together by the Junior School Kids you mention after an apparent mishap with the instrument.

So in conclusion I think that It's best to leave the bass as is or embark on a project of self restoration over the next while / after lots of research etc

I guess that I dont really have much to loose
The Neck block looks original for that period and area. The Cross Bars are not the same work. This was a low end factory bass when it was made. There were plenty of higher grade instruments from factories back then and then you have the real basses, the hand made ones. We do not see many of the German or Czech handmade basses here in the USA in comparison to the factory imports, percentage wise I mean.
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