Gamba Italian Basses..

[Ken Smith]

I am starting this thread to bring to light the subject of the Gamba shaped Italian Bass. Not the more famous Violin models or the Cornerless Guitar models but the Gamba models that are often overlooked as even being Italian.

Many of the Gamba model Italian Basses I have seen are from the Neapolitan School of makers. These include several Basses attributed to the various members of the Gagliano family, Ventapane, Fabricatore, Desiato, Tarantino and Loveri. Most of these are Gagliano School followers as well. Alessandro Gagliano is also the father or the Neapolitan School of makers.

From other Italian Schools and individuals there are Gamba Basses from Grancino, Rastelli, Postacchini, Sgarbi, Albani, Cavani, Caspani, Tecchler, Platner, Pedrazzini, Antoniazzi, Monzino, Ferrarotti, Santagiuliana, Botti, Valenzano and many others.

One interesting Bass of note was owned by Jazz legend Percy Heath. The first time I saw that Bass was around 1969 or so in a Shop when I was just a teenager and was told that's a Landolfi, Percy Heath's Bass. Years later I hear from another Bassist that the same Bass is thought to be a Testore. Most recently, the Bass has been attributed to Ruggeri.

I have seen many other Basses from the Italian School that were Gamba shaped and more often than not, without an accurate attribution. How accurate are the ones listed above that I have seen either in person or on the web? Who knows! Some are what they claim to be and some are attributed I am sure. One thing though is for certain, the Italians made many Basses of the Gamba form. The Italian Bass identity so often associated with the Violin cornered Model is not the only identity this country has to offer. Some of the names I have listed above are 200-300 years old while others barely a century old. This proves that the Gamba shape is one used for centuries by many Italian makers and for some, almost exclusively.

I have shown pics side by side of the Homer Mensch Attr. Gagliano and my Carlo Loveri before and here they are again below. Shown first is another old Neapolitan Bass that I once owned bearing a handwritten label of what seems to be a fictitious name, Raeffael Guadininni.



The most common stigma I see with a Gamba Italian Bass when trying to ID it is dealers quickly calling it German, Bohemian or Czech Bass not to mention Hungarian, English or even French.

What we should do here is open our eyes and look out for these 'Black Sheep' Double Basses from Italy that have been overshadowed for centuries by the more stylistic Violin cornered models.

If you know of any other Gamba Italian Basses, have one yourself, seen one on line or even have related stories of interest, then please post it here and show us some pictures or even web links if possible.

[Maury Clubb]

Here is a picture of my 17c M. Albani Bass which I thought should be included in this thread.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Maury Clubb

Here is a picture of my 17c M. Albani Bass which I thought should be included in this thread.

Beautiful Bass. Thanks for posting. If you can, show us the Back, Ribs and Scroll as well.

[Maury Clubb]

Here are additional photos of the bass. Keep in mind the scroll is probably Mittenwald ca 1840.

[Ken Smith]

The design under the Back Button is very interesting. The Scroll I am told is not original but 19th century S.Germany, just above the Tirol where this Bass was made in Bolzano. The tuners are the exact same ones (smaller gears) that came on my Mystery Bass when I got it. I have seen these on some old Mittenwald Basses as well as an old English/Italian Bass. The gears date from 1850 and before. On my Bass, 3 of them were 100% identical while one looks maybe 5% different. My Guess is that the Bass had 3 of them and in later years when converted to a 4-string, the Gears were still available and a 4th was added but made in the same shop some years later. This bass too has two different Gear sizes but the same exact Worm handles.

This will be a 'slow growth' thread being that we are looking specifically for old Italian Basses in the Gamba form. I know they are out there but not many of them with Forum members unfortunately. Still, it's nice to look back at the Basses made that were not affected by commercial production and Italian as well where it all started 450 years ago in Italy.

I think it's a treat when someone like Maury offers to share pics of a Bass as rare as his. Tirol Italian Basses are rare as well. With this region being shared by Austria, Germany and Italy you never know what might turn up. A few weeks ago while visiting Arnold I saw a beautiful old Fussen made Bass. Looked Italian to me but was actually from the German Tirol from over 300 years ago. A big violin cornered bass with an original Scroll, wide unusual FFs with tabs almost Maggini/d'Salo-like. It also had blackened reddish brown Varnish like we have seen on some old Italians but then again, this wasn't Italian. It was made just north of Italy.

[Maury Clubb]

I think your ****ysis is spot-on, particularly regarding the difficulty of attribution (I experienced it 1st hand) and the gears. It appears 1800-1850 was a big period of change for double basses. I would like to see picture of other basses by this maker. BTW, the playability, volume range, depth and complexity of tone with this bass are amazing (maybe like your Storioni?)