Interesting bass (and history reminder)

[Ken Smith]

At first look, the bass looks fairly generic until, you look closer. The purfling, varnish and top wood used all seem superior and more interesting over any shop-type 20th century German or Czech bass. The interior work of this bass looks even more impressive. This one was made in Moravia which at the time was Czechoslovakia and now the Czech Republic. Imagine being born in one country and then it gets re-named and after you die, re-named again. It had just been re-distributed(?) politically from the Austrian Empire to the Austro-Hungarian Empire only a few years before he was born. I hope the bass doesn't loose its note memory as much as it's had its home name changed. The town is Brno, the former capitol of Moravia but the Germans call it Brunn. The maker, Josef Kreutzer just goes the other way and uses the Italian name Brunensis. He was a fan of the Italian work. Studying the origins of this town and its various ruling regions over the years is more European history than I had in all my years in school. Or at least, paid attention to!

[Joshua Phelps]

You keeping this one ken? What's it sound like?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps

You keeping this one ken? What's it sound like?

It sounds like a great bass made 60 years ago that needs to be played. It has some Pirastro Permanent strings that usually sound bright but sound great on this bass. It is loud, clear, deep and I feel it vibrating when I play it. I think it's a bass i can use. I just finished a basic set-up to test it but it still needs a few things to meet my personal requirements if I am to keep it for awhile to use.

I have several basses that I like and use so this one although nice and a rare pedigree, is just one that is joining the family of basses already in my racks.

This is the first time I have seen a bass from just north of Vienna with a round back and violin corners. This is more of an Italian Strad copy than anything from the German school. Most German basses in the last 100 years like this have outer linings as well. This one was made with a lot of thought. By the way, Vienna is closer to Brno than Philly is to NY so it should follow more the style of the Viennese I would think. I can only speculate that his working in Germany influenced his ideas as much as his study of Italian violins. The Scroll however looks typical western Bohemian/Saxon as do the Gears which look slightly modified from the norm.

I will probably bring this up to Arnold's shop sometime in the near future and see what he makes of it all.

[Joshua Phelps]

I love violin corners & round back. Visually the bass is beautiful but I tend to like a darker varnish myself. What do you think of the lighter colored instruments like this one?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Joshua Phelps

I love violin corners & round back. Visually the bass is beautiful but I tend to like a darker varnish myself. What do you think of the lighter colored instruments like this one?

It was a tradition that all better instruments were done with transparent amber varnish so as not to hide a single detail and to pass your masters test, it was a requirement. I have owned a few master grade instruments with various shades of amber and they were beautiful.

In researching Kreutzer's history, his teacher J. Werner came originally from Schonbach and trained there with V. Lutz whose brother made Double Basses. So, I can't say who made what for who from the earlier generations but Werner later headed up the Lidl firm in Brno as well. Kreutzer is also listed as one of the masters that passed thru Lidl so it was there I assume that he worked and trained with Werner.

Kruetzer seems to have had a rich life in violin culture working for firms, associations and shops from Zurich, Germany and Brno (Czech/Moravia) as well as being directly or indirectly associated with various Court makers from Vienna to Schonbach (Luby).

I am thankful for having spent good money on my collection of books. I hunted all of them down within the used market because they went out of print almost as fast as they were written. The Henley book unfortunately is limited when it comes to the vast majority of makers from the German, Czech, Moravian and Austrian schools. It seems only the majors and a few others get listed. I have two complete books for just these areas (German/Austrian makers and Bohemian/Moravian makers) and also another 2 book set of all the makers worldwide by Jalovec. The only two books I need to open my own Violin Library is one on Hungarian makers and one on the Spanish makers. At about $300 or so per book IF you can find them, it gets expensive. To list what I have already took hours and 4 books from Jalovec. The Henley book gave no additional information on the Brno/Moravian makers at all. I am still not done tracing all of each of the named makers/shops roots but the a nutshell, this guy Kruetzer didn't just crawl out of the woodwork. He crawled INTO it..

[Joshua Phelps]

You are Always well educated on all the instruments you own & NOW I see why. The Internet is great but I miss the days when you had to go out in the world to seek knowledge & retrieve a book or seek out an individual that possessed the information you were after. The Internet is loaded with false information as well not like neatly packaged books that are either credible or not & if not then quickly written of by the community of whatever area of interests it contains.

Nice bass & neat to hear about the books.

On a side note it would be nice if you put up sounds clips or video with audio of the new basses you get. They are Simply eye candy for readers on the forum. It's like someone making a beautiful steak dinner then only allowing you to look at it w/o taking a bite haha