Touching in scratches

[Peter Koyander]

I have Boosey + Hawkes renovation project. Have just set up the bridge so that its feet are on contact with the top and the back face is perpendicular, reshaped the curvature so that the string heights are not so ridiculously high ...and what a difference in playablility, loudness and tone! Small adjustments and it has transformed the instrument immensely. It has the original machines which are in excellent order. The tail gut wire is dreadful and has been fitted back to front and the tailpiece sits at an angle (next part of the project!). Structurally its in excellent condition.

Its a czech 400 series laminated throughout, not worth a fortune but I was wondering what tips anyone might have for removing or touching in some scratches and dents to the varnish on the body?

Photos below (NB the varnish is reflective and has not gone milky !! - note just the scratches and dings!).

[Ken Smith]

I'm confused. First you mentions a Hawkes bass and then you show a Czech plywood bass.

Is this the same bass both a B&H and a modern laminated bass?

There are touch-up sticks in dozens of colors available from Art Supply sellers but, you need to match up that shiny finish. It might be a lacquer or even a urethane of sorts. This is a factory sprayed finish from the looks of it so perfectly matching it up is not possible without a re-finish. Ask a local luthier what supplies are available there for a bass with this type of finish.

Can we see the entire bass? Just curious what a modern bass by that company would look like. I have seen them from the older Hawkes & Son but they were +/- 100 years old.

[Peter Koyander]

There is precious little documented about Boosey and Hawkes - so open to suggestion ( and correction ) ...if anyone knows more!

After their well known Professor and Concert, they seemed to have started importing Czech basses made by Artia, rebranded and labelled ‘Excelsior by B + H’ . This carried on through the 1960s up till the 1980s. They came from the ‘Cremona’ factory in Luby and were hybrid. This factory is now where Strunal manufacture their instruments as Europe's largest manufacturer http://www.strunal.cz/en/default.aspx

B + H brought out the Golden Strad during this period I understand made in Hungary in the 1960s/ 1970s. And there was also the 400 range - not established a date for the manufacturing window but I do know that its a laminate top, back and sides and Czech made in around the 1980s. By 1992 it seems that manufacturing went to China. The 400s go for anywhere between £750 - £1000 as do the Excelsior and Golden Strads. They are a good quality instrument and seem to be robust.

I have started a Facebook page for modern B + H so if anyone has info or wants to post there ...then heres the link!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boosey...28245287344781

...or is that exceedingly bad manners to direct people to another web site !!? Ken, delete if this is bad netiquette!!

[Peter Koyander]

I have seen the many types of furniture makers wax sticks for doing repairs. I imagine that because the bass is thought to be around the 1980s that it will be eurethane type of finish - is it a case of trying to dab in some eurethane over the top of the wax to unite the glossy finish and then perhaps finish with a buffing cream? I can experiment but thought I would ask those who know first so as to get a pointer in the right direction !

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Peter Koyander

I have seen the many types of furniture makers wax sticks for doing repairs. I imagine that because the bass is thought to be around the 1980s that it will be eurethane type of finish - is it a case of trying to dab in some eurethane over the top of the wax to unite the glossy finish and then perhaps finish with a buffing cream? I can experiment but thought I would ask those who know first so as to get a pointer in the right direction !

I am talking about marker like pens that I think are alcohol based. Not a wax at all.

On the Hawkes, have you read this? http://www.smithbassforums.com/showt...ghlight=hawkes

From what I have seen, it can be possible that all the Panormo shaped models were imported from Germany. The H and F ones do not have outer linings but look like nearly the same bass. I have seen many of them that look slightly different suggesting that the contracted different shops in Germany to make them but there are no records.

These are all the Hawkes and Son basses and a few B&H when they merged with Boosey in the 1930s or so. What they made after the war in Bohemia or Hungary is beyond my knowledge.

On the H models, having examines one, it looks like it could be German as easily as English. If these were made in England, then by who, what shop? The man known as Robert Green that ran the string division doesn't seem all that possible to also be a maker of basses like these. I could be totally wrong but importing in the white from Germany is equally possible. Just look at some of the later Tarr basses. This went on with all the string instruments, not just basses. Why make when you can import cheaper?

[Peter Koyander]

Before 1992 it looks like B + H used the Strunal factory in Luby to produce its instruments. Luby is located in a region originally known as the ‘Egerland’ - a popular area for instrument makers because of the good supply of local seasoned wood. What I know from research is that the Egerland was a hotspot for Bohemian manufacturers and was an area that was originally a part of Czechoslovakia . In 1806 the Egerland was taken over by the aggressively expanding Austro Hungarian Empire and became an expansion of their 'Bohemia' Region ( ' Made in Bohemia / Made in Austro-Hungary ' ).

Under Austro Hungarian control, German speaking people were numerous in the Egerland. However at the end of the first World War in 1919, with the Austro Hungarian Empire in pieces and the German people in defeat, the Egerland and all the factories in the area reverted back to being a part of Czechoslovakia ( i.e. now making instruments 'Made in Czechoslovakia ') !

By the 1930’s The Egerland hit hard times due to the instrument making industry going into a deep slump in the European economic depression and political unrest in lead up to World War 2 . Furthermore in 1933 the Nazis came into power and the predominantly german speaking people of Egerland wanted ‘out’ of Czech rule. In 1938 , with Hitler in power, the Egerland became ‘annexed’ and went into German ownership by International Agreement ( the Luby factory without moving location, now produced instruments 'Made in Germany').

Following the defeat of the Germans in WW2 , 1945 , the Egerland region became yet again a part of Czechoslovakia. The Strunal factory in Luby to this day produces instruments 'Made in Czechoslovakia'!

Makes you wonder whether B+ H have always outsourced to the same factory just the label on the region has changed from Austria to Czechoslovakia, to Germany and back to Czechoslovakia again?