J.F. Lott Snr. (John Frederick Lott, 1776-1856)

[Ken Smith]

Does anyone out here have any personal experience with Basses made by J.F. Lott Snr.?

Today I played a beautiful Bass known as a Lott that was restored at Robertsons around 7 years ago in 2000 reportedly by Daniel Hatchez.

I currently have this Bass in my possession for a day or so to evaluate. I will take some pictures tomorrow but must get permission from the current owner before I post them here.

This Bass is very close in looks and dimensions to the Bass pictured in the book 'The British Violin' (1998). This Bass has a 4-piece Top of mixed grain Spruce and a 2-piece FlatBack of slab cut Curly Maple with matching Ribs partially quartered. Unfortunately the Scroll has been replaced some time ago but still a very workable head/neck for this fine old English Bass.

The Bass has some type of vertical Label on the inner/lower C-bout Rib reading from Back to Top on the G-string side and written in script in olde black ink 'J. F. Lott' from what I could read.

I know he made Basses along with Fendt (from whom he learnt his trade) for Thomas Dodd. In the British Violin Book it states that the Bass pictured is without the external Rib Linings which were used on Basses he made exclusively for Dodd. Therefore the Basses without these Linings must be those he either made for his own brand or for other shops or makers. I was told by another professional in the field that he has personally seen 3 or maybe 4 Basses labeled Simon Andrew Forster from which all of them were the work of J.F. Lott but made for Forster possibly in the white.

The Varnish on this Bass looks so close to that of my Gilkes on both the Back and especially the Ribs as the Rib material is very similar in cut to the Ribs on my Gilkes. The Top unfortunately has been over varnished at some point and has lost its golden hue that we so often see on these London Basses.

Although the Gilkes has much more power that this Bass which has seen a lot of action in its nearly 200 year life, the Lott has a sweet lush Italian type color to the sound.

Connection? Right now in my rack side by side is both the Gilkes and the Lott. S.A. Forster was trained in his Fathers shop (William Forster III) by none other than Samuel Gilkes who worked with Forster and shared in the training of his youngest son Simon Andrew. The Dodd Shop ended in 1823 where Lott had worked. The Forster Shop ended in 1819. Gilkes died in 1827 and some time after 1819 Lott is selling Basses to S.A. Forster for his own brand.

Somewhere around 180ish years later, the Gilkes and the Lott sit side by side for only a day with Varnish so similar it could have come from the same can! Probably not though since the 'London Gold' type formula was quite common on Basses made by several other Londoners of the period.

So, what's your thoughts on this? For what it's worth, I can't make this stuff up, it just seems to happen to me (like owning a rare Bass by John Hart, pupil of Gilkes as well.)