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Old 08-18-2008, 09:41 AM
Dwight McCartney Dwight McCartney is offline
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Default identifying old basses

Hi all,
I enjoy reading about all the great old basses around. American school, Italian, German, etc. I rarely get to see these grand old basses up close. While there have been many photos on various threads here and on TB, my untrained eye does not know what to look for.
I have read that you look to the scroll, sides, ff holes, finish and perhaps other clues when examining an old bass for pedigree.
To start with scrolls, would it be possible to post side by side comparison photos of
A: a few scrolls from the same maker or school
B: a few scrolls from a different maker or school
Possibly some commentary what to look for in the photos. Some indicators may be obvious, but some may not.
I know that is asking a lot of work, partly since it may be hard to get photos of multiple basses by the same maker, but I believe it would be helpful to learning more about this lovely instrument.

Or… is there a thread that covers this somewhere that I missed?
Thanks
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Old 08-18-2008, 10:04 AM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Cool multiple basses by the same maker?

That is a tall request. One thing that is looked for by some of the experts is the hand-eye-curve. This is to see if it looks like the same 'brain' made both or comparable items. Like, if the Scroll is original to the Bass? Same hand, same maker?

Like with these 2 Pollmanns, one of which I have since sold. One made by the father and one by the son 23 years later! What are their differences or similarities? You tell me!

On German and French Basses from the latter half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries we see Scrolls on various Basses that look to be the same. This means that the makers in France 'bought' the Scrolls/Necks and put them on their Basses. The Germans did the same thing in Germany. This is not 100% for every Bass made in those 100 years but it was a practice due to the Guild in place like Unions. Scrolls were made by those in the Carving Guild.

Ask Arnold who makes Basses by hand to show if he can, 3 or 4 of his recent Scrolls and see how they compare. These we know for sure were carved by him personally, not purchased. Then with certainty, we can see how a single maker can vary from Bass to Bass.
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Old 08-19-2008, 12:09 AM
Dwight McCartney Dwight McCartney is offline
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The ff holes to me have subtle differences but are more similar than different.
the number 13 scroll looks a bit narrower from the front than the other. the back of scroll looks differnt width too. From the side the 13 scroll seems to curve back a tiny bit more. The upper corner bout sees slightly different but that may be the busetto confusing me.
That is to say, there there are differences but there is nothing that I could point to to say whether one person made both basses or not.

When I listen to Itzaak Perelman play, I know it is him, whether I have heard the piece before or not. It must be like that with basses, you see enough of them, you begin to recognize old friends. I have not seen nearly enough, so I need to see more. But browsing the internet, looking at what one person says is a particular maker, it may not be that and so I would be learning what is not right. Like not knowing Perelmanns music, someone tells me that it is him when it is actually Bell. How would ever learn?
So I think it would be helpful to see several pieces of a maker side by side to recognize that maker. Yes, I would love to see a comparative photographic series of Professor Schnitzer's work.
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