Blockless in the House..

[Ken Smith]

This Post is a dupe from the Roebuck Thread where I first posted it. Why post it here, again? It's not a Roebuck Bass!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just acquired a Blockless Bass that I have known for many years. The condition would be in my opinion poor cosmetically but structurally I would say fair and tonally good-to-very good.

I have always liked this particular Bass and it has been offered to me in various ways from direct sale to trade value towards a more expensive Bass to trade for a high grade Bow or a Smith Electric Bass.

I wont divulge the details of the transaction for various reasons, the main one being, 'it doesn't really matter' but I will say that I have it now and own it personally.

I have been playing it for the last two days and the tone is quite deep, smooth and loud. Looking at it and then hearing it especially when I compared it to my other Basses that are in good health or even recently restored is a pleasant surprise. I played it against the Batchelder, Martini, Gilkes and Hart Basses I have here. Results: "It can hold it's own".

Currently it is string with D'Addario Helicore Orchestra model Solo Gauge strings. A few months ago I took these off and tried them on my Cornerless Bass just to see how the strings work on a Bass I know and put some old FlatChromes on the Blockless. Both Basses sounded good with either string as they are both dark smooth sounding Basses.

The tone of this Blockless I would describe as deep and smooth with the Bow and although soft sounding, has plenty of volume. It also spreads well in the low end as well. For Jazz Pizz (still with the Helicore Solos) it has a nice deep ping with a quick thump-like 'attack & decay' but sustains the note as well. It sounds kind of Italianish to me mostly.

I have an outdoor Jazz Gig in about 2 weeks and I am thinking of using this Bass. I will bring in my Shadow Pickup (Underwood copy/model) and see how well it works. I still have to tweak some of the set-up issues to 'call it my own' but that wont take much as it's pretty close to how I like it now. The Bridge and Fingerboard arch is a bit shallow for Bowing but I can get by on it. It looks to have been set up for Jazz. The string spacing is equaled between the strings and not center to center. The centers taper wider towards the E-string. This is not what I like but it will do for now.

I think this is a regular sized Bass or 3/4 as we know it today. Here are the dimensions for comparison purposes;

Top Length; 43"
to Back Button; 44 1/4"
Top Bout: 21"
Middle Bout: 14 3/4"
Lower Bout: 25 1/2"
String Length with the Bridge cheated on top of the Notches is 42" but centered at the Notches almost 43" with an Eb Neck.
Ribs; 8 1/2" (inside Top&Back), 7" at the Neck.

The Bass feels more like a 7/8ths in my hands but the numbers say otherwise. Perhaps with the broader upper shoulders and longer string length it is on the full 3/4 scale of the olden days. I will call this just 'Orchestral size Double Bass'

I will post Pics as soon as I get the time to make a page on it in my DB section of the Smith Website. This I will post a few. The Back has beautiful tight flamed maple as do the Ribs. The Back though is the best I have seen on a Blockless and for its age, in good shape. The Problem lies with the Top mainly as it has sunk since its last restoration in 1995. The Bridge adjusters are way up on the E foot as compared to the G, about 3/8ths" higher on the E. The Ribs were lined with Linen many years ago and have 'buckled' in spots. This Bass was purchase over 2 decades ago and repaired by several Luthiers 'of various Schools of Thought' if you can it that. The former owner used this Bass for Jazz mainly and strung the Bass with Spiro Reds. The Neck has barely 15mm of Overstand with a pitched maple shim on the original Beechwood Neck. The Bridge with very low string height is now 6 3/4" with a fairly high Top arch which is higher on the G side with no sinkage at all then it is on the E side. The sinkage is mainly in the lower Bassbar area of the Top up to the Bridge and tapering as it moves upwards. The current break angle from what I can measure is way over 40 degrees measuring from the A-string.

This Bass has had a hard life with some (but not all) marginal repairs. The set-up and usage of this Bass in the last decade or so has not been positive nor considerate on the condition of the Bass or its weaknesses.

For now, it is playable as-is regardless of how 'deformed' it may look. If this Bass could sound at least as good as it does now with a full and complete restoration, I would put that on the schedule as well. As Arnold has mentioned before, these Basses can often be the poor mans Italian Bass. This one certainly has that sound and I plan on using it in situations where a less expensive Bass would be safer to bring out in both Orchestral and Jazz settings until at which time the Bass can be taken in for Restoration.

As far as origin and age goes as usual it's all a mystery. The Bass looks easily 200 years old but this may not be the case. However, it has quite a bit of oxidation showing inside. I am not sure if this is a Tyrolean or a Bohemian Blockless Bass as I have heard of both these attributions.

Lets discuss the Origin part 'after' I put some pictures up.

[Ken Smith]

I just put the page up on our DB Website here.

Here is a picture of the Back Button Design and the full Back of my Bass to compare. The other picture is a different Tyrolean Bass with a similar but different design in the upper Back as well. The last picture is also 'borrowed' from another website and is not my Bass.



I don't know how to match the pic sizes off of the web pics, sorry.

[Ken Smith]

Before I got this Bass shown above from my friend, he was thinking of fixing it himself due to the huge expense it would run at a shop which was then quoted at 10k. I tried talking him out of it knowing that the job was just too difficult judging the overall condition and the lack of experience he had on his own. I myself would not even attempt this even though I am not new to repairing basses. It's been decades since but still, I am not interested in this work. This Bass needs beyond what I have personally done in the past.

Now that I have that explained and out of the way, I told him before hand, just keep the bass as-is and when you do a show, use 'this' bass for the Pit. This way, in case something falls on it like a chair or person, it's covered by the insurance!

Well, the bass has been mine for some time now and I just did a few minor things to make it playable. I have a pit job this week doing a show at a school so what better bass do I have for the occasion? I first brought the Mougenot and the conductor kept saying the orchestra was too loud. Almost 30 of us in the pit and the show is all acoustic, no mic's at all, even the stage singers. So on the first break at rehearsal I asked, 'do you mind if I bring a slightly smaller bass, smaller sound since volume is a problem'? He replied, 'the smaller the better'. So.. here we are.. Blockless in the Pit.. Don't fall.. please.. The Show is 'South Pacific' in case you were wondering.