Description
This 1950s German 3/4 carved back bass previously had a long gigging life for playing jazz, swing, and Americana music. With several recent performance enhancements, this bass now is a solid orchestral performer in an easy-playing size that would be ideal for a university student or regional orchestra player. This bass had a thorough going-over and after several hairline top cracks were glued, it received a top regraduation and bass bar remodeling, a neck reset and new fingerboard, and an orchestral setup with a new adjustable bridge. The new voice is broad and rich, with the performance capabilities of a typical 1920s-30s era German instrument. The spruce top has an even grain structure, with the grain width widening at the edges. The mildly figured maple back and sides have nice tap tones and good “bone structure”. The neck has survived a few cracks over the decades and its now in completely sound condition. The interesting individual tuning machines with large crown gear and brass handles have been mounted to the existing halfplates. The Aubert bridge now stands an efficient 6 7/8″ (17.5 cm) and has gold anodized New Harmony adjusters fitted to it. The adjustable endpin has a wooden endpin unit. The dark wine red varnish finish has many repairs on the top and sides, but is largely intact on the beautiful back.
Dimensions are:
Top length 42 3/4″ (108.6 cm), Upper bout width 19 3/8″ (49.2 cm), Middle bout width 14 5/8″ (37.1 c), Lower bout width 25 5/8″ (65.1 c), Length of back including shortened button 43 1/2″ (110.4 c), Rib depth at tail 8″ (20.3 cm), Rib depth at upper bout crease 7 7/8″ (20.0 cm), Rib depth at neck 6 5/8″ (16.8 cm), String length 41 5/8″ (105.7 cm).
Now strung with Pirastro Permanent strings, this bass has a large and solid orchestral presence. With cover.
