Description
I sold this new 2004 Wilfer violin corner carved back instrument to a professional jazz player in 2005. He played it for 11 years on a 6 nights per week jazz gig in a local Ukiah venue and really got the top moving and the voice to open up considerably. In 2016 I took it in trade for one of my “Swan Workshop” basses. This bass was begging for the full compliment of performance enhancements, which included a neck reset yielding a 7 1/8″ (18.1 cm) bridge height, a new fingerboard, a top regraduation with bass bar remodeling, and a new adjustable bridge. The medium grain width spruce top has a nice open, rich tonal quality. The relatively plain figure maple back, sides, and neck are very healthy and stable. The original halfplate Rubner tuning machines have been maintained and work quite smoothly. The Hill style ebony tailpiece is of moderate weight. The endpin is an ULSA model with ebony collar and aluminum shaft pin. The lightly applied varnish finish is in great shape for having been protecting a full-time performance jazz bass for 11 years.
Dimensions are: Top length 44 1/4″ (112.4 cm), Upper bout width 20 1/2″ (52.1 cm), Middle bout width 15″ (38.1 cm), Lower bout width 27 1/4″ (69.2 cm), Depth at tail 9″ (22.9 cm), Depth at upper bout corner 8 7/8″ (22.5 cm), Depth at neck 7 1/2″ (19.1 cm), String length 42 3/4″ (108.6 cm).
The rich and full low end on this bass was begging for a C extension for quite a while. Patience was recently rewarded with the installation of a new Jason Brown custom C extension. Indeed, the strongest two notes on this bass are the Db and C notes. Strung with Bel Canto A, D, and G, the Spirocore C extension string retains colorful tonal dimensions all the way down to the bottom notes. A very strong professional level orchestral instrument with an easy price tag. With cover.
