5/4 Bass...seriously

[EFischer1]

Do you have a link for it? I'd love to see.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by EFischer1

Do you have a link for it? I'd love to see.

Just go to the TBDB search function (above), put in Morelli with a capital M. It's right down that page a ways under Morelli. There are two of mine, (the first one was sold) one of Kens and Eric Jacksons cool one too!
This was a Ken Smith special...where he did a bunch of long, agonizing research and came up with the difinitive anwer to 'Where did Morelli basses come from, and, more importantly, who the hell Andreas Morelli was.
Thanks Ken.

[KSB - Ken Smith]

And thank you too Paul. The Bottom line is.. We have no idea who Morelli was or IF he was.. We do know it was a made up name and put into instruments made in Germany. Someone suggested a short while ago that there was a French(?) family here that had them made and changed the French name to Morelli to sound Italian.. A theory or fact?.. Who knows..

I do know this; I have seen Basses NAMED Morelli that come from at least TWO different shops if not more. They are completly different Basses from between 1900 and 1940 or so.. I have seen Pfretzschner Basses IDENTICAL to Morelli Basses. Not just one, but several of them. Is IS possible but only a theory that the Dist. in USA put Morelli labels in these Basses because Germany was not so popular here and Italian Basses were. We know for a Fact that Karr Herrmann Made the nicer "looking" Basses that are labelled Morelli. Sound varies amongst the German Shop Basses wether Handmade or not. Mine was recently restored and with the exception of the Wood being from Germany, it sounds and acts more like an Italian Bass as there was plenty of extra wood in there to re-carve to match the dimentions of the Better type Italian Basses. Regardless, they are some of the better Basses. I have owned several Wilfer/Juzek Basses and they don't match up to their older German cousins as they often have pre-mature cracks and sinkage. Some 50 year old shop Basses look older than some 100 year old Morelli/Herrmann/Pfretzschner Basses....

Sorry to rant on but, I'm am home from dress rehearsal and have a short break before tonights concert when I heard my name called.............

[Martin Sheridan]

I have worked on several basses that were described as 5/4 basses. Since no one has every defined the size of basses and since there are variations within 3/4, 5/8,7/8 and 4/4,
the 5/4 description has been used for basses with ultra large bodies. One of the 5/4s I worked on was a Prescott and one was mistakenly ascribed to Da Salo. I could hardly lift either bass to put them on the workbench. I also owned a large 7/8 bass with a 44 inch string length. The guy who bought it was the size of a refrigerator and thought it was just fine the way it was, string length and all.