Anton Schroetter plywood bass?????

[armybass]

There is a bass for sale locally and is listed as old German plywood bass, Anton Schroetter. The bass looks solid in the pictures but I am going to check it out this weekend. I seem to remember that we had on eof these when I was in school but I mainly played my old King Moretone as it was a better sounding bass and better set up than any of the schools plywood basses.

Anyways...after all that gibberish...I was just wondering if anyone can give me the skinny on what I think is probably a 40 + year old plywood bass. I have heard them called thin and anemic but would like to hear more from you folks. There is also a Knilling Bucharest plywood available and I am a huge fan of the Englehardt ES9's after a good setup.

Please feel free to give opinions of any of the basses I have listed above if the mood strikes you. I have been playing for a bout 20 years but have taken a few years off of music completely so I need some refreshing on my URB info....thanks

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

I have a plywood Anton Schroetter that was probably made in the 50s. I've seen the ad for the bass you're talking about but the pictures are pretty bad so it's hard to compare. Given the randomness in how these imported shop instruments are labeled, I'm not sure how valid my comparison would be.

My bass is pretty quiet played pizz, especially on the E, but it has enough going on to be able to hold it's own in the acoustic trio I'm doing now. Arco is much louder and richer. Both hold true when the bass is amplified. I haven't played a Knilling in years but from what I can remember the AS has a more interesting tone. My bass destroyed the stock Engel M1 I played a few weeks ago.

What else would you like to know?

[anonymous02282011]

The Schroetter name has been "corrupted" again and again.

The original Schroetter shop got to the point where other luthiers were making basses for them and then Schroetter would just put his stamp/name on them, so the name itself doesn't really carry any weight.

It still might be a great bass. Only way to know is to go play it.

[bass_lord_mutha]

I played on an Anton Schroetter bass for the first half of high school. The nut was way too low so the open strings buzzed and the school was too cheap to have it fixed so I just shimmed the nut with some old clarinet reeds and after that it played great. The arco tone was definitely better and louder than the pizz tone, though.

[gbaker]

Originally Posted by armybass

There is a bass for sale locally and is listed as old German plywood bass, Anton Schroetter. ...

Anyways...after all that gibberish...I was just wondering if anyone can give me the skinny on what I think is probably a 40 + year old plywood bass. I have heard them called thin and anemic but would like to hear more from you folks. There is also a Knilling Bucharest plywood available and I am a huge fan of the Englehardt ES9's after a good setup.

Please feel free to give opinions of any of the basses I have listed above if the mood strikes you. I have been playing for a bout 20 years but have taken a few years off of music completely so I need some refreshing on my URB info....thanks

I have had a 60's AS, a 90's Engle EC-1, and a '49 Kay M-1 at the same time and all with Spiro Mediums. The AS has a good robust neck (that many TB'ers prefer) with stock ebony FB. It has about the same pizz output as the EC-1. Both are soft in the low register compared to the Kay. The AS and the EC-1 are certainly serviceable if the price is right. If I had to choose between the AS and an Engle , I would take the Engle because I just like the thinner neck and rounded (non-flatted) fingerboard that suits my hand.

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

A Spiro Stark E will go a long way toward filling out any weakness in the low end. That's a string that will park behind you in your own driveway, kick in your front door and drink all the good beer in the fridge. I've gone from cursing the weak E to worrying about the seams.