Century-Old German Bass

mwiles30 · #1 02-09-2011, 09:08 PM

I'm going to check out a 100 year old German doublebass tomorrow morning. The seller only wants $300 for it. From the small pictures I've seen, the top and back don't have any surface cracks, and the seams are still intact.

Does this sound suspicious to any of you? I'm fully aware that I'll need to spend some money to get it fully playable, but I'm just trying to avoid running into $3,000 worth of restoration work to the internal wood work or something like that.

Eric Hochberg · #2 02-09-2011, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwiles30

I'm going to check out a 100 year old German doublebass tomorrow morning. The seller only wants $300 for it. From the small pictures I've seen, the top and back don't have any surface cracks, and the seams are still intact.

Does this sound suspicious to any of you? I'm fully aware that I'll need to spend some money to get it fully playable, but I'm just trying to avoid running into $3,000 worth of restoration work to the internal wood work or something like that.

Yes, suspicious especially since you have two great bass shops in Cinci where the seller could have gotten an appraisal. So if you put 3k into the bass, you're down $3300, not bad for an old German bass, if it's then healthy, playable and sounds good. However, it might need much more than that put into it.

ole Jason · #3 02-09-2011, 09:17 PM

Here is the bass in question

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/msg/2205879962.html

mwiles30 · #4 02-09-2011, 09:18 PM

Well, according to him, he took the instrument to the Bass Cellar, and they offered him $350. This doesn't make sense, because he'll sell it to me or $300.

I'm still going to take a look though. When I do, what should I look for on the inside of the bass?

What's also strange is the same guy just sold an early 20th century Tyrolean instrument for $250.

Eric Hochberg · #5 02-09-2011, 09:23 PM

Maybe he doesn't want to make the trip back there. Call the bass cellar and ask them about it and the work it needs. Maybe they'll tell you. Or just buy the thing and get some repair estimates. Someone else will probably take it off your hands if you don't want to invest in it. From the look of the pics, chances are it will take many thousands. You really need an experienced eye to go through this thing, not for a novice.

chris1125 · #6 02-09-2011, 09:40 PM

Hmm... Yeah, another thing I noticed was that the pictures were blurry. If the bass cellar only offered him $350 for it, it must not look to good because they're usually pretty generous with trade INS and what not. If you go and look at it with the intention of putting little money into it I would make sure that there are no large cracks, particularily on the back or over the sound post and make sure it's not missing any vitals. If it still has all 4 tuners, a bridge, an intact sound post and a working endpin you might have a pretty decent bass with less then $1000 into it. Oh, Aldo make sure that there is nothing wrong with the neck joint since that can also be a pricy repair. Also, since he listed the maker I would do some seriouse googling to find out how much the bass is worth mint to see if it's worth putting your time into. That time period was filled with the begining if mass productions and to tell you the truth, a lot of what Germany produced was very thick clumpy crap. Anyways, let us me know how it turned out.

mwiles30 · #7 02-09-2011, 09:42 PM

Well, thank you very much for your input.

KUNGfuSHERIFF · #8 02-09-2011, 09:50 PM

I smell tweaker.

mwiles30 · #9 02-09-2011, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KUNGfuSHERIFF

I smell tweaker.

Probably a bit too much of a tweaker.

bassist14 · #10 02-10-2011, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris1125

Also, since he listed the maker I would do some seriouse googling to find out how much the bass is worth mint to see if it's worth putting your time into. .

he only wrote whats on the label, not who made the bass.
this is not a hornsteiner.

Matt Ides · #11 02-10-2011, 06:01 AM

Go check it out because things have been going real cheap in the current economy.

powerbass · #12 02-10-2011, 06:06 AM

As someone who bought a cheap, older bass that needed a lot of work to make it playable, I would be cautious about purchasing a bass like that. If your handy with woodworking you could do a fair amount of work but if you need a luthier to do the work you could spend a small fortune for an instrument you have no idea how it sounds. Just say it needs new strings, new bridge, new sound post and a fingerboard planed/or replaced plus some seams reglued etc - all this can run $2000-3000, a luthier has to factor how much all the repair work will run and what the finished bass will fetch once repaired

notabene · #13 02-10-2011, 09:26 PM

If, in fact, it is carved, grab it, and learn to work on basses, if the neck is "intact". Cracks can be fixed. Only caveat I can see is evidence of bad repairs involving epoxy, etc. Even screws put in by butchers aren't a big deal.

Have fun!

Steven

jayscheuerle · #14 02-11-2011, 06:00 AM

If you've got $300 to invest in a project that could be a lot of fun, do it! Don't think of it as getting an instrument to play, but one to play with. There's lots of information online as to how to approach most repairs and in the end you may have something you're very proud of. - j