Hermann Stolzel Bass??

Bass Barrister · #1 06-11-2008, 10:40 PM

This is an ebay listing for a Hermann Stolzel DB made in Germany in 1934 and purportedly played by Kay Kyser. Unfortunately, the lister provides a lot of information about Kyser and his band but not very much about the details of the bass itself.

Does anyone know anything about this bass and/or the maker?

The link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Double-Bass-Circ...QQcmdZViewItem

arnoldschnitzer · #2 06-12-2008, 06:36 AM

I have sold and worked on a couple Stolzels. My opinion is that they are better basses than the typical German shop bass. I believe they may have been actually made in Stolzel's shop, rather than being sourced from who-knows-where. One of my clients prefers his Stolzel over his Prescott. I looked at the ebay info, and if that bass is in good condition and sounds good, it could be a very good buy.

61pollmann · #3 06-12-2008, 09:03 AM

This bass is the twin to my 1932 Stolzel. I bought mine in 1975 from an elderly bassist who was retiring. He bought it brand new in 1932, and played it for over 40 years. Mine is branded with an import label "Alban O. Schmidt", but has a stamped label "Hermann Stolzel/ Markneukirchen" on the inside. This bass sounds deeper and more powerful than my early 60s Pollmann, but has a very long scale--43.5 inches. The neck angle also results in a fairly high bridge. These two factors result in a bass which requires far more physical effort than my Pollmann. Stolzel used better woods than you find on many German basses from this era.

George

Bass Barrister · #4 06-12-2008, 10:54 PM

I attempted to speak with the seller today. I say attempted because he was on a cell phone outdoors and I was having trouble hearing what he had to say. What did come out was that he did not know the basic measurments off hand (has to measure them), that the bass was worked on locally by Scott Henrie (the luthier who handles many of the CSO basses), that he's had about 10 calls, that the bass is in great shape, and that anyone wanting to see it should call him. The bass is located in Chicago, near downtown. That's all I've got to report to date.

eh_train · #5 06-13-2008, 09:58 AM

This is a bit of an Ebay mystery. I wish I lived in Chicago so I could see it for myself. BassBarrister, I hope you follow up. It could be an amazing deal.

Still, I have to wonder why on earth the seller would fill up the listing with irrelevant info. on Kay Kayser's band, as opposed to info. on the bass? Also, re. NHOP playing it, is there any proof of this claim? Given that it was supposed to have been recently used by Neils, surely it would be relatively easy to confirm??

Can't help noticing that they want payment within 48 hours. Hmmm....

My 2 cents,

Paul (Eh_train)

Bass Barrister · #6 06-13-2008, 10:41 AM

I, for one, can't fathom selling a serious bass like that on ebay, where it's listed among the Antiguas, Baroque (broke?) and all the other Stradi-various pretenders. YES KEN, I know you sell basses and bows on ebay (I actually bought a bow from you that way) but I know who Ken Smith is. I know who Upton is. Beyond that, I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot bow.

eh_train · #7 06-20-2008, 11:42 AM

Hi BassBarrister and/or any Chicago area bassists? Has anyone actually seen this bass? If it does exist, is it the good deal that it seems? There's just about a day left to check it out! I certainly would, if I lived closer!

Thanks,
Paul O'Connell
(Eh_train)

Eric Hochberg · #8 06-25-2008, 08:42 AM

I just returned the bass to its owner, John Ovnick, who is a fine bassist and producer/engineer. I had it for 10 days or so, took it out on a gig and did a recording session with it.

The bass is very loose and comfortable to play jazz pizz on and bows well with a cello-like sound in the upper register. The strings are pretty low now but I didn't want to futz with the bridge height. It needs a new bridge as the current one is warped and a new tail wire would probably be nice, too. I didn't take it to a luthier to get checked out so I don't know about the overall health of the instrument, but it seems solid. Has a nice thick FB, too.

With the right tweaking, I think this could be a nice bass, it's definitely worth a look if serious. If it ends up on consignment somewhere I'm sure the price will go up quite a bit.