LaFaro's car crash bass.

[James Gibson]

The other day at school someone mentioned Red Mitchell taking the bass which was in the car crash that killed Scott LaFaro back to Kolstein's in pieces, and Kolstein, fairly recently, restored it. Does anyone have pictures of this bass, or have you seen it in person? I would love to see it.

[Mark Carlsen]

Just go on their site and you will see it.... They also make copies....

[robgrow]

Link to the LaFaro bass at Kolstein's site: http://tinyurl.com/62efjr

[Ed Fuqua]

And you can hear Marc Johnson playing it on Eliane Elias' tribute to Bill Evans recording...

[benj296]

Scott LaFaro was awesome. Listen to him on "Gloria's Step" from the album "Sunday at the Village Vanguard". His solo is great.

[fdeck]

I always refer to that album if someone asks how to make a BG sound like a DB. In other words, it's impossible.

[bribass]

It was repaired at the Kolstein shop back in 1988. I got to play it at the shop in 1990.

In 2003 I first saw the Prescott that I own now on the Kolstein website. Like the Lafaro Bass it is not a huge Prescott as many of them are. Unlike Scotty's mine is a Gamba model, not Busetto, w/ wide ribs that make it in between a 3/4 and 7/8. size. Somewhat bigger than Scotty's but not really large.

BG

[Don Carrigan]

Originally Posted by James Gibson

The other day at school someone mentioned Red Mitchell taking the bass which was in the car crash that killed Scott LaFaro back to Kolstein's in pieces, and Kolstein, fairly recently, restored it. Does anyone have pictures of this bass, or have you seen it in person? I would love to see it.

There was an Article about the LaFaro Prescott in the now defunct British Magazine DOUBLE BASSIST, entitled, "The American Icon", by Barrie Goldstein. The page files are too large to transmit through this web site, or even to post on my home page. If you email me I can try to send the four (4) pages to you privately. -- Don Carrigan
It is younger and a smaller shape than my earlier 1820 Busetto below:

1820 Prescott restorehttp://home.earthlink.net/~prescottviol/Photos/2003PRESCOTT5strgANGLED.jpgd and converted to 5 strings:

[David Kaczorowski]

I played it once in the shop, and while it was cool playing Lafaro's bass, I was unimpressed by the bass itself.