Mystery bass

[chopcinskik]

I have recently purchased and rebuilt an old plywood bass to use as an outdoor instrument. I don't have any idea what it is, however, it has some peculiarities that might help in identifying it. I have attached pictures of the position markers on the side of the fingerboard, an unusual "button" just forward of the endpin, the scroll and tuning machines, and a not too descriptive picture of a crease in the back at the shoulders with no interior frames. Anybody have any ideas?

Ken

[Paul Warburton]

First off, what's an "interior frame"? The crease in back just prolly identifies it as a flat-back. The angle just makes it easier to deal with in the higher registers. The "button" as you describe it is a common German feature on some German basses so you could replace the end pin without removing the bridge and tailpiece. I've seen them on Morelli's and many others. Pollman still uses that feature I think.
Anyway, without seeing the whole bass I'd just figure you got A German Lamy that someone added the position markers to.

[Steve Swan]

This one is ikely a Roth with the characteristic extra tailpiece wire attachment plug.

[chopcinskik]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, there is a good chance the fingerboard is a replacement as the joint at the nut is rather sloppy. The crease in the back is both hard to describe and hard to photo. There is a knife cut, V-shaped, on the interior of the back horizontally. The arched back actually extends somewhat through the middle of the crease as viewed from the outside, although the crease shows hardpoints at the back to side seams. Make sense? Judging from the glue joint at the back of the neck and the quality of the cut on the inside, this may have actually been an alteration.

[Steve Swan]

The manufacturing treatment for the crease sounds like a standard method that would have been used. It is more typical these days to gradually slope the upper bout back toward the neck joint area rather than do a sharp bend using a plywood back.