old church bass on ebay

[crowsmengegus]

Somebody is selling what looks like an old church bass on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Very-Old-RARE-Vi...-/150549999876

Check out the scroll on that thing! The overall shape reminds me of what I think I think is one of the oldest extant church basses, see here:

http://www.mfa.org/collections/objec...ass-viol-50920

Might be a nice find for somebody interested in these oldies. Thoughts?

[crowsmengegus]

Quoted from the auction: "The overall height is 56" ...The body is 37" Tall... 23 1/2" wide at the bottom widest part... and 17 1/2" at the top widest area and about 8" deep overall"

I nabbed some photos since the auction will soon disappear. Click for bigger:

[Matthew Tucker]

Wow, must try woollen strings on my basses one day



but seriously, looks lovely. But at $1572 shipping to Oz, I'll not be bidding.

[Plays_For_Dog]

With all the split joints, it looks like it sat in a moldy basement for a couple decades....

[dmonroe]

Can anyone give me a ballpark number of how much it would cost to have something like this restored?

[Jason Sypher]

There's not enough info to go on but I would expect a total proper restoration at over 5k for sure...looks like a Yankee though not a Prescott. Post this at Ken Smith Forums...he'll have a lot to say about this...

[Matt Ides]

What is the current application for a church bass? I did some googling and not that much info.

[Jason Sypher]

I think you could do whatever you want with it once it's healthy...pick up, mic, walter woods and off you go...

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by crowsmengegus

Somebody is selling what looks like an old church bass on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Very-Old-RARE-Vi...-/150549999876

Check out the scroll on that thing! The overall shape reminds me of what I think I think is one of the oldest extant church basses, see here:

http://www.mfa.org/collections/objec...ass-viol-50920

Might be a nice find for somebody interested in these oldies. Thoughts?

That's delightful! Thanks for posting the link.

[jmercer91]

Originally Posted by Matt Ides

What is the current application for a church bass? I did some googling and not that much info.

worship?

[crowsmengegus]

Originally Posted by Matt Ides

What is the current application for a church bass? I did some googling and not that much info.

The original application was supposedly to accompany congregational singers during Puritan church services (to keep them in tune...), but I don't think that would go over very well today at your local church.

Check out what Dean Ferrell does:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjq4o_9Em94

It seems like it would be a pretty fun and unique busking instrument, if you're into that kind of thing.

[crowsmengegus]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

looks like a Yankee though not a Prescott.

I don't think there is such a thing as a non-Yankee church bass. It definitely doesn't look much like a Prescott. Here's some Prescott church basses on the MFA site:

http://www.mfa.org/collections/objec...ass-viol-50874

http://www.mfa.org/collections/objec...ass-viol-51287

It would be a nice find if this is indeed a Benjamin Crehore. The body shape is right, and the scroll and ffs share a lot of similarities.

[Jason Sypher]

I actually did not know that Church Basses were only made in the states...interesting...

[Bass]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

...Post this at Ken Smith Forums...he'll have a lot to say about this...

I'm going to take the liberty of paraphrasing Ken Smith's comments.

Ken Smith says that he knew ALL about this bass as soon as it hit e-bay, he was well aware of the bass waaaay before it hit TalkBass. Ken Smith says that this so-called bass might have been made by Crehore, but it doesn't matter because the bass is total crap. And he thinks the square shoulders are ridiculous.

[Tejano Bass]

...looks like a Yankee though not a Prescott. Post this at Ken Smith Forums...he'll have a lot to say about this...

Jason . . . F Y I - Ken agrees with your observation . . . Ken's response: http://www.smithbassforums.com/showthread.php?t=1812

Ooops! . . . Looks like Bass & I were typing at the same time - he's faster

[bejoyous]

Anyone know how these things were tuned? Fourths, fifths, ADGC, DGCF, GDAE?

[owen_liam]

Hah! Forget the tuning @bejoyous; I have no idea what the hell anyone is going on about. What exactly is a church bass?! It's been said here that they are a North American instrument and they must be because I'm a limey/pom/Brit and I've no idea what they are!

Sorry to divert attention from the actual instrument at hand, but as far as I can fathom, they are a kind of junior sized bass that was played in church. Is that right? As far as I'm aware, there is no such tradition in the UK. Did they accompany the congregation on their own or as part of an ensemble? Are they still used in churches today? Do they turn up for sale often, like old church pews when a chapel gets a make over or closes down? Is there a tradition of using them in Canada as well as the US? Questions, questions!

It seems to me an intriguing cultural and historical difference between the North Americas and the UK, something I always find very interesting...

[crowsmengegus]

Originally Posted by Bass

I'm going to take the liberty of paraphrasing Ken Smith's comments.

Ken Smith says that he knew ALL about this bass as soon as it hit e-bay, he was well aware of the bass waaaay before it hit TalkBass. Ken Smith says that this so-called bass might have been made by Crehore, but it doesn't matter because the bass is total crap. And he thinks the square shoulders are ridiculous.

lol (also to paraphrase Ken)

[crowsmengegus]

Originally Posted by owen_liam

Hah! Forget the tuning @bejoyous; I have no idea what the hell anyone is going on about. What exactly is a church bass?! It's been said here that they are a North American instrument and they must be because I'm a limey/pom/Brit and I've no idea what they are!

Sorry to divert attention from the actual instrument at hand, but as far as I can fathom, they are a kind of junior sized bass that was played in church. Is that right? As far as I'm aware, there is no such tradition in the UK. Did they accompany the congregation on their own or as part of an ensemble? Are they still used in churches today? Do they turn up for sale often, like old church pews when a chapel gets a make over or closes down? Is there a tradition of using them in Canada as well as the US? Questions, questions!

It seems to me an intriguing cultural and historical difference between the North Americas and the UK, something I always find very interesting...

Try reading this article from Strings Magazine:

http://www.stringsmagazine.com/artic...rticleid=21453

I don't know for sure if everything in the article is correct, but it should answer most questions...

The gist of it is this: Church basses were made in late 1700's to about 1840 in New England to be used to accompany singers in church. Accompaniment was needed supposedly because the singing was so bad. An instrument with a lower pitch was desired for this (fiddles were considered unsuitable for church for some reason), and if they weren't so hard to import, people might have just used cellos or basses imported from Europe. Instead a sort of hybrid and non-standard instrument was created, possibly as an imitation of a cello by untrained Yankees, or maybe something else entirely. Mass manufacture of reed organs made the church bass obsolete starting about 1840.

[tehbassist]

I don't understand my tastes sometimes. I stare at beautiful basses all day on talkbass, usualy without the slightest bit of envy. However the second you show me a bizarre historical instrument, I obsess, is something wrong with me?

Oh and also can somebody tell me where to get a church bass?