Prescotts and other 1800s Yankee Basses

KSB - Ken Smith · #1 11-01-2005, 03:06 PM

I would like someone to start a Sticky for Prescott and other older American Basses. There are quite a few out there and worth discussion. John of CSC/Shen could help if he is willing. I own 2 old Yankee Basses now and one old English Bass that was restored in 19th century New England. I have great respect for these Bass Pioneers. Both My Basses are from the Prescott School. One is the Batchelder and the other a 7/8 Prescott with a Dearborn Bros Label.

Nahrmann near Boston has about 5 of them and one Beautiful Woodbury. Schnitzer has a couple of Yankee Basses and know where more are. Kolstein has Scotties Bass and has had many others. Let's 'hunt' those Yankee Basses down and get them cataloged up here.......

Here's mine; http://www.kensmithbasses.com/Double...tt_preview.htm
http://www.kensmithbasses.com/Double.../batchBass.htm

Yankee Bass owners Speak out!

Paul Warburton · #2 11-01-2005, 07:35 PM

Well, my Bohmann is certainly a yankee mother(Chicago,1888)
To see,go to our The Talkbasses volume two Eye candy..under Basses. Presented by John Sprague and Shen.

KSB - Ken Smith · #3 11-01-2005, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Well, my Bohmann is certainly a yankee mother(Chicago,1888)
To see,go to our The Talkbasses volume two Eye candy..under Basses. Presented by John Sprague and Shen.

New Hampshire yeilds to the man from Chicago... you have 30 minutes sir.. or as long as you need.. lol

Paul Warburton · #4 11-01-2005, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

New Hampshire yeilds to the man from Chicago... you have 30 minutes sir.. or as long as you need.. lol

Aren't you clever! I tried to do a direct shot of the Bohmann off and into this thread, but I couldn't pull it off from Johns site.
Back to you darling.

KSB - Ken Smith · #5 11-01-2005, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Aren't you clever! I tried to do a direct shot of the Bohmann off and into this thread, but I couldn't pull it off from Johns site.
Back to you darling.

PM John and ask him to help..

How do u like my new Abraham?

Paul Warburton · #6 11-01-2005, 07:55 PM

I could only get the scroll shot and the back shot to load...it looks great...Reggie Workman has the only other gamba Prescott i've seen. Have you ever tried the cello shaped full size mothers?

KSB - Ken Smith · #7 11-01-2005, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

I could only get the scroll shot and the back shot to load...it looks great...Reggie Workman has the only other gamba Prescott i've seen. Have you ever tried the cello shaped full size mothers?

I posted 4 pics on that page.. Mayby refresh it and see if they show..

I studied with Reggie when I was about 18. I think the Prescott is a recent aquisition for him. Can you get some pics of his maybe or see how similar it is to mine?

Paul Warburton · #8 11-01-2005, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSB - Ken Smith

I posted 4 pics on that page.. Mayby refresh it and see if they show..

I studied with Reggie when I was about 18. I think the Prescott is a recent aquisition for him. Can you get some pics of his maybe or see how similar it is to mine?

No...I saw his in Europe in about 1980. Your shoulders have been cut down, no? Yours have slopier shoulders then his for sure.

KSB - Ken Smith · #9 11-01-2005, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

No...I saw his in Europe in about 1980. Your shoulders have been cut down, no? Yours have slopier shoulders then his for sure.

Actually Paul, it looks 100% original to both me and Arnold. We will know more once he gets the Top off.

Paul Warburton · #10 11-01-2005, 08:21 PM

Much better after refreshing. From the front it doesn't look so slopie. Yeah, I can see the line from the original tuning plates. No ebony strip going down the back like some, huh.
That's gonna be serious fun. Is Arnold going to try to get some of the dark color out ?

KSB - Ken Smith · #11 11-01-2005, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Much better after refreshing. From the front it doesn't look so slopie. Yeah, I can see the line from the original tuning plates. No ebony strip going down the back like some, huh.
That's gonna be serious fun. Is Arnold going to try to get some of the dark color out ?

To some degree with clean up but the natural aging and oxidation is fine as it is.

bejoyous · #12 11-01-2005, 09:42 PM

Thanks for starting this thread. Here is a beautiful Prescott owned by Rob Clutton in Toronto. He's an excellent jazz bassist. This bass is one of the biggest and heaviest insturments I've ever played. Check out the woman carved in relief on the tailpiece. It's original as far as I know.
http://www.zoilus.com/documents/robclutton.jpg

KSB - Ken Smith · #13 11-02-2005, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bejoyous

Thanks for starting this thread. Here is a beautiful Prescott owned by Rob Clutton in Toronto. He's an excellent jazz bassist. This bass is one of the biggest and heaviest insturments I've ever played. Check out the woman carved in relief on the tailpiece. It's original as far as I know.
http://www.zoilus.com/documents/robclutton.jpg

Great pic.. Thanks for the link. Being that it is a 4-string now, only better pics would help to see how much is all original if not all else. It that the large 7/8, 4/4 or 5/4 model?

John Sprague · #14 11-02-2005, 08:40 AM

Here are the links to Paul's Bohmann:
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight

KSB - Ken Smith · #15 11-02-2005, 09:04 AM

Come to think of it, maybe I should switch to German Bow; http://www.thetalkbasses.com/images/war/image8.jpg

Ike Harris · #16 11-02-2005, 11:19 AM

Here's a link to a whole slew of images compiled by Don Carrigan, a dyed-in-the-wool Prescott man from the 2xbasslist email list. Don's is the restored 5-stringer that Nahrmann worked on. Eugene Wright's bass is the Christie's Auction pic. The big 3-stringer belongs to some church that doesn't get played or sold to anyone. Enjoy.

http://home.earthlink.net/~prescottviol/images/

Ike

KSB - Ken Smith · #17 11-02-2005, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ike Harris

Here's a link to a whole slew of images compiled by Don Carrigan, a dyed-in-the-wool Prescott man from the 2xbasslist email list. Don's is the restored 5-stringer that Nahrmann worked on. Eugene Wright's bass is the Christie's Auction pic. The big 3-stringer belongs to some church that doesn't get played or sold to anyone. Enjoy.

http://home.earthlink.net/~prescottviol/images/

Ike

Thanks Ike. I think I saw that list before. I noticed a pic of my Batchelder in there. On the Pic with the Cross bars, you can see the faint scars from the previous X-brace. I wonder when he started doing that? Mine has regular crossbars but until we get inside the Bass, we wont be able to tell what is original or not.

Great stuff.. Keep em comming guys.. Even if it's the same Bass but a different Pic.

jmpiwonka · #18 11-02-2005, 03:43 PM

paul, it looks like the darker wood of the flames on your basses back is raised up like its swelled, and the purfling too. absolutely gorgeous. and the f-holes have it also, it almost looks like there is a tear drop shape carved at the bottom of the f-holes in pic three of john's post.

**Matthew Tucker** · #19 11-02-2005, 04:03 PM

The pic of Eugene Wright with the 1830 prescott shows a tuner on the tailpiece(!).

Is that a mechanism for changing the tailgut length "on the fly"?

jmpiwonka · #20 11-02-2005, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

The pic of Eugene Wright with the 1830 prescott shows a tuner on the tailpiece(!).

Is that a mechanism for changing the tailgut length "on the fly"?

that wouldn't change the tailgut length because the tuner wouldn't move on the tailpiece, just increase tension.

the tuner is there so that the bass could be a four string without changing the pegbox since the bass would've been a 3 string originally.