Vintage Gibson double bass

[james condino]

A friend brought by an old Gibson upright bass by week and was trying to get an idea of it's value. It still has the Gibson label clearly visible inside and looks to be built sometime around WWII and is similar to an old Kay- laminated top, back, violin corners. It has a two piece neck with a center seam of darker wood and the scroll is a solid carving- no paste ons. It needs a bit of restoration work to get it up to speed, so we are trying to find out what the eventual result will be worth. It is currently not playable, so I can't comment on the voice. The finish is clearly a factory sprayed nitrocellulose laquer and is showing its age.

I've only seen one other in the past, so I'm looking for advice from others who might know better. It is a US made plywood bass, so my guess on value was similar to an old Kay in that condition. The workmanship on the body looked very similar (Did they subcontract it to Kay?), but the neck was a bit nicer.

I know that somewhere out there is a Gibson junkie with a huge database of information. Thanks for the help.

j.
www.condino.com

[Jason Sypher]

I'm just popping off here but I think a Gibson bass in solid playing condition is probably worth about $3200. Just a gut response...

[Ike Harris]

I've seen a few of these, had one to try out at my house. My impression was that it was rather light in weight and not all that resonant, at least the one I had. Otherwise, it seemed well made and probably desirable as a collector's item. Kolstein has one, including a carved version - don't know what he's asking but I would guess a private seller would ask 3-4k for one in nice shape. I think Gibson made these themselves after the Epiphone buy didn't pan out. Word has it that they acquired Epi for the basses but some irate employees destroyed the molds. Maybe someone could shed more definite light on that.

Ike

[bribass]

Originally Posted by Ike Harris

I've seen a few of these, had one to try out at my house. My impression was that it was rather light in weight and not all that resonant, at least the one I had. Otherwise, it seemed well made and probably desirable as a collector's item. Kolstein has one, including a carved version - don't know what he's asking but I would guess a private seller would ask 3-4k for one in nice shape. I think Gibson made these themselves after the Epiphone buy didn't pan out. Word has it that they acquired Epi for the basses but some irate employees destroyed the molds. Maybe someone could shed more definite light on that.

Ike

laminate:
http://kolstein.cybrhost.com/mm5/mer...gory_Code=bass

carved:
http://kolstein.cybrhost.com/mm5/mer...gory_Code=bass

[james condino]

Thanks for the link to the Kolstein instruments. The laminate one is what I'm looking at. It has the same neck as on the carved model- two outside pieces of maple with a center beam of a darker wood- possible walnut.

Any idea of how many of these were actually made? My guess is that they were pretty obscure and the roughly 1940 production year means that in a short time period the war priorities probably ended production. I talked with the folks at George Gruhn's shop in Nashville today ( they are pretty meticulous Gibson junkies) but without dropping $50 for a written appraisal, they were pretty aloof to mention anything about it.

The $3-4k estimate seems to be in the ballpark. Would a later, non factory, professional refinish job change that very much? I know with old Kays (here in the Asheville area) they either need to be squeeky clean to matter or completely beat; nothing in between matters much as long as it is done resonably well.

Thanks for all of the help.

j.

[Carl Johnson]

I’d be pretty surprised if you could get that much for it. Name aside when you get right down to it, it is just a plywood bass in need of work. Even in prime condition and if it had a great plywood tone, it’s still just a plywood bass. I’m sure no better that a similar aged Kay. And you can get great older Kay’s in the 2k range that are already setup, played in and healthy.

I’d image only a guitar player would pay a premium for an old Gibson bass. And given that, would a guitar player pony up 3+k for something to stand in the corner? Maybe...

Interesting situation, I’d take it to a violin shop and get their opinion. String shops are much more in tune with the upright bass world, two completely different scenes.

[gtd-bass]

I just found this site and the discussion of the gibson upright bass. I have one that has been in our family since the late 1940's. My father a jazz musician who played big band and small clubs played the bass until he died in 1990. I played it during during the 60's and 70's folk scene. The one I have is the ply version. Mine was dropped once and the neck came completely off. My father and I reglued it, and it plays great today. I now play once a week in the summer and at local folk festivals with some string band and blue grass folks. I previously played it at the first annual Kent State Folk festival in 1968.

Since the last postings on this, has anyone found any more info on them, how many were made and in what years?