What is a church bass?

[John B]

Hi,

I've done a little searching on this forum for "church basses," and found a couple of references to Prescott basses. But, I still have some questions, for any of you that might know.

1. What is a relatively standard scale length? I've seen one reference on the internet to 670 mm (roughly 26 3/8"). What size of bass would this equate to?
   
2. How is it tuned?
   
3. How was it used? I understand that ministers used them to accompany themselves, but I don't know if they were used for any other purpose.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer,

John Bushouse

[rftbass]

Here are a couple links to get you started

http://www.easthamptonviolin.com/eas...lin/early.html

Prescott "Church" bass

http://www.smithbassforums.com/showthread.php?t=5

http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp
search for church bass

[David Potts]

I have once seen a "bassetto", a very small bass that my teacher named and claimed that it was used by strolling players. There may have been something like an extended wooden hook at the top/back of the neck to hook over the left shoulder. My memory is a little clouded since this was about 44 years ago !!

Could this be a "Church Bass?" It looked somewhere between a 1/8 and 1/4 size and had tiny machines.

DP