What's my bass worth?

[jnel]

my question is where do you get this information(knowing ones stuff) is this knowledge from luthiers handing it down from generation to generation. Is it from records that can be read? Are there books on the history of double bass commerce with empirical data that was gathered and recorded. Is this knowledge(knowing stuff) learned devotionally, ie. grandpa said so therefore, that's the way it is. I am not trying to be flipent here, I would really like to know if there are valid, unbiased history written objectively that covers this stuff. Please don't tell me that you learned it from bassists and luthiers a talkin and guessin. Again, I am not trying to be anything but curious here. In other words, how do you know this info to be facts. Where or from whom did you learn it?

[PaulCannon]

Originally Posted by jnel

my question is where do you get this information(knowing ones stuff) is this knowledge from luthiers handing it down from generation to generation. Is it from records that can be read? Are there books on the history of double bass commerce with empirical data that was gathered and recorded. Is this knowledge(knowing stuff) learned devotionally, ie. grandpa said so therefore, that's the way it is. I am not trying to be flipent here, I would really like to know if there are valid, unbiased history written objectively that covers this stuff. Please don't tell me that you learned it from bassists and luthiers a talkin and guessin. Again, I am not trying to be anything but curious here. In other words, how do you know this info to be facts. Where or from whom did you learn it?

When you've seen one or two hundred basses that look identical to the OP's bass and with the same label, it's hard to imagine this doesn't have the same story as all the others.

Luthiers and instrument sellers who have been in the business long enough have a relationship of some kind with their distributors. Sure, some of this information gets passed down generationally, but it isn't exactly a big secret. There is a world of difference between a master luthier slaving over one instrument at a time and massive factory operations like Gibson or Kay.

I don't know as much about Hofner basses as other people in this thread, but I've seen enough of them in schools to know they're pretty common. They all have the same shape, design, varnish and often the same set-up. An experienced dealer would recognize it on sight.

[Eric Hochberg]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Karl Hofner made stringed instruments in Bavaria; John Juzek put labels in stringed instruments in New York and later Stowe, Vermont.

Juzek was a violin maker, just didn't make basses. Supposedly Wilfer made the carved Juzek labeled basses that were imported into New York. I don't think you are saying Hofner basses are all hand made? I assume they are predominantly factory made. Did Karl Hofner make a bass himself?

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by Eric Hochberg

Juzek was a violin maker, just didn't make basses. Supposedly Wilfer made the carved Juzek labeled basses that were imported into New York. I don't think you are saying Hofner basses are all hand made? I assume they are predominantly factory made. Did Karl Hofner make a bass himself?

The Juzek labelled DBs came from Wilfer and from Lang and yeah, I thought we were discussing basses, not violins.

What do you mean by "hand made"? All of those basses from the twentieth century were built by men's hands, without benefit of CNC machines and without much power tool intervention. The lower models were built in a collective fashion, the master models benefited from better woods and the master's touch.

The Wilfer family's been making basses since 1905 and the basses are still made to the same outline on the same moulds. The photo of the violin-cornered bass on their current website is exactly the same shape as my 'Johan Rauner' labelled bass but the woods in mine are nicer!

German Hofners, Pfretschners of the twentieth century were all made the same way, with guys who were sawyers, guys who carved scrolls, guys who bent ribs, etc.

New Hofners are made in China, where they are still assembled and finished the old labour intensive way. The same way (if not to the same quality standards!) that Wilfers are currently being made in Germany and Upton basses are being built in Stonington, Connecticut.

[Eric Hochberg]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

What do you mean by "hand made"?

I meant hand made by Karl Hofner himself, start to finish.