Indeed, the best things in life are still made by hand. This is a 75-80 year old Czech made, hand carved, curved back, upright bass. When I was playing it was the envy of all other jazz bassists I met. It has no maker name although many experts have said it has the characteristic look and perfling design of a Juzek. It has a spruce top, and flamed maple sides and back. The perfling has two maple and one ebony stripe that are perfectly intact all around both sides of the bass. It is a dream to play and has a warm, dark, even tone. It has a rich, expressive sound when bowed, and a bouncy, responsive pizzicato played acoustically or amplified. I bought this bass in Denver in 2004 from bassist Paul Warburton who played with Bill Evans and Philly Jo Jones among others. When he sold it to me it wasn't in the best shape and had a bad, spotty, worn off red finish. He was very excited to see it restored, "this is one of the basses we found that has Maple with such a deep flame you can almost feel it with your hands" he said. He suggested I contact his friend Bob Ross (
Robert Ross: Maker & Restorer of Double Bass Instrument) for the restoration. Bob did a fantastic job fully restoring the bass. He removed the spruce top and repaired cracks (of which there weren't a lot), applied a preventative linen sheet with enamel in both of the upper bouts to prevent any cracking, thinned the top a bit (which he said was originally on the thick side) and put on a new perfectly black ebony fingerboard, a new bridge, tailpiece, endpin, and nut. Bob also put on a gorgeous "Italian cherry red" hand finish that he made himself upon my request after I'd seen it on another bass restored by him. I've fitted the bass with a David Gage Realist pickup and new set of Pirastro Obligatos. It has been played in performances by famous bassists Christian McBride, Matt Penman, Joe Sanders, and who knows who else before I bought it. I used this bass when I played with Dave Brubeck, Ellis Marsalis, Lewis Nash, Bobby Watson, and Delfeayo Marsalis. Please contact me if you are interested in buying it for $7,000 because I can't sell it for less.
