'Johan Rauner' ¾ size fully carved bass with curved back -- spruce top, lightly flamed maple back and ribs. This is a very nice, full sounding instrument that dates from between the mid-1950's – early 1970’s. There is no date on the label, but I discovered through posts on Talkbass that ‘Johan Rauner’ was a name used by a West Coast US importer of Wilfer basses from the mid-1950's through the early-1970’s. This is essentially the same story as with Juzak basses, which were imported to the East Coast of the US under that name by a different importer, but made in Wilfer’s shop as well. The label reads:
Johan Rauner
Bassemacher
Bei: Nuremberg Germany
No: 169
This instrument was fully restored by Alex Friedman at the Acoustic Bass Shop in San Francisco in fall of 2008, and played very little since that time – it is in excellent condition. It has that big warm tone you would expect from a good Wilfer or Juzak of that period, and plays very evenly throughout its entire range, with no wolf notes or problem areas.
Fully carved Juzak’s and Wilfer’s from this era, in good to excellent condition, routinely sell for between $6000 - $9000; and the least expensive new fully carved Wilfer currently goes for around $7000 – for an instrument that is not broken in, and will not mature for another few decades. This is a great example of a mature Wilfer, newly restored and set up with new adjustable bridge, new Spirocore strings, Fishman pick-up, and canvas gig-bag for only
$4500. No bow is included.
[b]Dimensions are:
41 5/8” string length
19 3/8” width @ upper bout
25 5/8” width @ lower bout
8 1/2” depth @ ribs (curved back and front – so deeper @ center)
43 1/2” body length
71 1/2” overall length (excluding end-pin)
For questions or to set up a time to audition this bass, contact Norman @:
(415) 342-6180 or
northerly@sbcglobal.net
