Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Rene Zaal's shop in Bemmel Nederlands. It is about an hour and half from Amsterdam and is well worth the trip. Rene was extremely gracious and knowledgeable about the instruments and very patient (even accessing the web to view photos and do a little research). He sells basses (I would estimate there to be about 40 or so) and does fine repair work. In the shop was a bass that I had played many times at a New York dealer that had recently been sent to Rene. I cannot tell you the difference in sound and playability after Rene had done just a few things (it was still a work in progress) to that instrument, literally giving the instrument a whole new lease on life. The range of instruments was broad from simple czech basses to fine Italian masterpieces. His pricing was very fair and quite a bit less than we see in the US. He had a steady, educated view of the basses he sold neither disparaging the lesser instruments nor over-romaticizing the finer ones. He doesn't really have a website, just a kind of homepage, but he is very communicative via email. Notable instruments were a few fine Italians and a number of unique French basses that were all priced on the low end of what you would expect.
http://www.renezaal.nl/
