As I just wrote in the DB Forum, I bought a Bob Swanson Bass (attachment #1) from Wayne Holmes in Tennessee.
The bass is HUGE - 9" depth; 24" upper bout; 26" lower bout (plus another couple of inches for the wing-tips!!) The string length is a very comfortable 42", and the bass is surprisingly very comfortable to play.
More important, it sounds as good as a bass ten times its price (and more!) Last summer I played a £30,000 Hawkes and a £50,000 Brock "Maggini" at the Contrabass Shoppe in London and this bass would give either of those a serious run for their money.
There's still some minor work to do (The bridge and endpin are original to the bass and are a bit like industrial strength plumbing and there is probably some adjustment to the bridge and fingerboard once the bass settles into LA life.
According to Wayne, he ended up with all of Joe and Bruce Wallace's instruments and stuff from their Pittsburgh shop. A lot of that stock came from Bob Swanson's shop. Wayne's best playing bass is a 7/8 Italian that Joe Wallace played in the Pittsburgh Sym for many years. Joe died and Bruce wanted to retire. George Hofer, Wayne's mentor in repair and restoration introduced him to Bruce - which is how it all came to TN.
The Swanson basses were probably made in the 50s and 60s - and they cover a wide range quality-wise. Of the other two in the photo, the third one was pretty forgettable, while the second, which Wayne basically rebuilt during the months we exchanged emails, is decent - sort of a good shop bass.
As far as I've been able to figure out, there are a few of his basses still in circulation -some with major orchestra players as "B" basses - others, well, not so well off. Swanson was notorious for putting false labels in his basses. One had "handmade in France" on one, the other one was England-both in the 1700's; Mine was ""Handmade in Italy-1775"
That's pretty much the saga. I'll attach some photos here on the one I took and the better of the two left behind.
Louis
The bass is HUGE - 9" depth; 24" upper bout; 26" lower bout (plus another couple of inches for the wing-tips!!) The string length is a very comfortable 42", and the bass is surprisingly very comfortable to play.
More important, it sounds as good as a bass ten times its price (and more!) Last summer I played a £30,000 Hawkes and a £50,000 Brock "Maggini" at the Contrabass Shoppe in London and this bass would give either of those a serious run for their money.
There's still some minor work to do (The bridge and endpin are original to the bass and are a bit like industrial strength plumbing and there is probably some adjustment to the bridge and fingerboard once the bass settles into LA life.
According to Wayne, he ended up with all of Joe and Bruce Wallace's instruments and stuff from their Pittsburgh shop. A lot of that stock came from Bob Swanson's shop. Wayne's best playing bass is a 7/8 Italian that Joe Wallace played in the Pittsburgh Sym for many years. Joe died and Bruce wanted to retire. George Hofer, Wayne's mentor in repair and restoration introduced him to Bruce - which is how it all came to TN.
The Swanson basses were probably made in the 50s and 60s - and they cover a wide range quality-wise. Of the other two in the photo, the third one was pretty forgettable, while the second, which Wayne basically rebuilt during the months we exchanged emails, is decent - sort of a good shop bass.
As far as I've been able to figure out, there are a few of his basses still in circulation -some with major orchestra players as "B" basses - others, well, not so well off. Swanson was notorious for putting false labels in his basses. One had "handmade in France" on one, the other one was England-both in the 1700's; Mine was ""Handmade in Italy-1775"
That's pretty much the saga. I'll attach some photos here on the one I took and the better of the two left behind.
Louis
The SL is 41 1/2. It's more of a workout to play than my little czech/german 5/8, but the sound is really incredible.
