I recently bought a 1/2 size 1860 Ferdinand Seitz Bass. It was recently fully restored and it is a beauty. I am posting because all the info I have found about Seitz is about his large basses. I have no idea why he created a smaller instrument. It is an amazing bass with a 38 inch string length, spruce top, maple sides and back. It has a booming E string that rattles the house and a beautiful depth to the sound—the high end is amazing. I was looking for a small Italian instrument and found this Seitz bass for a fraction of the cost! I will post pictures soon. I’m interested in hearing from others that own Seitz basses or smaller older basses. Thanks!
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Double Bass 1/2 size 1860 Ferdinand Seitz Double Bass
- Thread starter Greg CEO
- Start date
I know one guy that has a Seitz and its huge, even after it was was cut down. He obviously made smaller ones after seeing yours
On Facebook Ken Smith runs a site called ‘Double Basses from the Italian, German and English Schools’.
You might want to post good pics there of your Mittenwald bass and ask questions. Many Seitz were 5/4 instruments.
You might want to post good pics there of your Mittenwald bass and ask questions. Many Seitz were 5/4 instruments.
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Do you think he made smaller ones, or this was a special request? I think 1860 was towards the end of his career, but I think there is very little information about Seitz.
It's just basic math, if you have wood for 3 4/4 basses, and you build 2 5/4 bases, you only have enough wood left for a 1/2 bass.
Hello there (stumbled on this thread a little late…)
I have a VERY similar bass. Outline is basically the same and it is also on the smaller side (like 102-103 cm str. length if I remember correctly).
It is supposed to be a Seitz from 1840.
When I bought it however, I had no idea who he was. I bought it because I really liked the bass, and it came with an old invoice that said ”Ferdinand Seitz 1840*” from the previous owner (who bought it in Bremen around 15-20 years ago).
I have personally never had anything done to the bass, so I have no idea wether it has one of those pretty signatures inside like yours or not. Others who have met the bass during it’s 15-20 years in Copenhagen say that it has. But I don’t know.
Great sounding bass however! And a beauty. The varnish is very pretty; golden/red, which as I understand is quite typical for this type of Mittenwald. Also very pretty flamey maple.
Mine looks a little more worn than yours, and it has some battle scars (not sure when it was restored last time). Tuners are similar but slightly different.
I’ll try to post some pictures
If you want to hear the bass (unfortunately with me doing some poopy playing) you can go to my instagram: Sebastian Nordström (@sebastiannordstrom) • Instagram photos and videos
I have a VERY similar bass. Outline is basically the same and it is also on the smaller side (like 102-103 cm str. length if I remember correctly).
It is supposed to be a Seitz from 1840.
When I bought it however, I had no idea who he was. I bought it because I really liked the bass, and it came with an old invoice that said ”Ferdinand Seitz 1840*” from the previous owner (who bought it in Bremen around 15-20 years ago).
I have personally never had anything done to the bass, so I have no idea wether it has one of those pretty signatures inside like yours or not. Others who have met the bass during it’s 15-20 years in Copenhagen say that it has. But I don’t know.
Great sounding bass however! And a beauty. The varnish is very pretty; golden/red, which as I understand is quite typical for this type of Mittenwald. Also very pretty flamey maple.
Mine looks a little more worn than yours, and it has some battle scars (not sure when it was restored last time). Tuners are similar but slightly different.
I’ll try to post some pictures
If you want to hear the bass (unfortunately with me doing some poopy playing) you can go to my instagram: Sebastian Nordström (@sebastiannordstrom) • Instagram photos and videos
One has to ask why, in the years before string educators derived the fractional sized basses for school orchestra programs, there even existed half-size basses. Only reason I can think of is for chamber ensembles, just like the only reason for bierbasses would be for bassists who toured the German beer halls.
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Maybe a maker only had so much wood and they didn't want to have one of the Frankenstein's monster tops you see on some old Italians. Maybe they wanted to see if they could make a smaller instrument that still had >80% of the sound of the normal, larger pattern. Maybe for pit or chamber orchestras, maybe for solo playing, maybe they were commissioned to make it by a smaller player who couldn't or wouldn't figure out how to get around on a larger instrument, maybe the maker just figured "hey, some people are smaller than average, maybe they want to play, there might be a market for this!"
There are surely even more possible answers than just those that I could come up with in a minute or two writing here, but at that point I feel like those answers start making less and less actual sense.
I really liked looking at the half-size Italian they had on the Bass Violin Shop's website a little while back. Looked like the ribs on it were half again as deep as a normal 3/4, if not a bit deeper yet.
There are surely even more possible answers than just those that I could come up with in a minute or two writing here, but at that point I feel like those answers start making less and less actual sense.
I really liked looking at the half-size Italian they had on the Bass Violin Shop's website a little while back. Looked like the ribs on it were half again as deep as a normal 3/4, if not a bit deeper yet.
