1930's German Shop Bass import - carved with hatpeg tuners- Motivated Seller

Hey there Talkbass:

I've got a bass I've been fixing up over the past few years but I really am in dire need to raise some cash so I'm going to list it now. The bass has a "Made in Germany" label on the inside, and it is reported to be a "mid-war" German shop bass imported to the US. This would date the bass from the 1920's or 30's. I've had this bass completely reworked and will list here all of the work that has been done to the bass since coming into my posession.

- The neck has been reset. It had a low overstand and since the top was coming off for other repairs this was completed then. A piece of wood has been inserted into the heel to move the neck forward to the proper overstand for modern playing and a new piece of wood was grafted from the neck to the back. Very well done and looks great. When I got the bass, someone had drizzled sawdust and glue in a pile on the inside of the bass to stabilize the neck. This has all been removed properly.

-New Bass Bar

- There were several cracks in the top and one on the sides that have all been repaired and cleated. Have had zero issues since this was completed.

- There has been a high saddle created for the bottom of the bass and for the tailpiece wire to sit on. This reduced tension and really opened up the sound of the bass.

-I had an almost new Kolstein endpin sitting around from another bass I've owned and had this installed. The old wooden pin was pretty useless in the shape it was in, and now it has a proper length endpin.

-Almost new set of Evahs on there

-French Polish

Before all of these repairs the bass, as can be imagined, sounded pretty terrible. Now, the bass sounds really great, and is only going to open up more and more as it is played in. I just don't have time to play it consistently. The bass has wonderful original old individual hat peg tuners that still work great. I've used the bass for jazz with huge success. I've practiced arco with it and it could make a great arco bass for a college student or advanced high school student. As can be seen from the photos, this bass has been through hell and back and the varnish shows this. It would not be too much to restore the varnish, but it's merely cosmetic and I haven't bothered as I've had all these other repairs done. Everything has been really solid on the bass for me and absolutely no problems. The only thing it needs is a new bridge, the one on there now was only designed to be temporary.

I'm asking $6k OBO for the bass in the current condition. However with that said I'm a motivated seller as I need to raise money quickly. The only thing is the cosmetics of the varnish which should not be too much to have fixed, and the bridge.

Current Vibrating string length: 42.5 inches (could be fudged shorter if necessary but the bass doesn't feel big at all and i usually play on 41.5 inch VSL) It's a D neck!

Top Length 44.5 inches
Upper Top Width 19 inches
Lower Top Width 24.5
Upper, C, and Lower bouts are all 8 inches roughly.


I'm currently in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm traveling a little this summer and could potentially bring it along for some of these trips for SERIOUS buyers. It's a real solid bass and I think the price is very fair. Please don't hesitate to ask questions but e-mail is better for me than PM!

Thanks for looking!

 

more photos

 

Flat back!!!

 

Will fix it when I get home this afternoon

 

There are no nails and everything has been repaired properly

 

Lets try this again

 

I don't unfortunately been using it primarily for jazz but nothing recorded

 

i have had a bunch of interest so here is an updated photo. Also forgot to mention ill provide a lightweight bag with it

 

Bump lots of interest but have not connected with anyone yet

 

Some strong interest but no one has seen her yet. Dropping price to 5k to move fast!

 

Willing to drive up to 3 hours from cleveland to show the bass to a serious buyer

 

Had some interest but so far no one has looked at the bass at all. If I don't at least get some looks soon I'm going to take it down, put some money into it and relist it at a much higher price.

 

Hi Jeremy: I can try - but I don't have any room left to upload sound files here. Could you PM me an email I will send them to you? I probably won't be amazing quality as I don't have a recording setup in my apartment but I can get you something.

 

I had a few people PM me for sound files after Jeremy's post today. I made some brief ones and am happy to send them out to anyone who wants them, but don't really want to post hastily made clips here.. so send me a PM and I'll be happy to send them to you!

 

I really need to sell this soon. I'm willing to work with someone on the price to sell it, otherwise I'm going to take it back to Nick Lloyd and get a new bridge and clean up the varnish. If I put this money into it i"ll be asking between $6000 and $6,500

Thanks

 

I am including in the sale, the almost new Evahs on the bass, and a barely used set of Superflexibles. I'm also including a padded soft case which is almost new, and a hard bass bow case (double bow case possible)

Thanks!