Double Bass 1998 Luciano Golia bass (Need advice)

[tandemman]

Hello,
There's tons of usable information on this forum and i worked my way trough most of the "how to buy a new DB" threads but i have some doubts about this particular bass...
I'm looking for a new (better) double bass and i found this Luciano Golia very interesting.
It sells for 6500€ (+/-10000$) in a shop in Arnhem (The Netherlands).
I e-mailed both the current owner and Mr. Golia himself to get more information.
They both came up with almost the same story.
The bass was built for Mr. Ovidiu Badila and is a copy of his Giacomo Zanfi bass. Badila must have sold it to one of his students in Germany. Maksym Minakov bought the bass in a shop in Germany and the shopowner told him that it belonged to a student of Mr. Badila. Not that it makes the bass any better but it was in good company all the time !
On the pictures you can see it has a flatback and that worries me. First of all, the bass looks very different from the ones he makes nowadays (no more flatbacks !).Plus it is for sale for more than one year now... A bass with such a reputation ???? There's a lot of questions that come in mind !
- Is a bas that's built by a well known luthier easier to resell (no matter the sound quality) ?
- Will the flatback cause more trouble than a carved one (i've read the discussions on "carved vs. flat but there was no gereral conclusion...). The bass is hardly ten years old and probably the wood is still setting (right ????)

I'm not sure but i think you can see Mr. Minakov playing the Golia in this Youtube clip : http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=sJlQXlOW_wk
Before i do the trip to the shop it would be nice to hear some comments.

Link Removed
Link Removed

Kind regards,
Francis

 

[jmpiwonka]

well, it looks real nice.
for that much money you should play lots and lots of basses. even take someone else with you who plays and have them play the bass for you so you can hear it from a different perspective. find the bass the feels and sounds like you really want a bass to sound.

what kind of tandem do you have?
i have an early 80's gazelle (champion Mondial, 531c tubing), bob jackson custom pista and an early 80's gianni motta road bike...

 

[arnoldschnitzer]

Golia is a good maker and that is a rediculously low price. If it sounds good, buy it fast. A ten-year-old bass should be well settled-in. The flat back ought to give little trouble in a humid place like The Netherlands.

 

[tandemman]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies !

Hey jmpiwonka, we're riding a Cannondale MT800. It's setup for travelling with front and rear racks and stuff...
Do you like the Gazelle ? That's a Dutch company you know !

My heart says go there (i will tomorrow) and take that baby home, but i know i have to try other basses too, but the Golia keeps me awake at night. Really hope it sounds as expected...

 

[jmpiwonka]

yeah, i actually got the frame and fork a few months ago from a collector that is in the netherlands. freek faro.
it rides really nice, very smooth and lively ride.

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Golia is a good maker and that is a rediculously low price. If it sounds good, buy it fast. A ten-year-old bass should be well settled-in. The flat back ought to give little trouble in a humid place like The Netherlands.

Ditto, ditto, ditto...

Re-sale? Well, it looks like you might be the 3rd buyer so it can be re-sold. If it were here, I would more than likely buy it myself. $10k is a low price for a handmade Bass and also for a well known Italian maker. The Back will have less problems in your climate then it will in mine.

Looks good. Check it out and pull the trigger if it looks good to go.

 

[tandemman]

Guys,
I really appreciate all the responses ! For me, 10000$ is a lot of money, and i want to pick the right bass...
There's another question..
The Golia bass was used for classical playing. I'm playing pizz mostlly. I will be using the bow to study and for some "cello-like" colouring in poppy stuff.
Can any kind of bass be converted into a "jazz bass" ? I'm not talking about setup but more about the sound. What makes a "chamber music bass" a "chamber music bass or what makes a "solo bass" a "solo bass" ?

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Guys,
I really appreciate all the responses ! For me, 10000$ is a lot of money, and i want to pick the right bass...
There's another question..
The Golia bass was used for classical playing. I'm playing pizz mostlly. I will be using the bow to study and for some "cello-like" colouring in poppy stuff.
Can any kind of bass be converted into a "jazz bass" ? I'm not talking about setup but more about the sound. What makes a "chamber music bass" a "chamber music bass or what makes a "solo bass" a "solo bass" ?

No.. ship it to me. I Bow daily.. lol

I will send you something better for Pizz..

Some Orchestral Basses are just too deep(/good) sounding for Jazz.

 

[toman]

that sounds like a great deal on a nice bass. I've played a handful of brand new Golias, and liked every one. I can't vouch for long term status, but I hear they do well. I'd probably buy it!

 

[Mike Arnopol]

I would strongly advise trying with your choice of jazz strings. Make sure it's a used set. I play jazz for a living and prefer a darker sounding instrument. Lots of people will say you can't use an Italian or English instrument for jazz, use a German or Czech bass. Ray Brown played an English Kennedy bass for most of his classic 50's and 60's recordings. Percy Heath played a beautiful old Italian bass. Marc Johnson plays a gorgeous old Camilli bass. But Ron Carter and Sam Jones both played Juzeks. It depends on your taste. As Ken said, many basses that are well suited for orchestra are not suited for jazz. They can have a boomy, slow pizz response. If this bass was designed as a classical solo instrument, it likely won't have these problems. I have purchased many basses in the past and was excited because a bass had a huge pizz sound, but when I played it in context, it was too boomy and not articulate enough. I had a perfect Busetto Prescott restored and was soooo excited about it, but it turned out to be a terrible jazz bass. It's a fabulous bass in a major orchestra now. Don't worry about flatbacks. A large percentage of fabulous 200 year old instruments are flatbacks. Luciano does still make flatbacks, by the way. If it's well made and the braces are sprung properly---not to worry. Again---try it with jazz strings and in context if possible. Most good dealers will let you take an instrument out on approval.

 

[Mark_T]

I played a Golia instrument that was at Hammond-Ashley here in Seattle and liked it very much. I've heard good things about his other instruments, too.

From the photographs, that looks like a gorgeous instrument.

 

[tandemman]

Hello everyone,

The Golia wasn't much of a success...
In fact, it was quite sad to see a 10 year old bass in such a shape. There were two big cracks (about 8" long) on one side. One of the previous owners had it repaired with wood filler ! The build quality wasn't good either. Sound and playability was OK.
The trip to Jurgen Preyer's shop in Arnhem however, wasn't such a bad idea afterall. He introduced me to a few other basses and i found myself a lot happier with these. He is prepairing one now and i will pick it up next week to try it.

I'm "bass-less" at this moment (sold my old one too soon...). Every time i visit a luthier, i learn a lot ,by playing different basses in different price ranges and listening to what the luthier has to say... very interesting !

 

[L.Golia]

-This doublebass is not made by me...... sorry.

Luciano Golia

 

[PRUNEFACE]

-This doublebass is not made by me...... sorry.

Luciano Golia

Wow. A counterfeit Golia?

 

[bassbasset]

@tandemman: what made you think the bass was made by Golia? I'm curious because you write that when you emailed him about it, Golia told you the instrument's story, a couple a years later he re-posts that he didn't build that bass.