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Double Bass All help appreciated

B

Bob Bass

Mar 11, 2006
8
0
#1
Hello,

Does anyone have any thoughts about this bass?
The label states "Johann Radeck Bürger", it is supposed to be Austrian.

Invalid Link Removed

Any comments about the structural quality, guessed value, age, ... are welcome.

Any ideas why there is a horizontal seam on the back?

Thx in advance!
 
#3
Bob Bass said:
Hello,

Does anyone have any thoughts about this bass?
The label states "Johann Radeck Bürger", it is supposed to be Austrian.

Invalid Link Removed

Any comments about the structural quality, guessed value, age, ... are welcome.

Any ideas why there is a horizontal seam on the back?

Thx in advance!
Click to expand...

The horizontal seam is quite typical of a flatback bass. I hope the luthiers weigh in but from what I can see, it looks like that seam has had some issues.
 
#4
Yup, has a fair bit of what looks to be Hungarian flavour to it, but could be Austrian. Messy work is portable. Could be a really good copy of typical Hungarian work by a Chinese shop, with the way the Chinese can make an instrument to just about any standard and appearance these days. More important is condition and music-making potential. That corner repair is a bit weird, kind of looks Bondo-ish or epoxy putty or something else nasty. And the back kerf bend is scary looking, like it's been repaired twice before even making it out the shop door. At a guess, I'd say what probably happened is the guy cutting the groove (kerf) before making the upper back bend cut a bit too deep... or perhaps didn't wet and heat it enough before trying to bend it... or both.
 
#5
Thanks for your comments.

@bassist14: How do you conclude that it's new? Any indications that the 'old' look is fake?
@drurb & GerardSamija: Would you care to explain to me why the seam could give potential problems?
Maybe a stupid question but this double bass thing is kinda new to me and it's so hard to recognize a good bass from a crappy one as a beginner.

My conclusion: If I read all of this, this is not a valuable instrument and the asking price of 3200$ is actually completly nuts.
 
#6
If all were sound with this bass, then the asking price of $3200 might be quite fair. It may be fair as it is because it's difficult (for me, anyway) to really tell what work would be required. I defer to Gerard and other luthiers for that type of judgment. He and they would also be far more qualified than I to explain the risks associated with a bad flatback bend.

P.S. Where do you live, Bob?
 
#7
Bob Bass said:
Thanks for your comments.

@bassist14: How do you conclude that it's new? Any indications that the 'old' look is fake?
Click to expand...
i play db for more then 25 years + i have seen and played many of these. so i stated my opinion. but my english is not fluent enough to explain here how to differntiate a fake from a real aged bass. sorry.
Bob Bass said:
My conclusion: If I read all of this, this is not a valuable instrument and the asking price of 3200$ is actually completly nuts.
Click to expand...
imho: no. if it sounds ok 2-3k is a usual price for basses like this

if you want to buy it: don´t buy it unseen. check it out with an experienced player
 
#13
@ Drurb (or Drürb for that mather...;)) I live in Begium.
@ bassist14: sure, I would ask my bassteacher to go with me but I like to hear as much opinions/comments as possible. I know it's difficult to rate an instrument based just on a few photo's.
 
#16
Bob Bass said:
Funny you mention, I was looking at his site earlier this week and noticed this (Invalid Link Removed) bass has an identical seam on the back. How strange...
Click to expand...

he has more basses in the shop than on the homepage, + he is a nice guy, you could call him and tell him what you need

last time i was there he had several hungarian/romanian basses in the 3-5k€ range.
and they all looked better then the one in your first post.
 

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