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Double Bass Anyone have more info on Grunert Bass

S

speedster

Aug 19, 2005
168
26
Ontario Canada
www.queensbush.ca
#1
I have a Grunert Bass (plywood).

The label inside says

The Original Grunert String Bass
made in Germany
Model 101

Pretty rare to find a Grunert and very rare to find a plywoood, believe it is 50 > years old

Getting asked lots of questions and I don't know much else other than it sounds awesome...

Pictures on our band myspace website in pic section....

Link Removed
 
#4
Greetings! Visit Invalid Link Removed............. You will find answers to your questions there. Click on the Portrait of a Company link for the historical info. I have a 1970's Erich Gruenert 7/8 size carved bass and this is how I found out more info concerning it. Regards, KJPbop
 
#5
KJPbop said:
Greetings! Visit Invalid Link Removed............. You will find answers to your questions there. Click on the Portrait of a Company link for the historical info. I have a 1970's Erich Gruenert 7/8 size carved bass and this is how I found out more info concerning it. Regards, KJPbop
Click to expand...


I know this is an older post but I hope that you can reply?

I have found what might be a Bass of the same time period?

Your link to the picture of your bass is no longer active and I'm wandering if it similar?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Best regards from Canada
 
#9
KUNGfuSHERIFF said:
$3500 CAD for that bass is Looney Tunes, which is why it refuses to sell.
Click to expand...

+1 Particularly since it's been stained. Remember on Antiques Road Show, when the appraiser says "Well it was worth $20,000, until you "fixed" the finish. Now it's worth $2,000."

Re the older posts about Grunert, their website says they were established in 1956, in Saxony. I'm thinking re-established, or there were more than one Grunert family making basses. Why do I say this? Heres' a photo from a ply Grunert that I once owned. If you look very carefully at the bottom of the stamp, it says "USSR occupied". This would place it right after the end of WWII, maybe 1948 or so.

IMG_20150803_100158.jpg
 
#12
tomeh said:
I know this is an older post but I hope that you can reply?

I have found what might be a Bass of the same time period?

Your link to the picture of your bass is no longer active and I'm wandering if it similar?

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Best regards from Canada
Click to expand...

Horst was not even born yet and his father Erich started the business after WWII
 
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#13
wathaet said:
Horst was not even born yet and his father Erich started the business after WWII
Click to expand...

A quick bit of research indicates the "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany" existed between 1945 and 1949, when it was renamed the Invalid Link Removed (GDR, Invalid Link Removed). The area includes Saxony, where Grunert basses were "established in 1956".

This may all be a "what's in a name" debate. My Grunert bass was constructed very much like a Musima (thick outside linings, rounded edges). It had a fairly reddish finish, though, which I think isn't common for Musima. I guess maybe they used whatever was available during post-war reconstruction.

The Grunert name, and the label which I posted, clearly existed pre-1956. It's entirely possible that these basses became Musima while the "modern" Grunerts took over the name in the later 1950s. I had thought that there weren't privately owned factories in the GDR (i.e, that everything would be state-owned), but I'd be interested to hear if anyone knows differently...

Cheers,

Paul
 
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#14
tomeh said:
Paul,

Was the sound good and was the build stable on yours?
Or was it just another plywood bass?

Best regards

Tom
Click to expand...


Build was very stable (the Musima-style basses are the ones everyone says are "built like a tank"). It sounded okay, but nothing special...
 
#15
I sent Horst the info from the kijiji, Toronto ad and he verified it was a laminated bass from his father Erich. I then emailed/replied to ad with a copy of Horst's reply and politely pointed out that was a laminated, Erich bass. I was told "we had a luthier look at it and he told us it was a Horst bass. I replied and told them where the could get a reliable id in Toronto or Kitchener. The ad remains "as is." Hopefully some new bee doesn't get sucked in the bass remains with the sellers forever.
 
#16
Hello. Just adding to this thread. Our college has an old plywood Grünert bass with the "USSR Occupied" label inside. This bass has been through a lot--many repairs. It's not in great shape. Thought I would share. The USSR Occupied must date it somehow. Our college was founded in 1957; no guarantee we purchased it new, but there's a chance. I'd be curious to know when it was produced.

E8BFFC62-E133-4DC5-944C-E2B165568FAF.jpeg
 

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#20
Perhaps it’s a little older, from the period immediately following the conclusion of WWII, when the US, France, Britain and the USSR divided up Germany into administrative zones, but before the DDR was formed and hardened its position. I have a German bass from the period marked “Made in Germany - US Zone.” The online reading I’ve done suggests that labeling practice was common through the early ‘50s.

Edit: I see I’m basically repeating what was said in post #13.
 

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