Bass ID Please - my new beast

Congratulations and happy playing! Would you mind revealing the store in NH that had 4 upright basses?

 

It's not a Kay (as far as I can tell) the scroll is not a Kay scroll. It almost looks like a solid wood bass too. The purfling looks carved in, Kays are usually painted on.

 

It looks like it's been re-finished too. It's a nice looking bass. Congratulations.

 

I've never been in the store but I guess that's why Ididn't know what they had I'm in Newmarket so pretty close by.

I think you may have a hybrid, plywood back and sides with a carved top. Odd that they wouldn't know what they had but if that's the case, you got a great buy. It looks like the person who stripped it got tired and left some behind but you can improve that later if you like.

 

Maybe it's my eyes, but I don't see plys on the back plate (in the pic of the neck heel). Looks solid to me. I could be (and most likely am) wrong though.

 

I don't have a very trained eye either but the back looks like ply to me, I'm not saying it is, it just looks that way to me. I had a question about the front. On the picture that shows the neck heel from the side, it looks to me like there is a layer between the top and the binding. Am I just hallucinating? I know that I must be mistaking but it looks odd, just in that picture, to me.

 

Maybe they put a carved top over the plywood - like panelling over drywall. In the same picture, the back seems like it isn't quite lined up with the side.

 

My guess is it's a chezch hybrid with.a refin and some questionable repairs. Have you taken it to a luthier? If you posted it on the ken smith forums I'm sure he could tell you something. Looks like a nice find at that price.

 

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Actually to me it doesn't look like it's been refinished, other than someone putting a coat of clear onto it! It's been stripped, but as MCDBASS said, the job hasn't been completed, in fact it looks like it was stripped with the strings still on it! (judging by the endpin shot). It would not be difficult to take all the strings and fittings off, finish the stripping job properly with some paintstripper and a scraper, and revarnish, which if coloured may disguise some of the more visible repair work.

I suspect the "drywall" under the solid top is just a clunky attempt at building up the rib depth to make the new top fit.

And looking at images 5 & 6 it looks to me as if the neck angle has been changed, resulting in a lower bridge height than otherwise. Hard to tell ... it doesn't look quite right to me, the bridge crown has been cut down almost to the heart. But if it sounds OK, it's probably OK for the moment.

Despite all that, it looks like quite a nice find, and yes from here I'd say 1960s/70s Czech or German (I have a west german bass with identical machines) and probably with a long string length and Eb neck too. A bit of work and it could come up nicely.