Double Bass Benedickt Lang

[Koolfool]

I have a 1950 5/8 Jusek Roundback (Spruce top, Maple sides and back) that I just got restored. It looks like the Mittenwald Gambas that Benedickt Lang made. What can you tell me about Benedickt Lang? Where can I get more information on the Lang Family?

 

[Keith Guitars]

Hi! You'll have better luck over on the Double Bass (DB) side of TalkBass...this is the Bass Guitar side.
Best of luck!

 

[abarson]

I'm glad someone knew what the OP was talking about...

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Call Metropolitan Music in Vermont. That’s the Juzeks.

 

[LouisF]

If it's one made by him/his shop:

5-string by Benedict Lang, Mittenwald circa 1960 - #2663 from the double bass specialists Contrabass Shoppe

Otherwise Juzek used the name as a model
Louis

 

[Steve Swan]

I have seen and played several very nice 3/4 and 7/8 Benedikt Lang basses. The wood choices, especially the tops, are usually very nice !!

 

[Eric Hochberg]

Many carved Juzeks were made by Wilfer. Lang is know to have made plys for them, but other shops may have supplied carved instruments to the Juzeks, including Lang. Juzek outsourced all the basses and is a USA brand name of imports by Metropolitan Music (Juzek family biz) beginning in the 1920s.

 

[CaseyVancouver]

If it's one made by him/his shop:

5-string by Benedict Lang, Mittenwald circa 1960 - #2663 from the double bass specialists Contrabass Shoppe

Otherwise Juzek used the name as a model
Louis

The Lang looks like a decent sounding fiver. Anthony Houska knows how to work a bass. I wonder the reason the original luthier built the top thick.

 

[LouisF]

I think Steve would know if this were true or not, but somewhere I read that the post war (WWII) tops coming from Europe were thick to ensure safety during shipping. Dunno if true.
Louis

 

[Steve Swan]

Especially after the first general availability of steel strings for doublebass, around 1960. the tops got thicker, the neck angles became more shallow and the string lengths became shorter for commercial German basses.