Double Bass Eberhard Meinel 3/4 [help ID?]

[Stev187]

Hello All:

A pal of mine dropped off his girlfriend's old 3/4 Eberhard Meinel for help with cleaning it up and possibly selling it. I plan to pop into my luthier's shop over the next week or so to ask him about it, but I wonder if any of you have some insights on this one. She remembers buying it new in 1992.

Any thoughts about this one from the photos?

--Steve

 

[Stev187]

Two more shots of the bass.

 

[Stev187]

Just in case this thread becomes useful to someone in the future here's what I've been able to find about the label on my own:

The English translation of the label (not as easy to figure out as you might imagine) reads: "Built under the guidance of the master Eberhard Meinel in the masterpiece sites 'Musima' musical instrument making Gmbh Markneukirchen." Gmbh is the German eqivalent of "Ltd." or "Inc." The label also reads--in English--Made in Germany. These words alone tell us that the bass was made after the fall of the Berlin Wall in a unified Germany for export to the US market. Markneukirchen is a former East German city about 3 miles from the Czech border. Markneukirchen is also the birthplace of C.F. Martin, who came to the US and started the Martin Guitar Company.

As near as I can tell, Musima was a Soviet-era musical instrument factory in East Germany. "Eberhard Meinel" is not a real maker, but a label name put on a "factory" or "shop" instrument. After German unification in 1989/1990, this factory was still active and making basses. I believe they kept going until about 2004. So I am confident in saying that this is a German factory bass from the early 90s; it has gamba corners, a wide grain spruce top and very lightly flamed maple back and sides; simple thin purfling around the edges; and a round back. Scale length is 41.5"; single plate tyrolean bass tuning machines.​

Hope that helps someone some day. If you have any info about this type of bass, please chime in here and thanks for looking at the thread.

--Steve

 

[fuzzy beard]

That story sounds a lot like the story I heard about Wilham elbrel bass. Don't know if that helps or not. They seemed to ne very popular with there owners and were imported and sold for almost 3 grand!

 

[shadygrove]

That story sounds a lot like the story I heard about Wilham elbrel bass. Don't know if that helps or not. They seemed to ne very popular with there owners and were imported and sold for almost 3 grand!

Do you mean Wilhelm Eberle, perhaps? Eberle are Musima basses that were imported by Ideal Music. The neck joint on mine looks like the Meinel photo you posted, Steve, and it's about the same vintage. I don't know what the carved and hybrid models sold for, but mine is plywood and I payed less than half of that $3k for it.

 

[fuzzy beard]

Yes that the spelling is was shooting for. When I get home I'll link the page to Uptons site wear I read all that. There was something about a big surplus of basses after they went out of business that got blown out for as low as 800 bucks.

But anyway the to basses look identical. And were made in the same shop.

 

[JDC Goalie]

Purchased a carved Eberhard Meinel winter 2012. Back in the 90's the stores had them listed for over $7,000. When the Musimia factory closed a bunch got imported to NY and the price dropped. Today's value seems to be about $3,500. A shop in Chicago has one for $5,000 but it has been there for awhile. Hope that helps.

 

[Stev187]

That is helpful. Thanks. I bought the bass and will be loaning it to a student after some new strings and seam repairs. Cinci Bass Cellar has one with a C extension for $3,900. Great bass for a high school/college player.

Steve