I own an August Heck double bass made in Chicago in 1885 that I bought from Murray Grodner when I was one of his students at Indiana University back in the early 1970s. Murray Grodner bought this old August Heck double bass from Philip Sklar when they were both in the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the early 1950s.
In the 1960s, Murray Grodner worked with a well-known luthier in Cincinnati to refinish the top (front) of this double bass. This looks like a brown varnish and clear coat was used, covering the original lighter stained wood. Over the brown varnish, the clear coat has been peeling off over the past 50 years. Some of the commercially available rosin removing products I used over the years wore off some of the brown varnish and some of the clear coat.
Murray Grodner was proud of the refinishing done in the 1960s. All these years later, I wish that his luthier had simply touched up the original stain without adding a layer of brown varnish and clear coat. Even so, I thought that this August Heck double bass looked beautiful when I bought it from Murray Grodner, and sounded so rewarding to play.
The ribs of this double bass have chocolate-color streaks along with a variety of lighter shades of stain and varnish. The back of the bass is much lighter (not original looking) with heavy varnish and clear coat. Some of this finishing on the ribs and back may have been done as experiments by Philip Sklar, who built a double bass with sloping shoulders in the 1940s.
What ideas do you all have for updating the finish on my bass during the restoration I have planned for 2027?
In the 1960s, Murray Grodner worked with a well-known luthier in Cincinnati to refinish the top (front) of this double bass. This looks like a brown varnish and clear coat was used, covering the original lighter stained wood. Over the brown varnish, the clear coat has been peeling off over the past 50 years. Some of the commercially available rosin removing products I used over the years wore off some of the brown varnish and some of the clear coat.
Murray Grodner was proud of the refinishing done in the 1960s. All these years later, I wish that his luthier had simply touched up the original stain without adding a layer of brown varnish and clear coat. Even so, I thought that this August Heck double bass looked beautiful when I bought it from Murray Grodner, and sounded so rewarding to play.
The ribs of this double bass have chocolate-color streaks along with a variety of lighter shades of stain and varnish. The back of the bass is much lighter (not original looking) with heavy varnish and clear coat. Some of this finishing on the ribs and back may have been done as experiments by Philip Sklar, who built a double bass with sloping shoulders in the 1940s.
What ideas do you all have for updating the finish on my bass during the restoration I have planned for 2027?
