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Double Bass German bass. U.S. zone vs west Germany?

jellymax

jellymax

Don't fry any wooden fish
Supporting Member
Nov 29, 2006
1,353
1,079
SF CA
#1
Happy holidays folks.
I picked up a bass last year and wondering about it's age and maker.
It's marked US zone, also has a name Marvin W Lewis. Not sure if it is an importer or a maker. It appears carved, roundback. German.
I'd love to know more about it. It's a solid piece. Thanks for any help 20240101_132429.jpg20240101_132417.jpg
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#2
The US Zone of Germany existed from late 1945 through part of 1949. The bass is almost certainly a German shop bass. Marvin W. Lewis may have been an importer, a luthier, or an owner., but there was a bassist named Marvin W. Lewis in New York, so I'm thinking he owned the bass.
 
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#5
Francois Blais said:
The bridge in the first picture looked warped, but it seems to have been changed since it looks different than from the last picture.
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yes, i cut an adjustable bridge for a realist Lifeline and did a steel string setup. it was more or less setup for guts. i also put a modern endpin and
some light gauge spiros
 
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#8
jellymax said:
not sure what a german shop bass is, but ok i'll assume made in a shop, in germany is what you meant
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Yes, that's about it. "Shop bass" simply means a bass made in a workshop by craftsmen, but without "special attention" given to its creation - not "master built." Mittenwald, in Bavaria, and Markneukirchen, in Saxony, are/were known for the shops that turned out thousands of violins, violas, cellos, and basses. The instruments were exported under many different brand names. The various brand names get confusing (and fairly meaningless), so it's easier just to say "German shop bass."

Very many older German shop basses sing well, play nicely, hold up well, and are fairly valuable. I'm fond of mine. Enjoy your bass!
 
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#9
jellymax said:
not sure what a german shop bass is, but ok i'll assume made in a shop, in germany is what you meant
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It basically means that there was not a single luthier involved in construction; they were working in a shop where various workers were handling the parts - bending ribs, carving tops and/or backs, carving scrolls etc. Sort of journeymen and apprentices working under a master craftsman turning out spec instrument rather than bespoke instruments made for commission or spec.
 
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#10
Ed Fuqua said:
It basically means that there was not a single luthier involved in construction; they were working in a shop where various workers were handling the parts - bending ribs, carving tops and/or backs, carving scrolls etc. Sort of journeymen and apprentices working under a master craftsman turning out spec instrument rather than bespoke instruments made for commission or spec.
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Reminds me of the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo when I visited in 1976!
 
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#11
Ric Vice said:
Fascinating find, That U.S. Zone right around West Berlin was a hotbed for spy activity by both the US and the Soviet Union. Not a place I'd want to have been living in in those years. Lots of folks just simply disappeared or vanished .
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Berlin was devided into four sectors. The US Zone was to the south.

en.wikipedia.org

American occupation zone in Germany - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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#13
In reference to "shop" basses. My main bass is one of these. Mirecourt , early 1900's With sloping shoulders, a slotted peg box (great for changing strings) dark Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. Comfortable 5/8 th's size.
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One could make the case, that since the luthiers involved may, in some cases, tended to specialize carving necks and fingerboards, only carving and gluing bodies, and finish preparation and application ( et.al.) Though working in tandem, they were experts at that part of the process. Just my take of course. Watching the Atelier PugsuliYouTube video on building a bass, I realized even more, what a massive physical and mental undertaking it is for a single luthier to specialize, only building double basses.
 
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#14
Ric Vice said:
Fascinating find, That U.S. Zone right around West Berlin was a hotbed for spy activity by both the US and the Soviet Union. Not a place I'd want to have been living in in those years. Lots of folks just simply disappeared or vanished .
Click to expand...

Let's not forget that, under the Marshall Plan, reconstruction funds poured into West Germany rapidly. Not so much into East Germany.

You can see the difference in musical instruments pretty quickly - Hofner, Wilfer, Rubner, Framus, etc... all got re-established and made good quality instruments with decent materials. In East Germany, Musima became the state factory, producing instruments that were "meh", both in terms of wood and workmanship.
 
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#15
My first DB (which I still have) had a sticker that's long since been lost marked "Made in W. Germany". This was back when there were customs issues with items made in East Germany. Anyway, that sticker means it was made some time in the 1950s. By the 1960s, to be sold in the USA East German goods could no longer be marked with the name Germany, only GDR, and goods formerly marked W. Germany were now marked as simply Germany.
 
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#18
"Shop" bass basically means built according to principles of mass production. Specialized tasks, done by workers who do the same task over and over, as opposed to the entire instrument being made start to finish by a limited number of people. The distinction between "apprentice and master" model and "shop built" model would be that in the first, the apprentices do the grunt work, then the master comes in and does the finishing touches, whereas in the second the "Master" takes on the role of a plant manager and probably only rarely actually takes tools in hand.

Of course these are gross oversimplifications since each shop has its own character, so these are generalizations. But that's the idea.
 
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