Double Bass Grofiller Bass project

[EduardoK]

That particular pic is a bit redish, this might be closer...

 

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Just looked on the web site for the plans, it looks like the Lott plans "probably" has a D neck. The neck length on the Lott drawing seems much shorter than the neck length on the Gofriller drawing.

Do English basses usually have D necks?...... Ken?
Somewhere I read E flat necks are more Germanic.

Most old Basses do not have their original Necks. My Gilkes is the only Bass I have with an old Neck/Scroll in one and it is a D. D.Most players today prefer a D but I have seen some Eb necks as well. I have no clue what they were originally.

I would be more concerned where the FFs are placed on the Body so that you have a choice of either a D or Eb Neck. I don't think that is something that you build into the body in advance. If it's too long, it will hard to play and hard to get the string length in the 41-42" target area. That's what is most important I think in the neck and not so much D or Eb. I have Basses I play that are either and I have very little if any problems switching back and forth.

I would ask Arnold if i were you what he does in advance to ensure the proper neck measurement. In making copies from plans, unless you know the exact bass the pattern you are working from how could you know if it's right for you? Also, how do you know if the Bass itself that was copied was a genuine Goffriller, Lott or Panormo. There are more Basses claimed to be than these guys ever made. Lott Snr. did make quite a few D.Basses though. The Amati pattern they sell is actually a 'cut' English Bass, not even close. Not Italian and from a century or more later than any of the Amati's lived. That's because there probably isn't any Amati Basses ever made unless you are referring to Cellos which were called the Basses back then and these were the Double Basses. I still see confusion on this today!

 

[ctregan]

The body length is 43" from the bottom of the heel mortise down. From the bottom of the heel mortise to the f hole notches is 22 1/2". According to the plans it should end up with a 42" string length.

It would have been nice to test a lot of different bass models before I started to build but thats a luxury I simply do not have. I choose the Goffriller model first, then for numerous reasons switched to the Panormo. This bass will be for my son who plays in a local youth symphony. From what little I understand, the Panormo is considered to be a good orchestral bass so I choose this model. I hope he likes it and can play it with ease.

The plans from Peter Chandler says "bassed on an instrument by Vincenzo Panormo", so there may be some discrepancies between the original instrument and the drawings. It makes me wonder how Mr Chandler got the opportunity to record the dimensions of so many old Basses, did he travel and measure them in person?

 

[1st Bass]

Yes, he did. He went to the owners of old basses, and got their permission to copy the basses. If you read the foreword in his book, it is written by the owner of one of the basses he copied. Evidently he took his measurements, disappeared for two months (!!) and came back with the new bass. Wish I could build a bass in two months. He told me personally that he usually took 300 hours to build a bass...and it says so in his book, too, as I recall.

They have the photographs of the old basses in the book, too-- you can see that the Panormo model (which is what he built for the book) looks pretty much like the original. I finally got my Panormo plans, so I am looking forward to trying that model.

 

[ctregan]

I haven't bought the book, I used my allowance to purchase an Ibex hollowing plane instead.

 

[LM Bass]

Peter copied Ed Tait's bass, and a few others from players in the Toronto Symphony bass section.