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Double Bass Help me identify my West German bass!

#41
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Hope this is better.
 

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#42
bassist1962 said:
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Hope this is better.
Click to expand...

Much better! ;) That button looks very much like a Hofner button from the forties or fifties. They made that Bugatti radiator shaped raised outline on their carved basses. The Saxon shield is also a slightly different shape than the Wilfer/Juzek version - a little deeper in the sides, less pointy.

Nice bass, how's it sound?
 
#45
LouisF said:
Not to be a broken record, but the Roth basses had the same (or similar) shield (I don't know about the button). Were they from the same factory?
Thanks

Louis
Click to expand...

Hey Louis, sorry I missed your first post. The Scherl & Roth basses were re-labeled Hofner DBs, the same way the Juzek and Rauner basses were re-labeled Wilfers.

The different German shops all have slightly different variations on that design.
 
#46
Jake deVilliers said:
Much better! ;) That button looks very much like a Hofner button from the forties or fifties. They made that Bugatti radiator shaped raised outline on their carved basses. The Saxon shield is also a slightly different shape than the Wilfer/Juzek version - a little deeper in the sides, less pointy.

Nice bass, how's it sound?
Click to expand...

I know that the bass was originally bought by a family member somewhere between 1959 and 1962, used til 1968 as a full time jazz instrument, and has sat in the corner since. I have been told that it appears to be post war, and that the flame on the neck is painted on. The label says it is a William Lewis 236, and I have been offered 3 to 5k for the instrument. I learned how to play on this instrument in the late seventies, and took full possesion of it in 2006.

It has a nice round tone. The only other bass I have ever played was a cheap ply that sounded like a cardboard box, so compared to that, this bass sings. It is a bit harsh arco, but that is probably more due to my poor technique and the spiros that are on it currently. The strings that were on it when I took it sounded better under the bow, but I am mainly a pizz player. The 'original' owner used guts, but when it was last restrung in the late seventies he put some student grade steels on it.
 
#48
My bass has that same purfling near the button, but the label on the inside doesn't read Made in Western Germany: instead it reads G. R. Schmidt Model 65 (might be E. R. Schmidt, it's hard to tell). It's a hybrid with the flame, and its been appraised for 5.5k.
 

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