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I agree, I think K&T (who have actually handled the bass) are going to know way more than and bunch of random internet people.
Powerful and well defined sound. Very comfortable to play, good set up (before K & T got the bass Horst Grünert did some work as well) and well built - I'm waiting for it to be shipped to Sweden from Austria. Neither K & T nor the previous owner know a lot about the bass, except the aproximate age, origin and build quality. Perhaps a long shot, but I thought it was worth a try to see if anyone recognizes, if not the bass itself, the style of bass and perhaps knows something about the history of Hungarian bass making. As for the quality of the bass I'm very confident it's a good instrument and as both you and David Perrott said, Kanzian & Traunstein are very reliable people and good builders.
www.barnabasses.com
www.thestrad.com
Exactly, the article actually states that makers from outside Vienna were travelling to Vienna to learn the style and spread the tradition to the area. It's not that 'Viennes-Style-Bass' is worse than 'Viennes-Bass'. More similar to the distinction that a Sparkling white wine not made in the Champagne region of France can't be called Champagne, despite the fact it may well taste better than 'Champagne'. (Poor example since I can't stand sparkling white wine, but you get the point)
Thank you. Yes it is, it's an old repair, and a weird one too - how would you end up with a hole that size on the body? A bullethole seems like the most plausible explanation ...
Something like this is what I was looking for, thank you!!@Jespernordberg
I just bought a more modern, used, 'Vienna Style Bass' a couple of months ago so have been digging into a bit of research about them. There is an interesting article here about the history. You need premium but the free trial doesn't ask for payment details.
Here's an extract which describes the 'characteristics' of the Viennese Bass, (although if it's Hungarian made it's a Viennese 'style' bass, as is mine, since it needs to be made in Vienna to be a true Viennese bass, not that that changes how amazing these deep bodied instruments sound!)
Hope it helps.
The Viennese double bass: The long pattern
In the 18th and 19th centuries, double basses made in Vienna had distinctive shapes and characteristics that gave them tremendous sound quality. Bass maker and restorer Alex Kanzian examines the evolution of these instruments, and how they differ from the norm
"But what exactly are those typical Viennese characteristics? Very often, Viennese basses can not only be described by a few of those characteristics: they bear all of them. Summarised together, the most important aspects are the following:
- An elongated gamba contour at the corpus
- An elongated pegbox with a protruding section halfway down, notched in either two or three lines, with no pronounced heel
- Originally constructed as a five-stringed instrument, without tuning mechanisms
- No overhang on either the top or the back: the ribs are flush with the plates
- A butt-jointed (not inserted) neck, set in place with a dowel
- High arching of the top plate
- Straight f-holes, with deeply turned wings
- A flat back with a rather high bend, the plate bent to a convex shape
- Three braces on the back plate
- Purfling only in the top plate, none on the back
Of course, every maker will put their own aesthetic on to those points. Viennese makers were part of a guild, so a strict eye was kept on the executors of the craft. The usual exceptions aside, we see phenomenal workmanship and innovative designs to create a very strong instrument with an enormous sound."
