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Double Bass Identifying my bass
- Thread starter raccoola
- Start date
There’s an interesting discussion of Nemessanyi’s labels in the Wikipedia article. He’s very famous & seems to be faked as a consequence.
Samuel Nemessányi - Wikipedia
it doesn’t appear that he made any basses.
Samuel Nemessányi - Wikipedia
it doesn’t appear that he made any basses.
Last edited:
Hungarian bass made by Nemessanyi (or his shop) in 1870
Italian luthier either repaired or imported the bass in 1922/23:
Property - Tarisio
The Remenyis (which is what I think the upper label says) were famous Hungarian violin makers for generations. My guess is that the bass was in their shop before it made its way to Fiorini's in Italy.
It might be a "French" copy, but the Langs were making slope shouldered basses for a time:
Kontrabasspunkt Viersen · Sven-Henrik Gawron · 4/4 5-S Bass Benedikt Lang. ca. 1930 kaufen
Italian luthier either repaired or imported the bass in 1922/23:
Property - Tarisio
The Remenyis (which is what I think the upper label says) were famous Hungarian violin makers for generations. My guess is that the bass was in their shop before it made its way to Fiorini's in Italy.
It might be a "French" copy, but the Langs were making slope shouldered basses for a time:
Kontrabasspunkt Viersen · Sven-Henrik Gawron · 4/4 5-S Bass Benedikt Lang. ca. 1930 kaufen
Mishmash of stylistic features + obviously fake label = recent Hungarian build.
Do you think it's Hungarian because who else would fake a Hungarian label? Or are there particular features that seem to you to be Hungarian/ Just curious since although it looks recent to me -- and I am not an expert -- I couldn't really identify where it comes from.
garrett2,
Sometimes it helps to start by eliminating what a bass looks like but cannot possibly be.
With those options off the table, a bass can only be from a limited number of places.
This one isn’t Chinese. The grain is all wrong. It isn’t Romanian. The varnish is all wrong. It isn’t French. The French were very proud of being able to make machine tuners that seemingly last forever. It isn’t German, despite the hatpegs, because German basses that aspire to appear French are never fitted for cheap hatpegs. It’s never cracked, so it’s not old.
Sometimes it helps to start by eliminating what a bass looks like but cannot possibly be.
With those options off the table, a bass can only be from a limited number of places.
This one isn’t Chinese. The grain is all wrong. It isn’t Romanian. The varnish is all wrong. It isn’t French. The French were very proud of being able to make machine tuners that seemingly last forever. It isn’t German, despite the hatpegs, because German basses that aspire to appear French are never fitted for cheap hatpegs. It’s never cracked, so it’s not old.
A master class in one post.
Thanks so much everyone for your input, already learned much I didn't know about basses just by your various replies.
It is a great sounding instrument, I don't imagine wanting a different bass anytime soon, and this one is a good size for me (40.5" string length, I'm 5"4 w smaller hands).
Reading more about basses and makers just from replies since yesterday it does make me think a couple things: 1) my bass does seem relatively recent compared to supposed characteristics of older basses. There are a few cracks in the lower bouts I've yet to take care of (even in all the years ive had the bass...), but they're fairly clean. Cant remember if they came w the bass, very possibl i put them there myself early on.
2) Just brief reading about labels and makers makes it seem almost hilariously implausible that a famous maker such Nemessanyi would have made this bass and somehow it made its way to me (especially if he didn't make basses
3) Though I still don't know alot about different styles and wouldn't be able to sort out the "mishmash" of features of this one, image searching Hungarian basses does give the most results that remind me of mine. Interesting last post from Kungfusheriff!
Definitely going to pay attention to other instruments in a new way after this, thanks all.
It is a great sounding instrument, I don't imagine wanting a different bass anytime soon, and this one is a good size for me (40.5" string length, I'm 5"4 w smaller hands).
Reading more about basses and makers just from replies since yesterday it does make me think a couple things: 1) my bass does seem relatively recent compared to supposed characteristics of older basses. There are a few cracks in the lower bouts I've yet to take care of (even in all the years ive had the bass...), but they're fairly clean. Cant remember if they came w the bass, very possibl i put them there myself early on.
2) Just brief reading about labels and makers makes it seem almost hilariously implausible that a famous maker such Nemessanyi would have made this bass and somehow it made its way to me (especially if he didn't make basses
3) Though I still don't know alot about different styles and wouldn't be able to sort out the "mishmash" of features of this one, image searching Hungarian basses does give the most results that remind me of mine. Interesting last post from Kungfusheriff!
Definitely going to pay attention to other instruments in a new way after this, thanks all.
