Help find out age of my DB

[ceilidhswinger]

Hi, can anyone out there give me a rough age for my DB please it was made in Czechoslovakia, It has ebony fingerboard and tailpiece, top is solid Cedar not ply!

[ubassman]

You will need to post some photos to get anywhere close!

[ceilidhswinger]

[attachment=147182:DSC_0145 (1).jpg]

[attachment=147182:DSC_0145 (1).jpg][attachment=147183:DSC_0146.jpg][attachment=147184:DSC_0148 (1).jpg]

Sorry,

I thought I had attached images!

[ceilidhswinger]

[attachment=147185:DSC_0147 (1).jpg]

[velvetkevorkian]

Any markings or labels visible through the f-holes?
(Also, hello fellow Dundonian )

[ceilidhswinger]

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' timestamp='1383051405' post='2259497']
Any markings or labels visible through the f-holes?
(Also, hello fellow Dundonian )
[/quote]

Hello mate! good to hear from you, no, no marking, just says made in [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] Czechoslovakia![/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]where about in Dundee are you from?[/font][/color]

[ubassman]

Are the back and sides plywood ( not so easy to tell from the photos )? Shooting from the hip I dont think the bass is more than about 50 - 60 years old .

Czechoslovakia as a country was born in 1918 and ended in 1992 and had a really turbulent political time in between http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Czechoslovakia. Have a read and you may be able to narrow time down further making distinctions between when it might have been stamped "made in Czech Republic" or "Made in Czechoslovakia" or another political regime.

The 'top hat' tuning machines look to be 1960's era rather than the early type that came in at the turn of the century and the wood has a certain modern era glow to it rather than the patina of age. Either way its a beautiful looking bass.

[ceilidhswinger]

Hi ubassman,

Thanks for getting back, how very knowledgeable you are! thought it was older myself. back and sides are indeed plywood,

I will read the wiki article and see what I can dig up.

[ubassman]

The interesting thing that maybe helps age and locate your bass is that has violin corners which again makes me think that this was done for the post war modern export market. If you Google an image search of 'Czech double basses' you will see that they are 99 times out of 100 cornerless Gamba shapes.

There is a good reason for this as the Gamba shape was used almost exclusively by German bow players. The Czech border changed several times between the wars and immediately after. A lot of Czech luthiers during this period found themselves one minute based in Germany / Austria making instruments for local players with German Bows and then through political change found themselves the next minute making instruments for the same local market but having to put on a label "Made in Czechoslovakia"!

After the war everything changed and post-war companies once they got a handle on plywood production ( the stocks of seasoned instrument making wood were somewhat decimated by the war), started to trade again to foreign parts and pitch their wares to other countries and experiment with different shapes. So my educated guess is that it maybe a 1950's /1960s bass unless anyone else has any insights.

Either way - the bass has got all the curves in the right places!

Edited October 29, 2013 by ubassman

[ubassman]

Reminds me a little of this [url="http://www.kensmithbasses.com/doublebasses/kreutzer/"]http://www.kensmithb...asses/kreutzer/[/url] - a producer from the Eastern side of the country and away from the hubbub of the German Western border. Maybe what you have here is from the East ( now Slovakia and sharing its Southern border with Hungary - the lower Bout dims are wide and the Hungarians like "big Bouts" ! ). Thats what I would put my money on anyway - 1950s "production" bass from Eastern Czechoslovakia !

Edited October 29, 2013 by ubassman