18th. Century Unnamed Italian Double Bass for sale
- Ashley Frampton
- 4 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Affectionately known as "Fritz" or the "Fritz bass" after the previous owner Fritz Spiegl
Please go to our Instrument page for more photos and details
Unnamed Italian Double bass made in the 1700's
This bass is very interesting and distinctive, small and attractive in shape it has not been cut down as some might think. It has a lovely leaf design all over the scroll, a lovely bass clef design inlaid on the tailpiece (as have all my basses) I have owned this bass for 10 years and it has been a labour of love. When I purchased it from the widow of the previous owner it was in poor condition, it had been left close to an open fire and the heat led to shrinkage cracks which you can see on the photos of the back. so in the space of four years it had extensive renovations.
1. General clean up (Andrew Hutchinson)old glue had to be removed, there had been poor repairs over the years, this was put right and put into playing condition
2. New Neck (The Bass Place)the old neck had warped and was not usable, this was replaced and new fingerboard fitted
3. New Bass bar, crack repair, new bridge, tailpiece, endpin (George Martin)put into top playing condition
I have played it without any problems for the last six years It has a quality even sound but it is not huge, it is at its best when playing within a smaller orchestral setting or chamber environment however it will hold its own in a Bruckner symphony if needed.
The previous owner (Fritz Spiegl) was a true polymath, known in the bass world as the narrator of the BBC documentary "The great double bass race" about the Isle of Man double bass competition in the late 1970's if you have not seen it please do it really is interesting.
two links for you
Fritz was much more than a musician, a publisher and artist as well as a radio and tv presenter however he was only ever an amateur double bass player
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