NickA

Trouble will be the cost of bringing it up to scratch. Any buzzes, rattles, soft spots, you may be talking £2k+ to fix ... in order to get a £5k bass. But yes, German. Likely Markneukirchen. 1890s at oldest. I have quite a similar shaped one, though the back on mine is carved not flat and the condition is better. Mine was valued at £7500, but I think £6500 is nearer the mark. Doubt a dealer would pay me more than £4.5k though (sucks teeth, "may need a lot of work before we could put it in the showroom")

Spot on. I've found the same .... but when playing the 4, sometimes try to find note on the missing B string

Good to see no-one has recommended Simandl !

Certainly is. Whether or not it makes a difference .. I don't have a clue. Ouch!!! just OUCH. That seems unreasonably expensive. I was going to get an adjustable fitted to mine ... now (being somewhat unemployed) maybe I won't.

took a shop bought cake to the first one I attended ... and took it home uneaten. So many much better home made cakes. There are bakers among us.

Lovely condition. How old is it? .... who made it, what's the scale etc etc etc.

Us double bass players don't play over the fingerboard to control the amount of dig in ... It's just that it sounds nicer playing further from the bridge. May also buzz the strings off the ebony for more mwAh? not sure. Also on a dB you do need something to brace your thumb against because the plucking force is BIG, side of fingerboard is handy ... Never felt any need for a ramp on an electric .. but that article is food for thought.

Not a problem for Bassbags who now own a vast converted mill building in little Eaton. Acres of basses and bass bits.

Not heard of KBS. Looks a bit violin biased. Basses are special ...need a bigger workbench for one. Still, ask them, might be worth us all knowing about.

Plus 1 for that. Though I heard their bass expert, Helen, had left. Not too far to Leicester where you can find Tim Batchelar https://www.batchelar.com/ Or Derby where Bassbags also do repairs ( they did my dB end pin and put a new bridge on my cello .... Not sure who actually does the work though)

I've been trying to play them on the cello for 45 years. Still a challenge. "Selected movements" only on the bass ( easier on electric .. specially a 5-string. ) No3 prelude will be MAJOR endeavour on a double bass ... all those spilt chords. My book of bass transcriptions doesn't even include that one!

I have a couple of sets transposed specifically for double bass (I'm a cellist too) - this one has all of them except No6 (which was written for a 5 string cello and near impossible for mortals on even a normal cello) IBAN83-224-2584-8. They are in different keys to the original to avoid the notes below E. There are some Duncan McTier transcriptions that I don't have .. but I'm betting they're pretty good as McTier is just brilliant (despite being a pedo) The best way to play them IMO is to have a 5th string to get at the correct notes. However, I watched one of those on line double bass lessons to see how the teacher fingered the prelude to suite 1 and .... !£$% me, she played it in the original key AT PITCH putting the whole thing in thumb positions. Like so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCV2ZH5BJxU Second best is to pick a few movements from the "proper" 'cello transcription (eg sarabande in suite 2 ... which sounds better on a bass than on a cello I reckon) and just play those an octave down (ie in bass pitch). BTW the idea that you should avoid open strings when playing these is debunked (according to my Dad who is a retired pro cellist); Bach knew where the open strings were and included them on purpose, gives a particular resonance to the performance, Sadly the open strings are different on a DB so it doesn't work..... Hey Ho. There is a great Pizz version of the suite 1 prelude that I one saw a ballet dance set to ... I''ll post when I track it down.

..

The 4 string Dolph is really easy to play, fantastic access all the way to fret 27. Only 4 strings and only 19mm between strings. What's the spacing on those 6 stringers? My only 5 string bass is a Wal tho and despite 17mm spacing I find it a bit of a handful .. care required not to buzz a g string fret when playing the B string. I do have short stubby fingers though and still a relative newbie when it comes to frets. Thumb hooking certainly a no no ( on any bass imo )

I think they ALL are cnc now, but I believe the older boire ones were carved by hand. Mine is 2001 so new factory and stunning machine tools. Lots of lovely "through the round window" vids on that youtoob: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=klN0ohkjmgg

Let several people have a go on my Wal (which is now officially priceless) .. one of them found something wrong with it, which is now fixed and it's a better bass as a result 😁 .

Oh yes indeed. Pick up a thumb or a dolphin and feel that wood. Some poor sod had to carve that! ( Though my own dolphin is cnc ). Need big hands for a 6 mind, doubt I could reach the B string.

How very dare they!

Sharpie included? Prices at Thwaites, you'd hope for paint at least 🙂

Heres a good article about replacing a dB neck. As Jack says the grain should be in compression along the neck. But that means it shouldn't snap the way the OP's did. should go at 90degrees to that? http://www.mjbl.co.uk/double-bass-neck-graft If you like the bass, might be worth getting a new neck

Clean break. Maybe made from timber that was "green" ie not well seasoned. Dropped mine once and the fingerboard came off. What actually failed wasn't the glue but the wedge between the fingerboard and neck. "Aha" said Mr Luthier, "green maple ;-)"

Lens distortion? Or maybe tuning compensation, like a guitar! 90o to the strings and aligned with the little Vs in the f- holes, is more traditional 😉