Xavier Jacquet bass now sold. £13000 London

[Damo200]

For sale is my beautiful Xavier Jacquet circa 1860. I bought this bass from a respected orchestral freelancer Louis Garson over ten years ago and it has served me extremely well as my first instrument, playing in orchestras such as the RPO as well as acclaimed West End shows and recordings. It is not your typical French instrument in so much as that it has a particularly rich arco sound and singing tone. No word of a lie and testament to it, I sold my Hawkes Concert at the time to pay for it. It destroyed the Hawkes in terms of playability, expression and tone.

The bass has needed very little in the way of work over the years - just some tweaking here and there by Roger Dawson and Laurence Dixon. It is in excellent shape structurally and no obvious war wounds (the ribs are particularly fine) except a scar at the bottom of the back which has been repaired many years ago - see second photo. It is fitted with a Roger Dawson C Extension and has the original tuners etc.

The bass is unlabelled, but I played a gig with Tom Martin last year and he was insistent that it was a Xavier, not just 'the Jacquet school'. I am happy to have it formally appraised and attributed by him if necessary, although Laurence Dixon has already valued this bass at £18,000. It has the double purfling and other indicators of a superior French instrument, and is certainly the most attractive French bass I have seen. I have priced it to sell and these basses are way undervalued in this country. See a link below for the same bass (in far poorer condition) from a US dealer priced at $37,500!

https://basscellar.com/product/xavier-jacquet-france/

Reason for sale is that I have bought a beast of a 5 string, a typical German orchestral warhorse and I'm now looking to go exclusively down the 5 string route.

Please feel free to message me with any questions or if you would like additional photos. The bass is in SE London.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Damo200

[Damo200]

This bass is now sold please remove, thanks.